<p>There is a thread on this site that tries to answer your question. It looks like Emory is about 46/120 in difficulty getting an A, according to some study from 1997. I take this as good news!</p>
<p>Rankings of Toughest Schools to get an “A” </p>
<hr>
<p>In 1997 UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law
did a ranking of the toughest schools to get an “A”.</p>
<p>Are they still ranking the schools accordingly?</p>
<p>The L.A. Times ran an article 7/16/97 "Grading
the Grades: All A’s Are Not Created Equal "on
how the admissions dept. from UC Berkeley’s
Boalt Hall re-formulated the law school’s
applicant’s G.P.A. The formula ranked each college
according to how its students perform on the
standardized law board exam, the LSAT, and how
common a certain G.P.A. is at that school.</p>
<p>The following is UC Berkeley’s rankings of
the toughest schools to get an “A”</p>
<p>Swarthmore 89.5
Williams 89.0
Duke 88.5
Carleton 88.0
Colgate 88.0
J. Hopkins 87.5
Chicago 87.0
Dartmouth 87.0
Wesleyan 87.0
Cornell 86.5
Harvard 86.5
Middlebury 86.0
Princeton 86.0
Bates 85.5
MIT 85.5
Haverford 85.0
Pomona 85.0
Virginia 85.0
Amherst 84.5
Reed 84.5
Vanderbilt 84.5
Wm & Mary 84.5
Bowdoin 83.5
Tufts 83.5
Vassar 83.5
Bryn Mawr 83.0
Hamilton 83.0
Oberlin 83.0
Rice 83.0
U. Pennsylvania 83.0
Clrmt. McK. 82.5
Yale 82.5
Brandeis 82.0
Northwestern 82.0
Colby 81.5
Michigan 81.5
Notre Dame 81.5
Wash. U. 81.0
Barnard 80.5
Columbia 80.5
Stanford 80.5
Brown 80.0
Georgetown 80.0
Smith 80.0
Wellesley 80.0
Emory 79.5
U. North Carolina 79.5
Whitman C. 79.5
Rochester 79.0
UC Berkeley 78.5
UC San Diego 78.5
Illinois 78.0
SUNY Bing 78.0
Texas 78.0
Trinity U. 77.5
Boston College 77.0
UC S. Barbara 77.0
Wisconsin 77.0
Florida 76.5
U. Washington 76.5
Santa Clara 76.0
Geo. Wash. 75.5
UC Davis 75.5
UCLA 75.5
Colorado 75.0
Michigan State 75.0
Boston University 74.5
Cal Poly SLO 74.5
Massachusetts 74.0
Penn State 74.0
Iowa 73.5
Purdue 73.5
SMU 73.5
SUNY Albany 73.5
BYU 73.0
Minnesota 73.0
Ohio State 73.0
Oregon 73.0
UC Irvine 73.0
Indiana 72.5
NYU 72.0
SUNY Buff 72.0
SUNY Stony 72.0
Mills 71.5
American 71.0
Arizona 71.0
Loyola Mary. 71.0
Maryland 71.0
Fordham 70.5
Kansas 70.0
Syracuse 70.0
USC 70.0
Arizona St. 69.5
CS San Diego 69.5
Catholic U. 69.5
Oklahoma 69.5
Pacific 69.5
Hofstra 69.0
UC Riverside 68.5
Utah 68.5
CS Chico 68.5
Miami 68.0
New Mexico 68.0
San Diego 68.0
CS Northridge 67.0
Pepperdine 67.0
CS San Fran. 66.0
CS Sacramento 65.0
Hawaii 64.5
Denver 63.5
CS Fullerton 63.0
CS Hayward 63.0
CS Long Beach 63.0
CS San Jose 63.0
CS Fresno 62.5
St. Mary’s 61.5
CCNY 59.0
CS LA 58.5
Howard 57.5
San Francisco 57.5 </p>
<p>Check out this thread:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/167740-rankings-toughest-schools-get.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/167740-rankings-toughest-schools-get.html</a></p>
<p>That man is so fickle. I’ve never heard of a teacher dramatically changing up what they’re teaching every year as much as Jose does.</p>
<p>Yes, I care about grades. I would have had a 4.0 if it weren’t for that class. So far, it seems like the people who are planning to major in Chemistry are sticking in his class. </p>
<p>I also don’t like the fact that he’s not easily approachable. EVERY SINGLE ONE of my other teachers this year has been warm and friendly (even in my 100+ Psych class). I feel like they genuinely care about their students, whereas Jose just cares about the minds of the students.</p>
<p>I know the man, I found him approachable. Most did from what I saw. I don’t mean to knock you about caring about grades, everyone does. But many people “only” care about that, especially lots of pre-meds which, to blunt which explains how many pre-meds at Emory have high GPAs and low MCAT scores, which as I’ve said, is the opposite at peer institutions with a higher. </p>
<p>As for that chart, I question that. I’ve been doing some random research on grade inflation. That may moreso reflect humanities/social sciences (actually polysi can be tough at Emory) where inflation can become quite heavy at Emory. Other than curves and adjusted scales, I don’t think the sciences are anywhere near as inflated, and aside from that, most science students don’t apply to law school. You see places like MIT on there because I believe they have a somewhat decent liberal arts program. If this was applicable to the school in general, I would think Georgia Tech, which is nationally known for student stress and straight up grade deflation (in fact, I have a friend there who cited that his grades for courses were curved down for various reasons) would at least be on the list; and if it were, it would be ahead of us. This may reflect how strong (or at least how tough) the humanities/social sciences at various schools are. Aside from such logistics, the mentality I alluded to above may be a reason for us ranking lower than peers on this list. I have really seen people do anything to get an A. I witnessed people in Calc. 1 cheat on exams, and I mean every single one of them. This is just “Calc. 1”, come on. If people cared about the grade “and” learning/retaining skills and information, we would probably score better on graduate entrance exams and be higher up on that list (but our position isn’t really that bad anyway). So that chart could be both representative of mentality and the level of inflation at various schools. Arguably, some of those small liberal arts colleges along w/U Chicago, Cornell, and some others are just downright tough colleges. Not to mention the fact that the actual “workload” (mandatory out of class assignments) at Emory may be relatively small. Emory seems more about exams. Clearly people here can do well on college exams but not standardized graduate entrance exams. Seems weird.</p>
<p>I like learning too. I just care about grades more when it’s for a class I don’t have a passion for. I could get B’s in Psych and Film and that would hardly bother me, because I love those subjects.</p>
<p>Cornell isn’t hard if you’re not a science major.</p>
<p>Why does that list start at 89.5? That’s odd.</p>
<p>I guess the score is out of a 100, so no one would get a perfect score which would indicate that a high GPA is always associated with a high LSAT. I don’t know, Cornell seems to rank high on this list. I wonder how they determine this. They may do the typical inflation study where they investigate the percentage of As given w/in a dept. (you know per course).<br>
I’m opposite of you, I tend to perform worse in classes that are of a) no interest or b) review, thus too easy. I really do just try to milk it for what I can. I only got a B in physics 151 for example, but I am still a stronger physics student despite hating the professor lol. I didn’t know I was capable of teaching myself physics :); now I kind of like it. I actually look forward to 152 (Electromagnetism) because the prof. is supposedly better at teaching and engaging students; it’s a lot tougher though, and it’s at 8:30. This should be interesting. Good look with 222. Morkin is a good prof. from my understanding (like most gen. chem teachers whose teaching styles tend to fit everybody, which is good for you), and her organic class is less difficult than Jose’s (I saw her tests last year and was envious)</p>
<p>Precious time, glory days!</p>
<p>If everyone runs to the easier teacher, what happens? Not everyone in Premed likes all of their science classes…</p>
<p>Anyway, from what I see, all the blames are put on the professors!!! What happend to those Dale Carnegie lessons? Can’t always lay all the weight on one side.</p>
<p>Yeah, I notice that too. Yes, admittedly there are some terrible profs., especially in the physics and math depts. However, there are always ways to get something out of the course. As for your first inquiry. I guess the MCAT scores have to differentiate those students from each other, since most will have high GPAs, which is fair enough. </p>
<p>By the way, I’m not afraid to admit when I didn’t do as well as I could have because of my own actions. I’m used to the idea that studying “a lot” is not necessarily the way to success in every class. Sometimes I have to experiment with different ways of studying and time management, which is good for me. I never feel as if I deserve an A in every course even if I work hard. If I get a B range get and seriously got something from it, I’m totally fine. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that pre-med pressure thing. That seems really annoying and stressful, so much that one of my friends dropped pre-med this past semester even though she was doing pretty well. She got tired of planning her schedule around that, and thus blocking her from a decent amount of venturing into other interests. It actually surprised me because most seem to drop it because of their GPAs or something. I think she’s actually interested in academia/research/public health like I am.</p>
<p>I am a pre-med who has taken bio and chem my first semester. Lets just say its tough.</p>
<p>For Bio, on the first test, the average was an 80. My Bio professor told us that he has never had an average as high as 80 on a test in his past 24 years at Emory, so he told make the next test so difficult that the class average falls to a 65 on the test, that way the average on the two tests will be around a 72. I made an A in the class, but I had to constantly study and keep on top of my work. </p>
<p>For Chem its just as bad, and the 3 test averages were around 76-71-66. The average on the final was a 75.</p>
<p>Average in the 70s is not that bad. That means you’ll get a B or A in the class if you do your best, and that’s probably the most important. No one in the world is in the mood to work his ass off only to get a C.</p>
<p>Yeah, bio was tough this semester. Glad I took it last year. As for second semester, I think that material is easier( though most people think the opposite). If you made an A first semester, you’ll probably think the same thing. Trust me, no matter the professor, 142 should be easier. I don’t think it’s the type of material that allows the profs. to get as detailed oriented as they could in 141.<br>
Also, did you have Eisen or Calabrese (who curved the second exam up)? I heard both of them gave hellish second exams, but the final two were not as bad. For once, I think Spell was an easier prof. compared to the rest because Eisen and Calabrese had extremely detail oriented exams perhaps because of their neuroscience background.
Also, those averages for bio attest to how tough it can be here. Before Emory, I wouldn’t expect that biology test averages would be similar to those in chemistry (which, on top of the conceptual component, has a an intense math component). Apparently, in the past, bio 141-142 were always as hard as this past semester. I’m kinda weird so I’m beginning to wonder if I should have waited to take it this year. Eisen’s class would have been cool.</p>
<p>What do you learn in Bio 141 and Bio 142?</p>
<p>Bio 141 is mostly cell bio and metabolism. At the end, there is some intense Mendelian/non-Mendelian and chromosomal genetics. Bio 142 is a pure molecular genetics course It contains developmental genetics at the end. The exams normally consist of questions that are moreso based upon an experimental approach which is kind of cool, makes it lesser so about memory to me. Bio 142 is different from the typical college gen. bio II. Most colleges I know of have mere organismal bio for gen. bio II. Bio 142 used to be organismal up until 2005 from my understanding, which is the point at which they decided to integrate much more genetics into the course.</p>
<p>Is it easier than Soria?</p>
<p>I’m still debating doing NBB. But I’m glad they made Bio 142 more genetics based. That’s fun. As long as there is no taxonomy and hardly any plant stuff, I’ll be good.</p>
<p>Why did you take all these pre-med courses when you’re not pre-med?</p>
<p>I wanna do something like pharmacology in grad. school, so heavy exposure to chem. my original major (until I screwed up in chem. 350, Advanced inorganic. I was not prepared for that class, especially with the rest of my schedule). and bio should help. Yeah, as for that chemistry comment. It turns out that I only like organic and bio-based chemistry, so I look forward to taking biochem with Weinshenck next year :). As for bio and NBB classes, they all seem so awesome, so I’m taking my first upper level bio class this upcoming semester. Human genetics.<br>
OK, away from digression- Normally bio easier than Soria, but it depends on the profs. and the year. I’ll PM you something regarding the course. Just a moment I guess.</p>
<p>Oh my god. Those problems sets you sent me are completely ridiculous.</p>
<p>I’m a junior in Emory and few thoughts on Emory science classes (subjective)</p>
<p>BIOL 141/142 - I heard these classes got A LOT easier than when I took them, which is 2-3 years ago. You guys are lucky. Also AP credit can apply to substitute BIO 141, ***!! I got SCREWED in these classes. These classes used to be the hardest bio classes out of entire undergrad. bio department!!! I still remember having nightmares about having very ambiguous all multiple choice test with BS such as: {A. bulah B. bulah C. bulah D. A and B E. B and C} AHHHHHHHHHH the madness!!! Lab has always been chill but always lasts longer than u desire~</p>
<p>CHEM 141/142 - I heard these classes got harder than when I took them. I hear Weaver’s especially hard… with avg in the 60s… w/o curve!! r u 4 rela?! For the lab, gotta be funny/entertaining and informative for the group project. Many people got screwed on the 20% lab project because their projects were so boring and dull & people were falling asleep. Otherwise, lab is really chill and u get out of lab usually in 1 hour.</p>
<p>CHEM 221/222 - Take weinschenk he is AWESOME. Tips for getting As are 1. take his lecture notes and memorize them all 2. take all practice exams he gives to you at least couple times each!! 3. catch little mistakes he makes on problems sets (On Your Owns), sample exams, and lectures and he will like you a lot!!! Personally I think you are wasting Emory tuition if you don’t take him! (Not like I’m paying more than -1.5k per year) He throws pretty generous curve at the end but avg is always in the high 60s. Generally, AVG of ~83 is considered an A ~80 maybe A-.</p>
<p>BIOCHEM - Taking biochem over summer with weinschenk was an amazing experience ;). Good to do volunteer research + biochem w/ weinschenk over summer.</p>
<p>Dude, he is teaching biochem next year right? That’s what the rumor mill is saying. You know, since they are making it “one semester”. Either way, I liked Soria, but I really want the Weinschenk experience before I leave Emory.</p>
<p>As for your comment about bio, I saw the tests this semester, and it looks like they are trying to return it to its former pride and glory (Eisen had tests with a really tough free response portion, the multi-choice was tough too. Calabrese had really difficult multi-choice). Guess we’ll have to wait and see what my friends think about 142. I had L’hernault for 142, and his tests were rougher than other profs., but I could still tell that he could have made them harder if he wanted to. The class would just get mad at him for the ambiguous questions and confront him after class lol. Even a substitute ( Fritz) considered one of his clicker questions ambiguous. Either way, compared to the back zams we were given, which were made by Spell, his tests were on par, or slightly easier. Should be interesting because Spell’s teaching 142 this time. That’ll provide a big contrast to Corces’ 91 test averages.</p>
<p>One of my friends was in Weaver’s Chem class, kids in that class had to constatnly study just to pull off a B</p>