<p>how is grade deflation for ecology and evolutionary majors?</p>
<p>As a parent of freshman, I’ll give you my perspective. I have no idea as yet how my kid will do grade-wise at Princeton or how the policy will affect her future prospects. But I can’t help but feel respect for Princeton for announcing and implementing this policy, which after all, is only trying to bring back grade levels to about 15 or 20 years ago, not to 30 years ago when a C really was average. I don’t think it is true that on paper a Princeton gpa is seen as equivalent to Harvard or Yale’s any longer, at least not by a lot of graduate programs and people connected with higher education. There has been a lot of press on this issue and I have seen a number of articles that all cite Princeton’s policy as an example of one school’s effort to curb grade inflation. I happened on a thread in the law school forum in which someone with seeming knowledge said that law schools look at the average gpa of undergraduate institutions and take grade inflation into consideration when evaluating a transcript. I imagine it is the same for med school and other graduate programs. While, unfortunately, there may be individuals in specific circumstances that may be affected by the policy…if they just miss a cut-off gpa for an application, I think the university, and hence its future alumni, benefit overall from being seen as a rigorous, serious institution with the very highest standards.</p>
<p>As for my child, if it makes her work even harder and strive to do her best, well great. If her best does not result in as high a gpa in the end as she would have had at some other school, so be it. She can always feel proud of her effort and the high demands of her alma mater.</p>
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<p>Where did you learn this?</p>
<p>[Poll</a> suggests grade inflation | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2006/oct/04/poll-suggests-grade-inflation/]Poll”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2006/oct/04/poll-suggests-grade-inflation/)</p>
<p>(thats from 2006)</p>
<p>I’ve only lurked on this site before, but now that I’m also a frosh at Princeton I thought I’d chime in.</p>
<p>After a semester, here’s my personal opinion: grade deflation really doesn’t matter all that much. Annoying? A little, but not what I would call a problem.</p>
<p>Ivan gave a great overview of the general policy. I’d also like to point out that Princeton sends a letter explaining our grade deflation policy along with every transcript.</p>
<p>In some courses, yes, the professors admit that they’re adhering strictly to the 35% A’s. My intro language class did that as well, though we never knew our percentage grade so the curve was a moot point (we just got a letter grade at the end, and percentage grades on individual assignments throughout the course). HOWEVER, while the professors did say (again in violation of the technical policy) “I’m only giving so many A’s out”, I feel like we got the grades we deserved. I did not get an A. I’m not bitter–I think I earned it. And yes, “earning” a B at Princeton is hard, and I was actually thrilled when I got a B in that class.</p>
<p>Other departments however just don’t care. My computer science professor said, on the first day of class, “F*** grade deflation!” and all of our assignments/tests were strictly uncurved, just like high school. (Well, harder, of course, but you get the point.)</p>
<p>Sometimes, as Ivan noted, grade deflation does seem to push A- work down to the B+ range, which is admittedly aggravating. (A- is a 3.7, while a B+ is only a 3.3.) However, I rarely noticed this happening. It does seem to impact introductory languages most profoundly, but don’t let that deter you: they’re also some of the most interesting classes!</p>
<p>Without grade deflation…well, what would be different? As stated earlier, most upper-level courses give out plenty of A’s, and as a result our GPAs upon graduation (as opposed to freshman year) are apparently on par with our peer institutions. Additionally, I personally felt that I deserved the grades I got, A’s and B’s alike. Certain courses will always be difficult, end of story.</p>
<p>Everyone’s experience will differ. I don’t have any experience yet with the 200-level humanities, for example. But I can at least say that you shouldn’t worry too much about it…we’re here to learn and have fun and grow, not to get into grad school. Right?</p>
<p>“I’m sure that most grad schools and employers”</p>
<p>“The absolute value of GPA matters quite a bit when you, for example, apply to jobs or fellowships or scholarships or programs or institutions that strictly say “Minimum GPA: 3.5” or something like that. Which is far more common than high school kids realize.”</p>
<p>Employers don’t usually look at your grades. You can write “cum laude” or “summa cum laude” and beyond that, I have never, ever seen a GPA requirement on a job outside of academia.</p>
<p>Ah, so that’s why people go to the Ivy League: to get good grades:</p>
<p>[National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://gradeinflation.com/]National”>http://gradeinflation.com/)</p>
<p>What a fool I was, taking Greek and Latin, and entering a department with an avowed goal of 2.0 as its average grade. I was looking for great professors, challenging work, and intense conversation.</p>
<p>“all of our assignments/tests were strictly uncurved, just like high school”</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>THAT must have been nice. What is the point of an A if anyone can get one?</p>
<p>Am I missing something here?</p>
<p>I don’t know what world you live in, but your perception of the job market is actually the opposite of mine.</p>
<p>I have “never, ever” seen academic jobs that have GPA cutoffs. In fact, academic jobs are most certainly about publication record and who/what you’ve worked on before. On the other hand, a quick trek to TigerTracks brings up the following random job application:</p>
<p>Application Qualifications
Desired Attributes The following attributes are desired for this position.
Desired Student Status: Junior
Desired Minimum GPA: 3.50</p>
<p>We’re clearly looking at different jobs. But the fact remains that many jobs (and I’m talking high end, highly sought after jobs, like on Wall St. or nonprofits or whatever) do have minimum GPA requirements. As do fellowships, like the Marshall scholarship (minimum 3.7: [url=<a href="http://www.marshallscholarship.org/applications/faqs#eligibility-f]FAQ’s[/url">http://www.marshallscholarship.org/applications/faqs#eligibility-f]FAQ’s[/url</a>] )</p>
<p>Your gut reaction response will be that grades don’t factor into any job past the first one or two. And you’d be right! Except for the fact that nothing from college will factor into later jobs anyway, including where you went to school.</p>
<p>Finally, did you really just make the claim that your Classics courses were more difficult to get an A in than a Computer Science course? Really?</p>
<p>I’m only a high school student without any personal experience with the job market. However, I have seen enough of my older sister’s on-campus recruiting materials to know GPA cut-offs certainly exist, and not necessarily just for high-end jobs; even Wal-Mart home office and information systems <em>entrance</em> positions often stipulate a 3.5 GPA minimum. (Of course, none of these minimum GPA requirements exist for those who have been in the work force for several years.)</p>
<p>A large part of this is probably because non-Wall Street, etc. companies mainly receive applications from state universities, etc. where earning a 3.5 GPA is generally easier than it would be at an Ivy institution. Unfortunately, though, these cut-offs sometimes prevent students at prestigious universities from applying.</p>
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<p>Exactly.</p>
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<p>No, but at least we learn to read. 
Reading comprehension is a great thing! Try going over that post again.</p>
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<p>No, state colleges grade harder than the Ivies, actually. See link posted above.</p>
<p>Wal-Mart might have a GPA cutoff, but I’ve been in the work force for… wow, actually 18 years, in the professional work force for 12, and I’ve never had my grades asked for.</p>
<p>Ironic that you claim to have superior reading comprehension, and yet you totally missed the statement “(Of course, none of these minimum GPA requirements exist for those who have been in the work force for several years.)”</p>
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<p>“Never” includes “the first few years”. I didn’t have my GPA asked for while in high school, college, or immediately after. I did have to work those first few years… they are kind of inevitable, since whenever you start, it’s your first year, and the ones following that are the first few.</p>
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<p>Haha wow, have you ever looked at any sources when making those statements? Stanford, Yale, and Harvard all give ~50% A’s:
[Report:</a> Grade Inflation Persists | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.harvard.edu/article/2007/5/9/report-grade-inflation-persists-over-half/]Report:”>http://www.thecrimson.harvard.edu/article/2007/5/9/report-grade-inflation-persists-over-half/)
[Poll</a> suggests grade inflation | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2006/oct/04/poll-suggests-grade-inflation/]Poll”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2006/oct/04/poll-suggests-grade-inflation/)
Stanford’s average GPA of a 3.55 speaks for itself (compared to Princeton’s 3.28).</p>
<p>Furthermore, Berkeley has the same average GPA’s than Princeton:
[UC-Berkeley[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://gradeinflation.com/Princeton.html]Princeton”>Princeton University]Princeton</a> University](<a href=“http://gradeinflation.com/Ucberkeley.html]UC-Berkeley[/url”>UC-Berkeley)</p>
<p>That 17% A figure you stated probably refers to A’s excluding A-'s, which is similar to the percentages of A’s (not A-'s) at Princeton.</p>