<p>What is the median grade at Cornell? Are the classes "impossible" compared with other schools in the same caliber?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.registrar.sas.cornell.edu/Grades/MedianGradeFA06.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.registrar.sas.cornell.edu/Grades/MedianGradeFA06.pdf</a> Link to the median grade report for the Fall...Just to give you an idea. Definately depends on the course.</p>
<p>it is very deceiving. Bio 109 has a lower median than 101. but its way easier</p>
<p>^ If a course is easier, how come the grades are lower? Does Cornell scale DOWN the grades? Do the other Ivies do this as well?</p>
<p>I have never seen a scenario in which grades are scaled down. </p>
<p>The reason Bio 109-110 is easier than Bio 101-104 is that the former is designed for nonmajors. Many of those in the class are CALS people who are wanting to fulfill the bio requirement for CALS. So even though Bio 101-104 is curved higher, it is much harder than Bio 109-110 because of your competition in the class.</p>
<p>I'm sorry if I sound dumb, but if each class is curved up, how can the competition affect you? Wouldn't it still bring up your grade?</p>
<p>Let's put it this way:</p>
<p>I administer a bio exam to you and a room full of non bio-majors. You score a 59%. The rest of the class (being non-majors) score an average of 40%. Since the class average is curved to a B and you scored 19% above the class average, you get an A.</p>
<p>I administer the same exam to a room full of bio geniuses. You still score 59% since it's the same exam. The bio geniuses score an average of 75%. Since the class average is curved to a B and you scored 16% below the mean, you now get a C for the exam.</p>
<p>So you can see how in both cases your 59% is curved "up" but it can be curved up to a C or it can be curved all the way up to an A depending on how the rest of the class does.</p>
<p>Oh, ok that makes sense now :)</p>
<p>Does every class have a fixed median grade? Say if this semester, all the students do really well and the next semester many don't. Will the grade be scaled so that the really good student in the competitive semester and the not so good student in the not so competitive semester will receive the same grade? Can you get over 100% on tests? Also, do professors give quizzes and small tests other than the prelims?</p>
<p>For the most part, students tend to do about the same from semester to semester. If a class really surprises a professor on an exam by doing exceptionally well, he might be a little more lenient on the grading. For the most part, however, your competition will be about the same no matter which semester you take the course.</p>
<p>Whether professors give quizzes or small tests will depend on the class. In intro bio and orgo, for example, you will only have prelims and finals. </p>
<p>And, yea, you can get over 100% on tests (or an A+). Again, this depends on the class.</p>
<p>does it mean your doomed if you mess up on a prelim for w/e reason, maybe like a huge fat stomachache</p>
<p>No anbutitachi, if you mess up on just one prelim, and that is clearly an outlier, you'll do fine. Even in a really competitive class, if the first prelim you just bomb but then do very well on the second prelim and the final, the professor is more likely to ignore that low grade (realizing that it was a mistake and not a trend) than count it so heavily. They will be even more likely to "cut you some slack" if you make a conscious effort to go to office hours and get help after screwing up on a prelim, and then subsequently improve your grade on the next prelim/the final. Professors DO remember the kids that come to office hours and clearly put in more effort than, say, the kids that do not.</p>
<p>Professors can only do that when the classes are small and not 800-1000 people like intro bio, chem, physics, and math. Most professors' office hours in the large classes are more directed towards logistical issues such as how to study and any problems that one is having with the class rather than just questions about course material. Mostly, in those classes the TAs' office hours are the ones where one goes for help on p-sets and course material. And the TAs don't have that much power to affect your grade that much.</p>
<p>Anyone see the front-page article in the Sun today that told how the median grade here is rising? If I remember correctly, the article stated that last semester, 17 classes had a median grade of A+ while only 13 classes had a median grade of B-. Interesting...</p>
<p>Most professors, particularly in science classes where there are no soft factors like "participation" or "attendance" that factors into the grade, won't give you any extra points for effort. If you bomb the first prelim, it's often difficult to recover. In fact, in all of the classes I've gotten B's in, I did terrible on the first prelim (at the mean or lower).</p>
<p>However, that's not always the case. I had a friend who got a D on her first Chem 208 prelim. She worked really hard after that, went to every office hour, actually got the high score in the class on one of the later prelims (and this is a 1000+ person class). She ended up with a B+ in the class but because of her effort and amazing turn around, she was awarded an A- by the professor.</p>
<p>yea i saw the paper...wooot lol i want a 4.33 gpa</p>
<p>Those are high median grades. Cornell may have more grade inflation than Harvard. Yet, Harvard gets the rep of grade inflation while Cornell is said to have "grade deflation" or to be the most intense Ivy? Something doesn't seem to add up.</p>
<p>Harvard gets the rep of grade inflation because 60% of its students graduate with honors!</p>
<p>Cornell does NOT have more grade inflation than Harvard. There was an article in the NY Times out in 2003 or 2004 that stated that half - HALF! - of all grades at Harvard were in the A range.
That most definitely does not happen here. Most of us appreciate the value of a very hard-earned B.</p>
<p>lianri,</p>
<p>Maybe someone can count them. There seems to be just as many A/A- as B-/B/B+ on that list (not the same thing as half of all grades; it's more like half of all classes).</p>
<p>Read it and weep Sam Lee:</p>
<p>"According to Sun archives, 17.5 percent of grades distributed [at Cornell] to students in 1965 were As; by 2000, that number had risen to 40 percent."
"As accounted for 47 percent of grades at Princeton and 46 percent of all grades at Harvard in 1996."
-<a href="http://cornelldailysun.com/node/23297">http://cornelldailysun.com/node/23297</a></p>
<p>Also, even though the percent of As given may be similar, many many more people at Harvard graduate with honors (something ridiculous, like 90% versus the 10% at Cornell). This shows that on whole the students at Harvard selectively take more classes that hand out As even though the number of courses giving out As may be similar, which makes for an easier time at college for the average Harvard student.</p>