<p>Is there grade inflation at Vassar and other top liberal arts schools? Top research type universities (usual culprits at Harvard, Yale, Brown, etc. etc....except Princeton) have definite grade inflation and I know a couple people that have confirmed that for me.</p>
<p>But what about at Vassar and top liberal arts schools? I want to go to med school so I want a really high GPA, but I would also like a broad educational experience in a close knit community, which are what lib. arts colleges provide. However, I don't want to risk going to a good med school and, in turn, getting a good residency + place to work down the line by going to a grade deflated school. (I know, all med schools are good, but you get what I mean).</p>
<p>Also, are there the dreaded 'weeder' classes at Vassar + top LACs? I know the class sizes are small, so I wouldn't see the point of having weeder classes, but are they present? I plan on majoring in a hard science (bio, neuroscience, and the like or maybe psych).</p>
<p>I am going to post this on other LAC forums to.</p>
<p>Well, I know some people at Williams have said you can’t get lower than a B in some classes, but in my experience, it’s really hard to get an A or even an A- either.</p>
<p>Williams doesn’t have any classes designed to weed people out. It is HARD to get below a B, but also hard to get the elusive A. Williams has a similar average GPA to other “good” schools, although you can of course pad your GPA by taking the “easy” classes.</p>
<p>I haven’t attended Williams like grognard did – I’ll be matriculating in the fall – but when I visited in April for Previews, I was told by a few students that Williams actually has grade deflation, that one reallyhas to earn a B+/A, and that professors won’t let you sneak by with a last-minute paper. Needless to say this is entirely anecdotal.</p>
<p>My compsci (CSCI 134, the introductory class) professor said that the scaled class average should be around a high B (86). I personally needed to put in a pretty great effort to get an A- in a subject I wasn’t an absolute whiz at.</p>
<p>Profs are usually pretty good about giving extensions, but it depends on the prof and the situation.</p>