High School Grade Inflation: I AM SO SICK OF IT.

Applying to College
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<p>
I'm so glad that our CC high school students demonstrated awareness of grade inflations. It gives me hope that if there are h.s. students aware of the inflations here, then there are more h.s. students who are aware of it, too, out there.</p>

<p>I'm in a competitive program at my university and a lot of my peers folded because our science classes kicked *** (and I'm not saying that in the positive way). As I once was a member of the academic 'sharkies' in high school, I dealt with the drastic changes in the way university professors grade material much better; though I was a high school sharkie, I did get the occasional bad grade in some classes and I adjusted to it well. As in, "Oh, that really blows. You'd better clean your act up for the next assignment" adjustment.</p>

<p>Some of my college peers - the ones who caved - have probably never received anything lower than a B+ in their entire academic life.</p>

<p>So to all the h.s. students reading this, I wish you luck. Remember that there is more than one way to go to the university/college of your dreams.</p>

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<p>I guess what it comes down to is that every school is different. Private or public, there are tough schools and easy schools. </p>

<p>I still stand by my original statement that there is way too much grade inflation these days, though. </p>

<p>Competitive universities report getting more and more qualified applicants each year. Certainly this may be partially related to us being the children of baby boomers, but I always wonder, how can THAT MANY people have straight A's? I don't believe SATs and ACTs are or should be predictors of GPA, but when there are less than 100 American students scoring 36 on the ACT, how on earth do thousands have perfect grades? </p>

<p>HOW????</p>

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<p>Thousands of kids don't have 100s in every single class...but I get what you're trying to say.</p>

<p>But what's the national average these days? It's around a 20 or 21, right? I'll assume I'm right about that.</p>

<p>The way I figure it, people with scores 19-23 would be our C students, the folks with 24-27 would be the B students, and pretty much everyone scoring above 28 would be A students (since 32 begins the top 1% of all test takers). </p>

<p>Not that it really matters...but yeah.</p>

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<p>If someone had a 1260 on their SAT (a 28 ACT) they would certainly not be an A student at any good private or public magnet school, nor should they be at any school that is considered "competitive" or good</p>

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<p>But that's what they'd make if the ACT/SAT told us what our HS grades should be.</p>

<p>Seems to me that you think only the top 1% of the country should be getting As. That's a bit extreme.</p>

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<p>Okay, so by your reasoning basically every single person in my class should be getting straight As. Right.</p>

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<p>Our school's valedictorian has a 28.</p>

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<p>I'm also saying that only four people in my class should have had straight As. Two of us did graduate with straight As and the other two should have but didn't even though they were more than capable of it (senioritis).</p>

<p>People who go to normal schools generally have students with scores ranging from 16s to 32s and their grades usually reflect their scores unless they are horrible test takers.</p>

<p>::edit::</p>

<p>By they way, people who get 28 composites usually don't get straight 28s, so it's likely that ones on the bottom parts of my rankings don't/wouldn't have straight As, Bs, or Cs but do/would have a majority of whichever grade their composite falls under.</p>

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<p>I agree with unwritten...tons of kids in my class who don't have straight A's got higher than a 27!!! </p>

<p>Anyone getting a 19 on the ACT should not be a C student. I'm sorry, but I think all of us at CC can take the truth: a 19 on the ACT is not exactly something to broadcast. I would assume that people who get 19's either have severe learning problems that prevent them from testing normally, or the more plausible explanation...they are not very bright, are not really learning anything in school (since the ACT focuses more on what is learned in class than the SAT), and should be more of a D student at a competitive hs. I know one kid off the top of my head who got a 19 or 20 and basically failed all of his classes in hs. He's not really an idiot; he just never applied himself. </p>

<p>I think another reason that has not been brought up of why grades are so unusually high these days is that kids are being rewarded with extra points for something that should be expected. For example, teachers who give extra credit to kids who bring in Kleenex for the class, teachers who have homework be worth 90% of the grade and any semi-legible garbage is accepted...its pathetic!</p>

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<p>A 19 is NOT BAD. B Students usually make about a 20 to 23.</p>

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<p>Whoever said earlier that colleges RECALCULATE your GPA is right....</p>

<p>on almost allll my college visits and imformation sessions the admissions representative told us how they recalculate the GPA based on your high school and your particular courseload.</p>

<p>Let me just say I absulutely hate it when private school students stereotype all public schools and public school students. If you listen to the TV special on Amherst's admissions process it says that they look at how hard you've tried with the resouces given. The point is they know the difficulty of your school and stop taking this our on public school kids.</p>

<p>How can that many students have straight A's these days? The fact that there are more high school students today added to the fact that college admissions is so competitive could possibly drive more people to work harder and achieve. None of us has visited every public school in the country or has the right to judge them all. There are small public magnet schools like the one I went to and there are huge public schools where some of my friends went where there are no AP classes but they still work hard and in fact DO learn the difference between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Even at terrible public schools there are the kids who are truly trying to do their best with what they've got. They deserve the benefit of the doubt.</p>

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<p>Um...the national <em>average</em> on the ACT is only around a 20. </p>

<p>And I've never heard of any school counting homework as 90% of your grade. My school counted tests as 50% and quizes and homework as the other 50% (basically so if you slacked off on anything, your grade would suffer).</p>

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<p>"teachers who give extra credit to kids who bring in Kleenex for the class"</p>

<p>hahahaha I laughed out loud when I read this. Sad but so true.</p>

<p>About 80% of our grades come from tests except in English where it's more 50% essays/50% tests, and math where it's 100% tests</p>

<p>If people are supposedly working so hard to get these grades, why are they not studying for the ACT/SAT? If they spend a decent time studying for the ACT and still only manage a 19 after multiple attempts, I agree with CityGirl, there is either a severe learning disabilty or they have not learned much in HS... and they are definitely not deserving of a B average.</p>

<p>I have a B+/A- average and a 1420 SAT (without studying) which isn't even that great and I think my GPA reflects that</p>

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<p>The national average on the SAT is only around 1020. A 1420 is a very good score that can get you full rides to many state schools. </p>

<p>Your viewpoints are extremely warped...to the point of me almost feeling sorry for you. Anyone that actually knows a large number of (normal) people who scored between 20-22 on their ACTs would know that most of them don't have learning disabilities and aren't dumber than dirt. A 25 is actually a quite solid score for most people.</p>

<p>Also, not everyone can afford to study for the ACT/SAT; many of my friends could barely even afford to take them in the first place. Between their school work, ECs, jobs, and parents' limited income, most students simply have to go in and do what they can.</p>

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<p>"Afford" to study? They can't go to their school or local library and check out an ACT/SAT prep book? That's what I plan on doing...</p>

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<p>Not when all of their time is taken up by school and their job. Is the concept of a kid working because they <em>have to</em> foreign to you or something?</p>

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<p>I'm not even going to spell out my school yr schedule here but I'll just say that I get home at 9:30 every night and still have to eat dinner, shower, etc before I can start my homework. If these people are working from 3-10PM every weeknight, all day on sat & sun, and have large amounts of homework, then okay I can understand why they don't study for the ACT/SAT but other then that it's all excuses</p>

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<p>Some of them don't even have full school schedules because of their work. Two of my closest friends got out of school after 4th and the other 5th period to go work. Neither of their families have much money, so they both pay their car insurance, car payments, clothes, entertainment stuff, food (outside of what's made at home), tithe to their church, and are saving up for college. They were also in band, which took up a ton of their time they had off from work.</p>

<p>In their case, though, they didn't need great scores for their future plans. They both got into the schools they applied for up in Utah with their 22/23 scores (they were also in the top 10% because they did well in the weighed courses they took) and are very happy about where their paths are headed. </p>

<p>Not everyone's shooting for top schools or scores in the 99th percentile, so there's not even a need for excuses. Even when studying is technically possible, it isn't always worth the sacrifices for a lot of people.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
This has been bothering me for quite some time, and I think I am finally ready to VENT!!!</p>

<p>It is pretty obvious from reading the, "What Are My Chances?" thread that almost everyone on this board claims to have upwards of a 3.8 UW GPA, and anything below a 3.6 or 3.7 is considered, "bad" or comes with defensive excuses such as, "I've been sooo lazy during high school!" What is going on here? This is not just on CC...almost everyone I meet these days seems to have a stellar GPA.</p>

<p>No one wants to admit it, but doesn't anyone see a problem with the fact that it's possible for someone who builds a nuclear power plant for science class and a kid who builds a volcano get the same grade? All my friends at, I'm sorry, public schools, seem to maintain very impressive grades with minimal or no effort. And then some of these people get into colleges they don't, in my opinion, deserve to be at. Colleges put so much emphasis on grades, but these GPAs don't even mean anything anymore. A 3.5 at one school means "slacker," where at a very challenging high school it means, "dying of sleep deprivation." I think this whole thing has gotten so competitive that teachers are afraid to give out a C once in awhile.</p>

<p>My high school, which I graduated from this year, was so unbelievably challenging that 3.9 was considered an unbelievable GPA, and most very intelligent, hardworking students struggled to maintain 3.5-3.6. I think this is the way it should be everywhere. I certainly didn't have this ridiculous 4.8 GPA people magically come up with on this board, but I am fairly confident that because I was pushed, challenged, and not handed A after A, my 3.63 accurately reflects the knowledge I gained. However, I am going to venture that many with these people with mindblowing GPAs don't know half of the things my classmates have learned over the course of four years.</p>

<p>So many college freshman come into college all cocky, because they had a 4.3 in high school, then find themselves struggling to maintain a 3.0. People from my high school, even those with GPA's hovering in the 2.5 range, report that college is "a breeze, "a walk in the park," etc, compared to high school. Could the reason that so many countries outperform the US is because the standard American public high school requires NOTHING of the students?</p>

<p>Any response?

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<p>I agree. They need to make the work and tests more difficult. Very few people should be in the 3.7+ UW GPA scale.</p>

<p>Otherwise how do you distinguish true talent from some guy just doing his work? Test scores? Even the SAT is popping a little too many perfect and high scoring tests in my opinion.</p>

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<p>Okay. Here are my last thoughts then I'm done with thris thread:</p>

<p>a.) how are these extremely poor people paying for instruments? wouldn't they be doing like the bare minimum academically (which does not include band) if they need to skip school to work? also... how do these really poor people have excess money to be paying for extra cars</p>

<p>b.) NJ as a state has a pretty good amount of competitive applicants etc. The NJ public HS my brother goes to is supposed to be "one of the best in the state" and it is a disgrace. My brother, who is not interested in school at all, is not very bright, and probably will not even take the SATs because he has no interest in college (and would likely fail out of any decent one). I hardly ever see him doing homework.. if he even does it, yet he gets Bs at this school.<br>
If this is "one of the best" I really don't want to know what the rest are like. This school may not be representative of most public schools but it's in a wealthy area and is frequently commended for being so great, yet people like my brother manage Bs and even As sometimes</p>

<p>Also... average is not exactly something to strive for. The average American is not intelligent.</p>