<p>Would any current or former students care to comment on whether there is any grade inflation at Vandy. My son will likely major in Political Science and wants to attend law school upon graduation. Law schools are obviously focused on LSATs and high grades and we were wondering whether attaining A's in a liberal arts type major is highly challenging, challenging or fairly common at Vandy? </p>
<p>In the college search process we became aware that all school's grading systems are not created equal. For example, Wake seems to have grade "deflation" and it appears it is very difficult to get high grades there, whereas Stanford is apparently known for the exact opposite. </p>
<p>So, I would love to gather any informed opinions on the subject. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>But HOD is known as a ridiculously easy major. I know this has nothing to do with political science but I thought anyone else who was attracted by the thread title would be interested in knowing this if he/she didn’t already.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt uses a +/- system and a true A is very hard to come by in most classes. S is currently in law school at Vanderbilt and has had lots to say on the impact of attending a grade deflated school in terms of law school admissions. I suppose it helped him in terms of achievement on LSAT and the strong foundation has helped him do well academically in his first year. However, he has commented that he might have selected some easier classes and given up the second major in math had he known law school was in his future. He worked on a campus publication his first year where a friend, who ended up at Georgetown Law I believe, told him that some law schools made a small adjustment for Vanderbilt gpas as it is a grade deflated school.</p>
<p>^^
It sounds like your son attended undergrad and law school at Vandy? I’d be very curious what more he has to say on the issue. If you know, did he feel that the apparent grade deflation, whether or not law schools take that into account at a particular school, had an impact for him or any of his friends in getting into a top teir law school.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s naive but I imagine law schools will not simply look at the numerical GPA but rather look at things like class ranking, strength of schedule, whether a particular undergrad school is known for lower GPAs etc…</p>
<p>Clearly, in our search for the right college for my son, we have come to realize after speaking with admissions people and reading countless publications, that the above list I mentioned plays a significant role in the admissions process, along with SAT scores.</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that law schools will see a 3.5 for example at Vandy and give that less credit than a 3.7 at Stanford where the 3.7, all things being equal, appears to be the easier of the two GPAs to attain based on the school’s grading policy. Just a thought…</p>
<p>MOM,
S would probably be ready to strangle me for saying as much as I did above, but I will add that he found law school admissions to be very formulaic with the primary factors being LSAT and gpa. On another thread last summer, MomofWildChild discussed her future SIL’s graduation from medical school and made some comments implying the same for medical school. From what I have learned about the process of professional school applications in the last year, I would say school prestige has only a small impact and any adjustment for grade inflation/deflation is small indeed.</p>