<p>First, I can only comment on Vassar, not other liberal arts schools.</p>
<p>Grades universally have gone up over the past several decades. There is no school you can go to today that has the same grading as it did 50 years ago. Students at Vassar, like everywhere, are by and large disappointed with a B. That certainly wasn’t the case in our parent’s generation. However, Vassar is not as inflated as some other widely known universities. There was not one student in my graduating class who had a 4.0 GPA. Honestly, I cannot even imagine that happening at Vassar - never getting even one A- seems completely insane. However, I do want to reinforce that grade inflation most definitely exists and it exists everywhere. The average GPA of the graduating class at Vassar in 1990 was 3.12, in 2008 it was 3.48. In 2008, almost half of all grades given were As or A-s, and 96% of all grades given were B- through A. This basically means that Vassar, and I would venture to argue that most colleges, are working on a 5 point scale (B-, B, B+, A-, A) and reserve the C - which used to be average - for students who are preforming below expectations.</p>
<p>As someone who took many science and non-science classes at Vassar, I also will counter the myth that it is easier to get a good grade in those “easy” humanities classes. I was a non-science major, and I worked way harder for my completely subjective humanities grades than I did for the “study for the one right answer” science grades.</p>
<p>Now - to get to your actual point. Grade deflation or inflation is a really bad reason to chose a school. REALLY BAD. Not only are medical schools or other graduate schools familiar with the grading schemes of different colleges - so your grade is really only important as it relates to the context of the school itself - but if you are that obsessed with grades, you will never enjoy learning for the sake of learning, and you will be one of those ultra-competitive fabled pre-meds that no one wants to be around.</p>
<p>Now - weeder classes. Vassar does not have them. Vassar doesn’t teach to pre-meds and could care less about failing out pre-med students to increase their med school acceptance rate. The professors teach classes, and pre-med students happen to take them. They are just as hard as the subject matter is, and graded as such. Vassar has no pre-med culture (thank god). That said, organic chemistry is hard no matter what school you go to.</p>
<p>Oh, and take it from a med student - the med school you go to (beyond being an American allopathic school) has little impact on the residency you end up at. If you do well, you can get to any residency you want. It’s a fallacy to think that your fate is sealed in life based on what grade you get in intro Bio.</p>