<p>Well...I think it's partly true. People definitely work hard at Cornell for lower grades than they are probably used to. But it's not like everyone is failing.</p>
<p>Median Grades for the past several semesters: <a href="http://registrar.sas.cornell.edu/Student/mediangradesA.html%5B/url%5D">http://registrar.sas.cornell.edu/Student/mediangradesA.html</a></p>
<p>You'll notice that it varies from B's to A+'s as a median grade. I don't know how this compares to other schools, and I suppose it depends on what you think of as a poor grade.</p>