<p>What is the grade inflation like at Duke University compared to the IVY leagues and the top public universities (UC Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA, etc.)?</p>
<p>See post #29 for the list and surrounding posts for the methodology:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=266240%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=266240</a></p>
<p>Be warned: the results go against conventional wisdom.</p>
<p>gradeinflation.com is somewhat outdated, but the trends probably still hold</p>
<p>The problem with gradeinflation.com is that it makes no attempt to control for student ability, and it also emphasizes one-institution time-series data rather than a broad cross-section of schools.</p>
<p>Any gauge of student ability is going to be shaky at best. While CC folks might scream bloody murder over it, the SAT is probably the best thing to measure the "average" student at a school</p>
<p>my nuts is harvard more grade deflated than duke. my girlfriend goes to harvard and I wished my classes were as easy as hers</p>
<p>1.) Just because Harvard is easier for her than Duke was for me doesn't mean that Harvard would be easier for me than Duke was. In other words, you have to control for student ability.</p>
<p>2.) You might not be taking the same classes. Obviously history classes give out more A's than chemistry classes, etc.</p>
<p>3.) Even then, the index is only calculated among pre-law students. So, as a general rule, the sciences aren't going to be well-represented. It may well be that Duke's Chem is harder than Harvard's Chem. As long as Harvard's PoliSci is harder than Duke's, that's what the calculation is going to represent.</p>
<p>Is Duke as grade deflated as Cornell?</p>
<p>The index I give you indicates that they're almost exactly identical. Duke pre-law students get slightly higher grades (by .15) and have slightly higher LSAT scores (3 pts).</p>
<p>Is that for pre-law majors at Duke only or a collective grade inflation of all of undergrad education as well? How accurate is that post? It shows Brown having grade deflation when I've heard it has such high grade inflation. Any clarification would be great.</p>
<p>1.) The numbers are vulnerable to people lying about them. While the LSAC is truthful and accurate -- in other words, there's no reason why people would be mistaken -- it's always possible that people lied when their data was relayed.</p>
<p>2.) The important thing to remember is that this index, unlike others, controls for student quality as measured by the LSAT. So if Brown gives out the second highest grades in the country but has the very highest average LSAT in the country, they'll still be considered grade deflated.</p>
<p>3.) And "pre-law" is not a major. This is a collection of all the students who ever apply to law school. Remember, certain majors are going to be underrepresented in this pool.</p>
<p>Oh, and it shows Brown as having deflation relative to the national mean. Brown is extremely inflated relative to peer schools.</p>