<p>Hey- so I told someone I was attending WM the other day and they said something along the lines of how hard it was because all the classes grade on a bell curve? Is there any truth to this? What kind of grading system predominates at WM? Or does it depend on the prof/class?</p>
<p>in my experience it depends on the professor. I believe the average GPA of graduating seniors is roughly 3.2</p>
<p>I did have a couple classes where my “raw score” was curved down, but this wasn’t generally the case. Of course, most of my classes had essay based exams, where the “raw score” is significantly more subjective than say, math or science problems.</p>
<p>drbro, this is a lingering rumor but we don’t believe there to be much truth to it. No doubt some professors grade on a bell curve but we think they are the exception, not the rule. Hopefully some current students will reply to this thread to let you know their experiences.</p>
<p>Not one of my classes graded on a bell curve. What I saw a few times in some particularly difficult courses was adjusting scores up by a certain amount to obtain an average of XX%, but usually these professors would never adjust down. So if the class average was 77% and the professor set a target average of 80%, everyone would get a 3% boost. But if the class average was 81%, the grades would stand and the professor wouldn’t subtract 1%. This was fairly rare though… most grades were unadjusted and followed a typical grading system with 10% tiers and +/-.</p>
<p>That’s not to say getting good grades is a walk in the park. Like at any challenging institution, you will have to put in a good amount of work.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback javabytes. Another thing for any student to keep in mind that is that grading in college, regardless of where you attend, is not like grading in high school. There is no weighting; no one will graduate with over a 4.0. Whereas in some high schools a 3.5 or 3.7 might be considered a low GPA especially for those looking at selective schools, the same GPA in college is really strong. That’s just an adjustment that high-achieving students will need to make.</p>
<p>Probably too obvious, but I find this useful for expectation-setting:</p>
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<p>I think the usual numbers for these are top 20%, top 5%, and top 2%, respectively - that is, the top 20% of students (measured by GPA) have earned a 3.5+ GPA.</p>
<p>No idea how accurate those percentages are at W&M, but I think they are a good rough guide to setting expectations.</p>
<p>There are probably a lot of students entering W&M who’ve never seen a grade other than an “A” in their life - that “B” they get in their first semester can be traumatizing, so they need to be realistic …</p>
<p>Absolutely no truth to the rumor that professors at W&M grade on a bell curve. There is no guidance from the administration on grading policies.</p>
<p>Squiddy echoed what we said and many students and alumni appear to dispute the rumor that W&M faculty grade on a bell curve. It is simply that high-achieving students, the kind admitted to W&M, have to adjust to the fact that a 4.0 GPA in college is not realistic and that lower GPAs (the kind that out of high school might sound inadequate) or perfectly strong GPAs to employers and grad schools.</p>
<p>Great. Thank you all.</p>
<p>Any time. That’s what we’re here for</p>