<p>how tough is it? Slightly deflated?
how would students compare it to grading scales at other universites? similar to Caltech, MIT or better like Princeton?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>I'm not a fan of the terms inflated or deflated for GPAs unless they're defined first. People seem to have different conceptions of the terms, and they're not used very specifically.</p>
<p>Students who work hard can generally get 3.0+. In most courses, if you do your work and show up to class you'll get at least a C. It's usually quite difficult to get a flat A. You'll need to work hard, take core courses, and do lots of reading. I'd guess that the Chicago grading scale is tougher than many top schools and equal to many other top schools. I've known some students at some schools who have said that their math/science courses are curved to a B+. I find that a little ridiculous. My sister at another top school says math/science courses are usually curved to a B-. I haven't taken a large number of courses graded on a curve yet, but the ones I have taken have had averages on the lower end of that spectrum. </p>
<p>Anyway, it's not something you have to worry about.</p>
<p>The median is a 3.25, and this is fairly robust statistically. Some professors will tell you it is departmental policy, others will tell you its just tradition or circumstance. However, this is the median, not the mean, which of course allows instructors to be very liberal in how they throw students around on the resulting curve. Most importantly, it means that a professor is not afraid of failing (I am going to define this on my own terms as a C+ or below) up to a third of the class. Indeed, I had one course where the professor bluntly noted that it would be one third As, Bs and Cs respectively no matter how great or poorly anyone performed. In total, of the many virtues of UChicago, grading is by no means one of them. It remains by far and away the most deflated grading scheme in the top 20 or so schools.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It remains by far and away the most deflated grading scheme in the top 20 or so schools.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There's really no way of knowing that, but if you could explain why you think that is, that would be great.</p>
<p>I don't know if it's just my self-critical nature and my own academic strengths, but I felt like I came away with one or two undeserved A's my first year. For my other classes, I worked hard and took the course seriously, and my grades were solid (B/B-). </p>
<p>I'm not the kind of person who's going to put in more effort for a better grade-- I only put in effort if I think the subject merits it or I just feel compelled to. Given my attitude, I felt that the grades I earned were entirely deserved, and were I given the opportunity to grade myself, I probably would have given myself similar grades.</p>
<p>The only caveat would be MIT or Cal Tech, but it is hard to tell if those schools are not more suffering from science specific deflation that due to their niche nature pervades the whole institution. </p>
<p>Yet I digress. If you look up reports at schools like Duke, Harvard, Cornell, Northwestern, etcetera, all of which make their grading schemes publicly accessible in one way or another (be it by actual administrative notes or articles in campus newspapers), you see that Chicago is about .25 below the 3.5 average. I would argue that this has a considerably negative impact on the UG population, as grades can only be a valid measure of objective merit if they are appropriately interpreted, and with the exception of particularly knowledgeable graduate school committees, no one outside of Hyde Park is going to know about Chicago’s archaic system. Perhaps more paradoxically, in fields such as law and medicine where adcoms are under the USNEWS rankings gun to a far greater degree than at the college level (due to smaller class sizes and greater importance placed on rankings professionally), they simply cannot indulge themselves in comping a graduate of a school that relatively deflates nearly a whole half letter grade.</p>
<p>Maybe it was just me, but it didn't bother me at all that Chicago kids got lower grades when I decided to attend. I just thought, "oh, hooray, extra incentive to work harder."</p>
<p>If I do decide to go to graduate school, the Chicago name might help me, but then again, it might not. If I get in, it will be because I took challenging classes and succeeded in them at the University of Chicago rather than I just came in and said, "Hi, I'm from the University of Chicago, what can I do for you today?"</p>
<p>When I decide to enter the work force, I already know that in whatever field I enter, my undergraduate grades will be irrelevant. </p>
<p>I also don't know if I particularly buy the "professional schools are just looking for the GPA" kind of thing. Hopkins is also one of the more frequently cited "grade deflated" schools, as is Williams, and both schools send truckloads of graduates off to professional schools. My friends who have applied to professional schools have fared strongly.</p>
<p>thanks alot! well my main reason for asking is that I want to major in chemistry with a concentration in pre-med. Since GPA is pretty important for medical school, I wanted to take that into consideration. </p>
<p>on the pre-med topic, how is it at uchicago? I researched online and found that they have the pritzker Accelerated Medical Scholar program for already admitted undergrads. Any student heard about this? hard to get in?</p>
<p>If you use the search function at the top of the page, you can many past threads on the pre-med topic (and the grading topic, actually).</p>
<p>Be aware that U. Chicago us unusual in having released NO publicly available information regarding grade distribution. It seems to go out of its way in this regard.</p>
<p>The only statistic I've seen is the percentage of students who make the deans list.</p>
<p>You will often see mention of a web publication from a few years back claiming high grade inflation the past few decades at Chicago. (from gradeinflation.com) Be aware that the data this guy used is a single data point from a web source outside chicago. And that source, no longer on the web but available through internet archives, gives no source itself. </p>
<p>I can also tell you that averages above about 3.85 are rare. Only a few percent (2-3% MAX) do that well or better.</p>
<p>oh wow
and 3.85ish is what you need for top medical schools huh :(</p>
<p>poster idad had some statistics for med school acceptance from UChicago... I don't know the source of the data or the exact numbers, but I remember thinking that they were promising overall. Lots of students pursue the sciences/pre-med tracks (the two don't necessarily overlap-- I know anthro and Russian Lit concentrators who did pre-med and I know bio and chem concentrators who wouldn't even consider med school) and students place well into med schools, which makes sense. Students who tend to come to Chicago tend to be intelligent, motivated, and hard-working-- in other words, the same kids that go to med school. </p>
<p>Pre-med you can get anywhere. What you should really be concerned with is whether you specifically would like to go to a school like Chicago.</p>
<p>There was a U of C pre-med handbook online. It was from 2003, but it said U of C students who prepare well for med school admissions and have around a 3.3 generally get into med school. This has all been covered in previous posts, though, so I won't re-state the details or track down the exact quote.</p>
<p>the handbook basically said that one's goal should be to make the deans list every year. </p>
<p>Of course, the bar for admission to TOP medical schools is higher. But I don't think you need a GPA in the 3.8 range!</p>
<p>If you make like a 3.3, go no lower than say a B- in your sciences courses, do decently on the MCAT, and engage in some type of meaningful side endeavors, it is pretty hard not to not get in to 'a' medical school. The question you have to ask yourself is are you fine heading home to the University of Connecticut or what have you after Chicago (many people are). Unfortunately, you do in fact need those 3.8 numbers to land yourself somewhere like Duke or Stanford, but that is just the horrific medical school numbers game at work. Indeed, Phi Beta Kappa graduates this year went off to places like Dartmouth, a fine medical school, but by no means the cr</p>
<p>welll for me personally, I really really don't not need to go to Harvard or Johns Hopkinds for medical school. I am perfectly fine with a OK school. For instance, Dartmouth. It's medical school is pretty good, but not on the same level as Harvard. </p>
<p>what do you mean by Phi Beta Kappa graduates??</p>
<p>but ya I think I will apply for UChicago. It seems like the education is worth it and plus I am sure grad and medical schools will know that UChicago kids work hard.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_Beta_Kappa%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_Beta_Kappa</a></p>
<p>The cut at Chicago is about a 3.7-3.8 plus some personal factors.</p>
<p>When my daughter was deciding whether to attend Chicago or Brand X University, our neighbor -- who at the time was a medical school professor and supervisor of many post-docs -- told her, "When you apply to graduate school, the University of Chicago MEANS something."</p>
<p>uchicagoalum,</p>
<p>the PBK standards are a bit higher for Junior year selection. </p>
<p>It is interesting that at many schools, but not Chicago, PBK inducts at three points: late in Junior year, early senior year and near graduation for seniors. I think Chicago only does JR and grad induction, though.</p>
<p>FYI, this is how Harvard does it, and I think most colleges are similar:
[quote]
The selection process for Phi Beta Kappa members includes three different elections for each classone in the spring of the junior year, one in the fall of senior year, and a final one right before graduation. The first round elects 24 juniorsdubbed the Junior 24who are then joined by 48 seniors in the fall.</p>
<p>The number of seniors selected before graduation brings the class total membership in the society to 10 percent.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think Chicago inducts about 18 juniors each year</p>
<p>As admirable as getting PBK is, I would like to chime in (as an almost graduated U Chicagoan) that no one around here is really concerned with it - perhaps because it's so rare...</p>
<p>FYI, the average undergraduate GPA at Harvard Medical school is 3.76, which means plenty of people get in with slightly lower. Also keep in mind that medical school admissions is a very comprehensive process, with the interview being extremely important. Yes, you need a good GPA, but there's a lot more (top schools typically don't admit more than a handful of students from ANY one undergraduate institution).</p>