<p>I was wondering if anyone knows if Harvard courses are graded on a bell-curve? I've heard a lot about grade inflation, which wouldn't really support the bell-curve idea.</p>
<p>Also, is it possible to get all A's and a few B's at Harvard if you were a straight A student in high school in an extremely challenging AP program/academic governor's school? I'm worried that I'll flunk out of Harvard. I'm extremely hard working and dedicated, but I'm worried that I may not be quite as brilliant as some of the incredibly amazing kids there. I'm not a genius (well technically I am, but not in the Harvard way lol), and I'm scared that since so many people who go to Harvard are so brilliant, they will set the "curve" way too high and I'll fail. I know it's way too early to have such thoughts, I just don't want to flunk out..or even get C's.</p>
<p>i know someone who goes to harvard, and she says that they will not, i repeat, will not flunk you if you do all of your work, even if it's not "excellent" work.</p>
<p>I can only tell you from my son's experience that you probably will do just fine. In fact, he has yet to get anything but A's so far...I'm sure that will change, but for now, he's on a roll. I think the important thing is to be careful in selecting a balanced courseload: I always say, try for no more than one heavy reading class, one heavy writing class, one test based/lab class, and one fun class. Especially in the beginning, students are advised to not overload, and don't expect to be able to do nearly as many ec's as high school (one or two is more typical).
Also, from what I hear, it's not like every student is brilliant in all ways. Each seems to have some area or areas where they totally shine, but most have their areas where they have to really work as well.
In sum, you should trust the admissions committee's decision; they have a pretty darn good sense of who will do well there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. That's pretty comforting to hear. It's funny, all throughout high school I hoped to get accepted to such a school, but now that I am, I begin to doubt myself.</p>
<p>Aboo, don't worry. Harvard loves to inflate grades. One of my siblings went there and everyone gets A's. I doubt they keep a statistic on it, but I would bet that harvard has the highest percentage of students graduating with 4.0's.</p>
<p>Especially after undergrad admissions (when the grades matter so much), who really cares what number they give you on a piece of paper? Isn't it supposed to be about what you learned in the class?</p>
<p>No, I actually have very little clue about grad school admissions :p Except that (and this is coming from Harvard's undergraduate astro tutor, lol) the most important thing they're looking for is research promise. Basically, like, get a lot of research done and publish a bunch of papers and you're in to almost any grad school there is. At least, that's for astronomy. Could be different for other fields, I don't know :p I just figured, I'll be doing a ton of research anyway so grad school wasn't something to worry about. lol you could be right though.</p>
<p>I know in engineering they have GPA cutoffs and the rest has a lot to do with research, experience, recs, etc. So I wouldn't go out and be satisfied with all C's just in case, Guitar. ;)</p>
<p>No one graduates Harvard with straight As. The valedictorian of each Harvard class usually has several A-'s and even B+'s. I know that they had a story a while ago when a girl graduated with straight As on her transcript and it was the first time in a long time. Honestly, grades are just not a big deal here. To get an A is by no means easy; the reason why people get As is because they work for it. Even if they work for it, they might get an A-/B+/B. No big deal at all, actually. The Harvard name on your resume will speak for itself. In terms of campus life, extracurriculars definitely take precedence. Like Donemom said, it really depends on what classes you choose. I myself took the route that Donemom's son did and am having a blast (and on a roll) here. Trust me: if you are accepted, that means the adcom is very confident about your succeeding at Harvard. Period.</p>
<p>I believe 91% of pre-meds get into med school.</p>
<p>As far as grades are concerned, If you put in the effort it is difficult to get below a B-. Averages in most classes are B/B+ though there are exceptions like sophomore tutorials in certain fields and certain pre-med requirements like organic chem where averages can be lower.</p>
<p>In the gov department specifically Harvey Mansfield is leading the fight against grade inflation and some classes are shifting to a B- avg as opposed to B/B+.</p>
<p>Unless you literally don't do any work you won't fail out.</p>
<p>I do know the average science grade still is (and for the foreseeable future will remain) a B+. The average humanities grade is A-. For some reason, the Gov tutorials are notorious for acting like law school; one person gets an A while everyone else gets B/B+ and a few definitely get Cs. It's one of those exceptions. Chewy, are you a student?</p>