<p>Why do students at more selective colleges (such as the Ivies, Stanford, and other top schools) tend to have higher GPAs than students from less selective schools?</p>
<p>Is there more grade inflation at selective schools, or are their students smarter/more motivated?</p>
<p>I believe the college thinks they deserve a grade bump for being the “top students available”. In reality it works out to be grade inflation.</p>
<p>How do you know that’s true? I am not certain it is, at least consistently. Colleges seem to go through waves of grade inflation and deflation, and they don’t happen at the same time for all colleges in the same market tier.</p>
<p>Now, the highest-ranked, hoity-toity colleges have few if any people that flunk out, while large public institutions that as a matter of philosophy admit a much wider range of students also have a much higher percentage fail, or come close. I suppose that lowers their median and average GPAs vis a vis the top privates. But I believe most of those public institutions have as many or more kids with gaudy GPAs as the privates.</p>
<p>The concept of grade inflation at the Ivies et. al. always leaves me scratching my head. I have two kids so far at tippy top schools and both of them have/had to work super hard and found it was extremely difficult to earn A’s. Meanwhile, I get nauseated hearing so many parents of kids at state schools bragging about their children’s 4.0’s or near perfect grades, when these were not the kids in the honors and AP classes in high school nor the kids with high SAT’s.</p>
<p>What might be true at top schools is that it is hard to get below a C.</p>
<p>JHS, colleges often release such statistics. For example, here’s Emory University’s data:</p>
<p>[Profile</a> of Emory University 2012 graduates | Emory University | Atlanta, GA](<a href=“http://news.emory.edu/stories/2012/05/upress_class_of_2012_profile/index.html]Profile”>Profile of Emory University 2012 graduates) </p>
<p>Their graduating senior’s average is 3.38.</p>
<p>TheGFG, some kids (my D, for example) are very high achieving kids before they attend their “state school” and continue to do well there. They work their tails off for their 4.0’s, their latin honors, their academic awards, etc. So, yeah… maybe don’t generalize about those low-lifers at public universities.</p>
<p>In my case, I had two tip-top students when they started college. My son has gone on to be a B student at a highly selective LAC. My daughter graduated from our flagship state U with a 4.0, phi beta kappa, summa – and she did in fact work WAY harder than my son at his “elite” school.</p>
<p>Although, no generalization is intended by me with this comment.</p>
<p>This website, which I think is done in good faith at least, has some relevant data:</p>
<p>[National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/]National”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/)</p>
<p>It indicates that in general private universities have average GPAs that are about .2 points higher than public institutions. That’s consistent with the explanation I gave above, I think. But there is definitely significant overlap between the average GPAs at some highly selective privates (Cornell, Dartmouth, Wellesley, Princeton, Harvey Mudd) and some less selective publics (Georgia, Florida, UW LaCrosse).</p>
<p>JHS, Graph 1 indicates Private Us have average GPAs that are 0.3 pts higher than public Us (that’s 10% higher). For the most part that’s been consistent over the time period shown in that graph. Graph 2 shows the divergent grades started ~1960. Graph 3 shows the greatest grade inflation seems to be at older private Us (Harvard, Yale, Duke, Dartmouth). I think Purdue should be proud. No grade inflation. The original question was:
While the Trend in Grade Inflation you linked is really looking at grade inflation over time I think it also shows grade inflation based purely on Private vs. Public.</p>
<p>Sorry, when I said .2 I was looking at “All Schools” not “Public Schools”. The gap between Private Schools and Public Schools seems to have been widening slowly but consistently, from .24 in the early 90s to .29 five years ago.</p>
<p>As I said, the charts do show a private vs. public school difference in the aggregate, but it doesn’t hold true for all schools, or all of the most selective schools. Princeton’s average GPA falls into the 3.2-3.4 range, just like many public universities, including UVa, William & Mary, Michigan, UCLA, but also Georgia and Florida. Its rate of grade inflation is well below the trendline, and well below a number of public schools with similar data available, including Georgia, Michigan, and the University of Washington.</p>
<p>The compiler of the charts writes:
</p>
<p>I am going to reiterate my hypothesis: Public schools admit a much wider range of students than the most selective private schools (and by the way have fewer resources available to support financial aid). The range isn’t wider at the top of the class – there aren’t enough superdupergeniuses to make a difference – so the difference shows up in the number of students getting low grades (and in students whose economic struggles to balance college and earning a living affect their academic performance). That systematically brings down the average GPAs for the public schools. If you looked at the segment of each public school’s class with similar test scores and family resources to the private schools, I believe you would have much more similar average GPAs.</p>
<p>Yes there is grade inflation in some colleges and unis just like there is in some high schools. It’s all in context.</p>
<p>
Sounds pretty good to me.</p>
<p>JHS, that’s probably correct. I would also say a factor is the Ivy league’s gentleman’s C. Public Us don’t have an incentive to do that.</p>