<p>is it normal for the GPA cutoffs to be this high? (Among other universities)</p>
<p>These are some cutoffs for UMD:</p>
<p>Spring 2010
Summa: 4.000 - 4.000
Magna: 3.971 - 3.999
Cum Laude: 3.948 - 3.970</p>
<p>Winter 2010
Summa: 4.000 - 3.975
Magna: 3.974 - 3.913
Cum Laude: 3.912 - 3.821</p>
<p>Idk if I'm interpreting this right, but does UMD have some serious grade inflation issues?</p>
<p>If I recall correctly these terms are tied to the class ranking in a percentage form.</p>
<p>They do not have grade inflation, it is just how the top performing students do.</p>
<p>If it was a grade inflation what you would need to look at is the % of students that do graduate Magna, Summa, or Cum Laude, but again, I believe the system would be top 1%, 5%, and 10% respectively.</p>
<p>It still seems like grade inflation is involved. 10% is a lot of people. The “top performing” students would have to do seriously way better to have cutoffs that high if grade inflation is not in the equation. I don’t see such a huge divide between “top performing” students and everyone else to be very probable although it is def possible. </p>
<p>If it really is that much easier to get an A at UMD than at other places, I really hope that I will be prepared enough for grad school and standardized exams.</p>