How hard is it to get a 4.0 at Wash U?

<p>So u'll see this on a lot of other colleges sites and its usually quite informative about the difficulty of classes and such. How hard is it to get a 4.0 at Wash U? Is there grade deflation or inflation or?</p>

<p>I doubt that GPA trends are really going to tell you much about class dificulty, etc… But that being said, maintaining a 4.0 till you graduate would be pretty tough. Especially in ArtSci, where an A- counts as a 3.7… That being said though, I don’t think there are any overbearing trends for grade inflation or deflation… Maybe not true of every department; it kind of varies. </p>

<p>Frankly don’t think I’ve heard any other students talking about their GPAs, so … whatever that says to you i guess, lol. Mine was a 4.0 for the first semester, until I got an A- second semester… Not something I really worry about though, so much as fitting in the classes I’m interested in.</p>

<p>Do you know what you’d be studying? Are you pre-med, or do you have a reason you’d need a 4.0? Your question probably doesn’t have an answer that applies to all of the schools and departments within WashU ;)</p>

<p>GPA is probably hardest for engineering, where generally classes are much harder (though the calculation of engineers’ gpa has some leeway built in). Grade inflation is definitely low. In my Gen Chem class (biggest course on campus with like 700 students) I estimate based off of the test score distributions (they don’t give you the exact number) somewhere between 15-20% got and A, 30-40% ish got a B, and the rest got C’s and lower. Lots of classes (mostly science courses) have competitive curves. Math grading is relatively easy though.</p>

<p>it really depends. I have a 4.0 for my first semester here. and a lot of the people on my floor have 4.0s. (and most of them are BME or pre-med or both.) but that’s not really the case for the general student body. so…</p>

<p>I’ll be pre-med, hence the need for a good gpa. I think I’ll study history, with a bio minor so I can meet all the med school requirements. Thanks for all your answers! I just wanted to see what students thought about the difficulty of classes and how hard it actually is to get good grades if you work hard…</p>

<p>As a professor and undergrad advisor with 30 years experience at another university, let me suggest that you are focused on the wrong question. Grading is more fickle and variable than most anyone will admit. Is Wash U. a competitive or challenging academic environment? Sure. I know from my son’s experience. But that is at a macro level and as people have already mentioned it will vary among divisions, departments, individual faculty, etc. </p>

<p>By being focused on GPA ahead of just getting a good education and having a good experience, in my judgment that usually assures that one will not do as well. You don’t get your best education or earn your best grades by playing it safe. It’s like being an overly cautious driver and you only increase the chances of crashing and burning. </p>

<p>Trust your instincts and what you already know about yourself, your interests, and your tentative longer term goals (which in 90% of the cases will change). Be serious about the stuff that really counts. Have values and not drives. And enjoy your courses and the learning derived from them. The rest will follow.</p>

<p>^^I was hoping someone would say that.
Bravo.</p>

<p>Many years ago, I was able to get into medical school with a 3.2 from Wash U and average MCAT scores for Wash U. So unless you are aiming for a top medical school like Harvard or Yale, I wouldn’t stress. My two friends who went to Yale Medical School from Wash U. had high GPAs but definitely not 4.0s.</p>

<p>^Wash U has one of the best medical schools in the world (better than Yale’s and almost at the same level as Harvard’s). You know that right?</p>

<p>Wash U’s med school is consistently top 5 or 6 in the country, well above Yale’s I think.
It is superb, irrespective of how it compares to others.
In fact, it is the well known quality of the med school that has been a key factor in driving the whole university’s profile and ranking in recent years.</p>

<p>A 4.0 at any top school is incredibly hard. Especially for pre-meds, who have to survive Bio, Chem, and the dreaded Orgo, which is not until after first semester. Just do your best. Admissions of med schools will know what a good GPA is for each school. For example, they know WashU has a great pre-med program and gets many of its students to do well at the top med schools. Therefore, they know that a 3.8 a still a great GPA. Like Elpauling said, worry about the more important things and the GPA (along with how much credit that GPA merits) will come.</p>