<p>let me rephrase that, would you, as a student, rather be at a school with grade inflation or a school with grade deflation?</p>
<p>somebody will not be hired based on academics alone. Usually degrees from elite colleges will get somebody's foot in the door, but the rest comes down to things that stem far beyond the GPA. Unless an employer has a specific cutoff, GPA's are only really looked at during the initial "sort through" procedure where a general range is established. After this, it doesn't matter what your GPA was. The rest will boil down to more important things such as the interview where the applicant has the chance to show that they will be a great fit for the company and that the company can benefit from their presence. A stellar GPA cannot make up for a bad interview, but a great interview can put a so-so GPA in the gutter. At only one point is the GPA really looked at in an applicant, and even so it won't matter if it's a 3.5 at Cornell vs. a 3.9 at Harvard - both will be given equal shots to perform at the interview. Like I said, GPA trends at schools are widely known to most informed employers and nearly all of them will compensate for tough schools (who wouldn't want somebody with a 3.4 from places like MIT, Cornell, Caltech - while a 3.4 at Harvard is just average). Don't worry about losing a job to a harvard grad with a higher GPA - it's the interview that will really matter and where you can truly present yourself as the most worthy applicant.</p>
<p>my initial thought says "go for grade inflation!" while the part of me that remembers the fact that I took a class about hiring people and have seen the process first hand says "it won't matter if your school is grade deflated, these trends are known by those who matter most in business."</p>
<p>dont worry, employers and grad schools will know where that 3.3 at Harvard stands in comparison to the rest of the school - below average.</p>
<p>thank you, gomestar, for clarifying it.</p>
<p>this is what CC is for!</p>
<p>Here is some stat of Ivy grade inflation
Brown University.
1989 3.34
1994 3.40
1999 3.47
Harvard University
1985 3.17
1986 3.21
1987 3.23
1988 3.24
1989 3.28
1990 3.30
1991 3.30
1992 3.31
1993 3.31
1994 3.33
1995 3.36
1996 3.38
1997 3.38
1998 3.40
1999 3.42
2000 3.41
2001 3.39
Pennsylvania University
1993 3.16
1994 3.17
1995 3.17
1996 3.19
1997 3.23
1998 3.24
1999 3.28
2000 3.31
2001 3.32
Dartmouth College
1958 2.2 Dartmouth Review
1967 2.70 Dartmouth Review
1976 3.06 The Dartmouth, Feb. 28, 1992
1989 3.21 Dartmouth Review
1992 3.23 The Dartmouth, Feb. 28, 1992
1993 3.25 The Dartmouth, Feb. 28, 1992
1999 3.31 Dartmouth Review
2001 3.33 The Dartmouth, Feb. 28, 1992
Princeton University
1971 2.99
1972 3.01
1973 3.03
1974 3.08
1975 3.09
1976 3.10
1977 3.12
1978 3.13
1979 3.15
1980 3.13
1981 3.13
1982 3.14
1983 3.16
1984 3.15
1985 3.17
1986 3.16
1987 3.20
1988 3.19
1989 3.21
1990 3.22
1991 3.24
1992 3.25
1993 3.27
1994 3.30
1995 3.31
1996 3.31
1997 3.34
1998 3.32
1999 3.34
2000 3.36
2001 3.40
Columbia University
1982 3.22
2000 3.36</p>
<p>To me, one thing that is often lost in GPA debates across schools is the concept that most students at Cornell were not good enough to get into Harvard (while this may not always be entirely based solely on academic reasons) and therefore the avg GPA at Harvard should be higher than the avg GPA at Cornell.</p>
<p>this is rarely taken into consideration, though since there is a sizeable amount of the class at Cornell that could have gotten into harvard, at least based on grades and test scores. I know people with upper 1500 SATs at Cornell and people with sub 1400 SATs at Harvard ... neither of these are the majority of the student body but it's because of people like these that it's unwise to immediately say "person X is smarter than person Y because person X got into Harvard and person Y went to Cornell"</p>
<p>According to your logic, we should fail everyone in community colleges?</p>
<p>"To me, one thing that is often lost in GPA debates across schools is the concept that most students at Cornell were not good enough to get into Harvard (while this may not always be entirely based solely on academic reasons) and therefore the avg GPA at Harvard should be higher than the avg GPA at Cornell."</p>
<p>I agree with the first part of your statement but not the second part. In general, the student body at Harvard is better than the one at Cornell. I believe a Harvard professor writing on grade inflation has already addressed this issue. His assertion is that because Harvard has some of the most gifted and brightest students in the country, we should be holding them to HIGHER standards than at other schools, not lower. What happened to the gifted students at your middle school or your high school? They were pushed to maximize their potential. Having 90% of the class graduate with honors is a downright embarrassment that should be corrected before people begin to realize that the Harvard degree is becoming watered down.</p>
<p>^^agreed. if everyone is getting As, make the classes more challenging. its embarassing.</p>
<p>Not to belabor the obvious, but the statistical profile at Cornell Arts and Sciences and Engineering is essentially equal (within one standard deviation)to Harvard College's or any other Ivy's raw numbers. Difference in admissions is better "hooks" for those who get into Harvard--legacies, ethnicities, athletics, celebrity status, stellar music, theater, etc. GPA's and test scores are about the same for admitted students.</p>
<p>I don't know if students at Harvard should be held to a higher standard, they shouldn't be penalized for going to the stronger school, although agree that the 91% graduating with honors at Harvard is a bit ridiculous and think they've scaled back on this to some extent. </p>
<p>If you're a recruiter or grad school officer looking at two otherwise equal candidates (one with a 3.3 GPA from Harvard and one with a 3.5 GPA from Cornell) who would you take? It's a tough decision and not one that's even solved by looking at avg GPA at each school.</p>
<p>Also, I think the profile for CAS and engineering at Cornell isn't that much different than Cornell as a whole. Plus, the difference in scores for admitted and enrolled students is somewhat different (probably ~ 30 points, as I've seen studies at Colgate and Bucknell where it is ~ 40 points), while the difference at Harvard with a yield of 79% is probably negligible.</p>