Does anyone know if there is grade deflation at Tulane?
Definitely not. I have never heard anyone mention DEflation as an issue. I haven’t really heard INflation as an issue either, but if anything it tends more that way. Tulane’s grading seems to be similar to what is going on these days at Duke, Vandy, and several of the Ivies, who have tried but failed to get grade inflation under control.
The evidence that deflation is not an issue is that in order to graduate with highest honors (summa cum laude) at Tulane you have to graduate in the top 5% of the class. Last year that required a 3.9+. To graduate magna cum laude required a 3.8+ and the next 10% of the graduating class achieves that. So 15% of the class has a solid A average. So overall, it sounds like Tulane grades fairly down the middle, not deflating grades certainly, but maybe not overly inflating them either. As with most schools generally, getting A’s in chem, physics, and similar courses is considered tougher for most people. People have reported fairly recently that these courses are usually graded on a curve at Tulane, so getting a 65 on a test might be an A.
Thank you @fallenchemist. I see the Tulane banner - were you a student? Although I have this on another thread I was wondering if you can shed some light on how students like being at Tulane. I visited with my daughter and I got the vibe that overall students were fairly happy and not filled with tons of stress. We did sit in on a class and it was really engaging and the students were making jokes with the professor while discussing the material. After the class I even felt like doing the assignment! I liked the atmosphere a lot and felt it might be a great fit for my daughter.
I graduated many years ago, and my D just graduated in 2014 (although she is officially in the class of 2013, she spent a year in Beijing paid for by the Chinese govt. and so decided to use her Tulane scholarship to stay a little longer, which should give you another anecdotal example of how nice it is to be at Tulane!). Students love being at Tulane. Not only is Tulane continually cited in the top 10 of happiest students (I think they were even #1 one year), but more important than some silly ranking is the reports that parents and students give after visiting. Often they are on a multi-school tour (Vandy, Tulane, Rice, Miami, Duke, WUSTL just as an example) and I can’t tell you how many times those reports come back saying much like what you just said. Not only happy students that seem genuinely glad to be there, but they also make note that the students are very helpful both when asked and spontaneously, and that they see Tulane wearing their school clothing more than the other schools wear theirs.
Now that’s not 100%, nothing ever is; not at Harvard, not at Standford, not at Tulane. But it is very very heavily that way. If she liked the visit, most likely she will love it when she is there. There really aren’t any unpleasant surprises once you get there. The most unpredictable thing can be the roommate situation, but of course that is as unknown at Tulane as at any school. To be clear, at Tulane as at most you can pick your roommate. Many “meet” their roommates over Facebook or during Orientation, in the latter case one can remove the quote marks. But even so one never knows about roommates until you live with them. But I am getting off track, since as I say that is the same no matter the school. There are tons of positives about being at Tulane and in New Orleans that really do change ones life.
@fallenchemist Great - thank you!