Grading Policies at Stanford

<p>According to the Registrar's website, Office</a> of the University Registrar - Grade Point Average (GPA) & Class Rank Policy | Student Affairs </p>

<p>"Note that the GPA (grade point average) and rank in class are not officially computed under the general University grading system. The GPA does not appear on the official transcript, and it is not released outside the University. Stanford University does not calculate a rank in class." </p>

<p>After hearing so much about Grade inflation, and thinking a little bit about Grad School, etc., how exactly are grades reported? From what I understand, only the letter grades are on the transcript? For grad schools that want a GPA, do they just calculate their own?</p>

<p>And if GPA isn't officially recorded, how can people even prove grade inflation (i don't argue that it exists at Stanford, just the evidence of the claim)?</p>

<p>I am kinda confused about this if someone WHO ACTUALLY KNOWS THE ANSWER could help out :) aka a current student or very recent graduate (since the website shows that the policy was changed in Summer 08-09, i believe)</p>

<p>For clarification, I don't want to start a debate about grade inflation here. I just want to know how grades are reported on transcripts/to grad schools because i don't understand the website.</p>

<p>there are gpas on your unofficial transcripts. it’s computed in the standard way (A+=4.3, A=4.0, A-=3.7, B+=3.3 …) I’m not sure about on official ones.</p>

<p>NJDS,</p>

<p>Welcome back… to Stanford again. For most of classes, you can get B+s if you put certain effort, which is at least 3.3, while it is difficult to get A+ though. One of the super kids I know who went to Princeton last year to study Physics, he got C+s. It is fine with GPA of 3.6 from Stanford, which is not too difficult to get.</p>

<p>Grades for every class show up on your official transcript. However Stanford does not print a GPA on the official transcript, just the grades (A+, A, A-, etc.).</p>

<p>The unofficial transcript does print your GPA based on Stanford’s grading scale (A+=4.3, A=4.0, A-=3.7, etc.). So when you apply to internships or have to report your GPA anywhere, you generally write the one shown on your unofficial transcript.</p>

<p>Professional schools often standardize your GPA based on your grades in each class. For example, for law school, LSAC will calculate your “LSAC GPA” based on the grades in your transcript and the grade history of your institution. This will be close to, but not exactly, your GPA on the unofficial transcript.</p>

<p>Not sure how non-professional grad school works. I’m assuming they do some internal standardization/calculation as well (if they even do that).</p>

<p>thanks for the help!</p>