<p>How hard is it to keep up a good GPA? like 3.8-4.0?</p>
<p>I'd say pretty hard....possible, but you'll definitey have to work for it</p>
<p>plus, a 3.8-4.0 is more like an insane GPA. Standards sort of change in comparison to HS</p>
<p>It's tough, but possible. Work smart and work hard.</p>
<p>It depends on your major, classes, high school training, work ethic, etc. One of my friends rarely wrote essays in high school. Another went to a top prep school and finds this easier than high school. It's all relative. Personally, I find that it's not so bad but with my major and classes I will never get a 3.8+ GPA.</p>
<p>Grad schools and prospective employers know it varies from school to school. If you have a 3.4 and some kid from brown (with no curriculum, unlimited pass/fail) waltzes in with a 3.7, they won't compare you as though both schools were equal (Penn is way better, obvi ;))</p>
<p>Wharton, particularly their joint programs, is tough!</p>
<p>How hard is Penn compared to other schools such as HYPMS?</p>
<p>Is there a grading curve? Competitive atmosphere? Grade deflation?</p>
<p>it's a decent deal harder than our high school, leeeooooo.</p>
<p>for the majority of the kids at penn who are in the college, you can pick the route of difficulty.</p>
<p>for the science/pre med kids, most will not have a 3.8. depth and breadth of content is rigorous, even for penn standards.</p>
<p>in the liberal arts, like history/poly sci etc, even though work effort is more directly correlated to grades, A grade papers are a rarity in the top notch classes, and you've still got to take account of the PBTAF -pyscho Bicth Teaching Assistant Factor, the Ta's who grade hard no matter what.</p>
<p>And then there are the pusies in communications, and other easy departments...</p>
<p>Wharton and engineering are more work than HYPS (except S engineering).</p>
<p>Unless you're a genius or an English major, I'd say the key to getting over a 3.8 in CAS would be...</p>
<p>1.) Sacrificing social life and campus involvement to study and do all your reading (a herculean task). This includes weekend nights inside.</p>
<p>2.) Careful careful careful course selection, especially during freshman year. I find most Penn students get raped their freshman year and then learn how to be successful students afterward, or at least how to balance a schedule (e.x. 2 hard classes, a medium class and 2 easy A's). In specific terms that means foregoing Econ 1 and Math 104 until sophomore year when you get your act together.</p>
<p>3.) Going to office hours and generally getting the teachers to know who you are (this changes your B+ to A- or A- to A)</p>
<p>Econ 1 is brutal. Save this for your sophomore year (or freshman spring) unless you've taken the AP/IB.</p>
<p>I didn't find econ 1 to be that bad... Math on the other hand (114) is the devil.</p>
<p>Econ1 is brutal? That has to be a joke.
Not to offend college students, but I'd say it's not insanely hard to keep a 3.7+ GPA in the College unless your major is math or natural science (3.8+ is harder, since you need more As rather than A-s). I'd say it's really hard in engineering. Why do I say this? Because I've managed to get higher grades in College courses than in Engineering courses, and with less work (and I'm a dual degree CAS+SEAS).</p>
<p>I found scheduling to be the biggest trick: every class at penn is worth that same 1 CU (or 1.5) and goes into the GPA the same way. If you're in a loosely structured degree program (CAS) it's all about picking the right classes. Unfortunately, everyone else at penn knows that too.</p>
<p>You also have to know which classes are worth the work. One class might require hours upon hours of work to get anywhere, and another might be much simpler. They'll both weigh the same on your transcript.</p>
<p>(Interestingly, the cases where they care the most about just your GPA are the cases where they don't really care which classes you took. Med school? Law school? Just get good grades, in any class)</p>
<p>And both Math and Econ are better the deeper you go. I actually had some fun in math 240 once all the premeds/wharton/engineering intro students were gone.</p>
<p>@Rudess: remember that DP article that said something like 54% of CAS grades given were A's?</p>
<p>@mattwonder: Yea, I actually remembered that article while writing my previous post :)</p>
<p>whats' the minimum gpa you have to maintain =)</p>
<p>I'm sure there's no minimum GPA, but if you go below a certain point you get put on probation or something like that and graduation is probably like 2.0. If you're planning on doing the minimum...</p>