<p>Grade inflation is a very interesting topic that has a large impact on people applying to medical school, vet school, law school, etc. There is an interesting site that exams this in detail, with links to (often spotty) historical average grades:</p>
<p>Grade</a> Inflation </p>
<p>The NY Times blog just discussed this site in an article entitled: Want</a> a Higher G.P.A.? Go to a Private College</p>
<p>From the Grade Inflation site, the average GPAs of the two colleges with official grade deflation policies:</p>
<p>Princeton 3.28 (2008)
Wellesley 3.31 (2007)</p>
<p>Here are the most recent results available for the other Ivies and "similar":</p>
<p>Harvard 3.45 (2005)
Yale 3.51 (2008)
Dartmouth 3.42 (2007)
Columbia 3.42 (2006)
Cornell 3.36 (2006)
Brown 3.61 (2007)
Penn 3.44 (2004)
Stanford 3.55 (2005)
MIT 3.17 (1999) (a dean recently claimed these have been stable for 10 years)
(note on MIT - their grading is on a 5.0 scale. I assume this is a number adjusted to a 4.0 scale, as it is unlikely that the average grade is a C/C+)</p>
<p>State Schools
Michigan 3.27 (2008)
California
(System Wide) 2.70 (2008)
Penn State 3.07 (2006)
Florida 3.29 (2006)</p>
<p>Some observations:
The differences are striking between schools. Brown (and, to a lesser extent, Yale), even in the Ivies really stands out. Official grade deflation policies don't seem all that harsh, when compared to other schools. And, the California averages are stunningly low.</p>
<p>The big question is the extent to which graduate and professional schools are able to know and adjust there expectations from school to school.</p>