<p>My GPA in college is an important factor in the career I want to go into. I want to decide which school I want to use my SCEA/ED card on to improve my chances. So could you guys rank the Ivies based on how easy it is to hold a high GPA, from easiest to hardest? I know that if I get in to one of these, it's going to be brutal competing against other very bright kids and that, as a public HS student, I have never faced such an environment before. I don't want to end up throwing myself off a cliff due to depression about grades or anything.</p>
<p>It’s a running joke amongst the Ivies that Harvard is super inflated, while Princeton is brutally deflated. However, Yale is supposed to be very inflated also, and all of my friends and I have agreed that inflation is often nonexistent in many courses (especially the science ones)! When looking at GPA trends among various types of schools, also realize that there are many high-achieving students concentrated in the Ivies, that would account for higher GPAs. It doesn’t necessarily mean that Columbia is more inflated than your local state school. Don’t base your choice based on which one is more inflated than the other.
And coming from a public HS kid at an Ivy, don’t let the resumes of others intimidate you. If you work hard, your grades will show. There’s also tons of support (TAs, professors, free tutors, other students) that can get you through that tough class. I think my biggest fear going into college was failing all of my courses because I wasn’t “Ivy material,” and now I know that as long as I put in the effort, it all works out.
Good luck!</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s any reliable way to rank the Ivies based on grade inflation. It also depends on your major.</p>