<p>I am looking for information on grade inflation (GI) or the lack there of at Swarthmore and or all others schools if you have anything of interest please submit ..see story on GI at Harvard on link below. </p>
<p>ihttp://<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518905">www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518905</a></p>
<p>It's really difficult to measure grade inflation at Swarthmore because students in the Honors Program did not receive grades for their Honors seminars from the 1920s until about ten years ago.</p>
<p>The last estimate of Swarthmore's average GPA I've seen was published in the alumni bulletin in the late 1990s -- a 3.24 or a B+. </p>
<p>The more interesting part of the Harvard article you cited involved the comments about cooperative work. One of the things I've noticed from my daughter's description of her courses is how much group work there is: two or more students making presentations to the class. I've also been surprised at the number of assignments that mimic real world tasks: group video presentations, written assignments in the form of letters to the editor, op-ed pieces, blog entries, podcasts, etc.</p>
<p>But having those types of assignments probably depends upon the type of course/which department. DD just finished up her sophomore year at Swarthmore--she's taken many more than the average load of classes and so far hasn't had a single group project, and has had only one or two assignments which could be said to mimic real world tasks! As far as grade inflation--I can't really say. She's doing quite well, but works extremely hard--in large part due to her heavy courseload (it's just too difficult when you want to take everything) and her time-intensive EC's.</p>
<p>I agree that it must depend on the classes (or even departments). My daughter had only one group assignment (a presentation by 2 people) in her 3 years at Swarthmore. (I think she was traumatized enough by group projects in middle school and high school, that she is happy to be independent in her work). There is always some sort of non-imposed collaboration though-- study groups, reading each-others papers and commenting, etc.</p>
<p>I can't say much about grade inflation. It seems to me that in humanities and social sciences classes you won't fail if you do most of the readings, write all the papers, and come to class. This might not be the case in hard sciences where grades are largely based on the test scores.</p>
<p>I was actually wondering whether Swarthmore managed to eliminate grade inflation, too. It seems that everyone I speak with informs me that it is extremely difficult to earn an A, and even harder to graduate with a 4.0 GPA. While I respect the school's academic prestige, I am wondering whether these are gross exaggerations or fairly accurate statements. </p>
<p>Any responses would be great...</p>
<p>My impression is that it is not necessarily "extremely" difficult to earn an A in general, but that it is not easy, either. And that it is very difficult, indeed, to graduate with a 4.0 GPA. Also keep in mind that Swarthmore students hardly ever talk about grades and the college does not routinely compute GPAs -- and only does so for programs that absolutely require a computed GPA.</p>
<p>It is sort of a myth that Swarthmore students don't talk about grades.</p>
<p>PAStudent20,
Not sure if you are a current student, but my S graduated in June and says that he never heard discussions of grades at Swat.</p>
<p>i sort of agree with PAstudent20. i'm a current student at swat. people don't often talk about grades, but it does come up from time to time (especially among students who are pre-med or something similar).</p>
<p>i DO agree that the atmosphere at swat is mostly non-competitive.</p>
<p>as for the difficulty of the college... out of all the people i know at swat so far, only 2 of them have all A's or A-'s.</p>
<p>I also graduated in June. We sure didn't talk about grades. Check out some of my previous posts on this topic.</p>