<p>The median grade in Harvard College is indeed an A-. The most frequently awarded grade in Harvard College is actually a straight A.</p>
<p>Pretty sad to see the standards drop so precipitously. Really sorry state of affairs</p>
<p>While this is not really a good sign, I don’t think that it is enough data in and of itself to suggest a lowering of standards. Given the population, one cannot expect to see the normal curve of grades, as clearly Harvard students are much more apt to be high performing. And, while there may be a discrepancy between Harvard and other top schools, this again does not inherently suggest a lowering of standards. It could be that other schools are just eager to show rigor by giving undeservedly poorer grades. </p>
<p>That said, I am not giving an argument either way. I am just pointing out the unsubstantiated claim, and playing devil’s advocate. To really examine the state of affairs, a thorough study should be conducted as opposed to simplistic statistical analysis. Perhaps this has already been done. But it is not present in that article. I would be interested to see if anyone has any other, more substantial data on the subject…?</p>
<p>Well there is certainly no shortage of hard or arbitrarily graded courses. My suspicion is that the number gets seriously inflated by tutorials and seminars.</p>
<p>From the comments on the article: “…in MCB52, a required class for most biology-related concentrations, 20% of the class are given A’s. This is much less than the 35% cut-off requirement for Princeton.”</p>
<p>If you enroll in certain concentrations, you’ll probably find yourself wondering just where this legendary grade inflation is.</p>