Can anyone tell me how grading compares between Oxford and A&S at the main campus? Does the average student coming out of Oxford after sophomore year have a GPA that is roughly the same as the avg Arts & Sciences sophomore from the main campus?
Oxford has “less inflation” in the non-sciences. Sciences will be similar except that on main, you can always weasel yourself into an easy instructor whereas I think Oxford has more consistency. I suspect the reason why Oxford has less inflation outside of science is merely because of class size. Much like other LAC’s, you will probably hear of a higher workload and standards for such classes. This is simply because it isn’t as burdensome to challenge students when there isn’t a ridiculous amount of grading to do. On main or any research U, you can pretty much coast off of the larger non-science courses where a) instructor does not have time to challenge or b)departmental politics(IE, we want more majors or want to protect our popularity) don’t allow intro. and intermediate courses to be but so challenging. LAC’s and certainly a school like Oxford deals with this issue less and can thus afford to challenge more in some places and even give out lower grades if deserved. I mean, Oxford is focused on teaching (as are LAC’s) so it is not surprise.
That is very helpful @bernie12 . So is it correct to assume the graduating cumulative GPA of the average student who originated at Oxford will lag behind the average Arts and Sciences student who took all four years at the main campus?
I would think so. But at the same time, tons of students get academic honors at Oxford, so maybe a bimodal thing is happening.