Some schools are known for grade inflation, while others are known for being notoriously hard to actually get an A. Where does W&M rank on that spectrum from your experience?
I am not a student, but a parent of a junior at the college (and a STEM major). I can answer from a certain perspective but hope a student (Shawn, etc) can help answer your question as well.
From talking with my child, and other students who have been at the house:
It is not hard to get an A, just hard to get STRAIGHT As. 2x harder to do it multiple semesters.
There just seems to always be that one class that they have to throw everything they have at just to get a B/B+. And doesn’t matter if it is a STEM class or not. I have seen As in STEM and struggles with Sociology or a language class.
They do seem to think that they could go to a myriad of other schools and get better grades for the effort. I tend to agree with respect to less selective institutions, but not all. I know a 4.0 transfer who would agree (and has stated such)
All that said, they also talk about incredible professors that go the extra distance to help and how much they are learning even if they can’t get the elusive A.
I know someone who transferred in a recent year to WM from another top-ranked school with a reputation for not having grade inflation. They found STEM classes at WM a little more reasonable in terms of making high grades and that in general there was more reading in humanities classes at WM.
WM like other schools has experienced grade inflation in recent decades, although it’s never been a school with inflated grades, relatively speaking, so that’s from a lower base. You could find lots of schools with more inflated grades and some with less.
It can be an advantage to good students to have less. I know a prof at a top school that has a reputation for not having grade inflation. Profs get some pushback from administrators who would like them to give higher grades.
The prof, though, sees it as being unfair to really strong students who earn outstanding marks, to then give the same marks to students whose work is not as outstanding. There is real satisfaction in EARNING that A.