<p>Cornell makes each course's median grades available online. Do other universities do this? We could try to compile a list-- it could be useful. Specifically though I'm looking for the U of MN--Twin Cities. Thanks.</p>
<p>The only course there I saw with anything less than a B- average was Calculus for Engineers.</p>
<p>yeah, clearly cornell has a slight inflation problem, haha.</p>
<p>so i guess the lack of response means most colleges don't list this info online?</p>
<p>Just pay the $10 to go to pickaprof.com</p>
<p>939 students in general chemistry? WOW. Why aren't they getting hammered for student/faculty ratio in the rankings. USNEWS should recalculate the formula to list the "effective" S/f ratio.</p>
<p>Looks like Cornell is dong a bang up job at controlling grade inflation LOL!!!!</p>
<p>Publishing median grades is a huge advantage for Cornell's premeds since it allows them to fill their classes w/ easy courses. However, I personally don't like it since it influences course selection way too much.</p>
<p>Show me 5 courses with a median grade under B+. OK, SOMe math courses and a psychology. WOW!!! Academic standards are eroding at the highest levels of academia.</p>
<p>Thank god for standardized tests.</p>
<p>Actually, standardized tests benefit top schools. Despite grade inflation, the student quality of top schools is so high, that it's still harder to achieve good grades.</p>
<p>Case in point, let's compare the MCAT scores of Cornell's premeds to that of a top, supposedly non-grade inflated public, Michigan University:</p>
<p>Cornell's performance on the MCAT is pretty good. Only 12 seniors with 3.9 GPA's and yet 73, SEVENTY-THREE, seniors who scored 35+ on the MCAT (35 is the average at Harvard Med and Johns Hopkins Med). A 35 is normally 95th percentile but you can see that over 1/3 of Cornell premeds scored above a 35.</p>
<p>This is UMich's stats:</p>
<p>U-M</a> :: The Career Center :: For Students :: Med School Application</p>
<p>Still good but not nearly as good as Cornell's. Only 84 people scored 35+ out of 600 applicants. The median MCAT scores of Cornell applicants are higher at every GPA level. For example, the median MCAT score of Cornell applicants with 2.8-3.2 GPA's is over 30. While the median MCAT score of Umich applicants with 3.2-3.4 GPA's is still under 30. Imagine if you are comparing a better private school like Harvard or Stanford to a worse state school like 99% of the other state schools out there. The numbers would be even more skewed.</p>
<p>Another resource to use is mdapplicants.com. It is a self-selected sample but the difference is so dramatic that it bears notice. If you do a search for applicants with high GPA's (3.8+) but low MCAT scores (below 30), you will notice that only 1 of the 170 profiles that comes up is of an applicant from a Top 20 university. If you do a research for applicants with low GPA's (3.3 and below) and high MCAT scores (35+), you will notice approx. 36 out of the 82 profiles that comes up is of an applicant from a Top 20 university.</p>
<p>As a Cornell alum applying to med school, yes, thank god for standardized tests. Beware. Grade inflated schools are not as easy as they seem.</p>
<p>I believe these are separate issues....</p>
<p>1) Cornell IS grade inflated
2) Cornell SAT score is ~100 points higher than Michigans' and people who do well on 1 standardized test TEND to do well on most. Therefore, it wouldn't matter WHERE the Cornell students ended up going to school, they would have good MCAT scores as an aggregate.</p>
<p>Separate issues. Considering the nature of standardized tests, I doubt the choice of school has ANY factor in performance. It's about studying discipline, practicing and intellectual capacity.</p>
<p>Does pickaprof.com really work? Has anyone tried it?</p>
<p>I'm definitely a strong supporter of pickaprof. I mean I practically rely on it when choosing teachers, and sometimes even classes. By using pickaprof, I've been able to get almost straight As by choosing teachers that give easy tests and little to no homework.</p>
<p>Pickaprof breaks down like this...
Say you need to take ECON 304
You type in ECON 304, then you go to that classes page with a list of all the teachers who teach and have taught that class. On this page, you'll see what the average gpa each teacher gives for said class, and what percentage of the class receives As, Bs, Cs, etc..., along with the dropout rate. Also, each teacher will have a section where you can read what the teachers previous students said about them in said class. This student review usually includes whether or not the class is hard, how the prof grades, if there are essays, etc...</p>
<p>All in all, pickaprof is a good deal, $5 for 3 months access, $10 for a year.
In the end, you're gonna save yourself a lot of time and effort by using pickaprof.</p>
<p>The average gpa at even lower tier schools ranked in the second 100 is over 3.0. And, standards are lower at second-tier schools.</p>
<p>The workload at Cornell is grueling. It would wilt students at almost all other schools, including other Ivies. Work ethic is part of the curriculum. </p>
<p>The standards and expectations at Cornell are very high. Students are very highly motivated and talented at Cornell. That is why there are good grades. Not because it is easy.</p>
<p>My school (Wisconsin) is a big grade-deflating school. Intro courses are graded on a very tight curve. In one infamous class, Intro to Psychology (which I took last semester), half the class gets BCs or lower. The average intro class grade for any subject is roughly a BC to B, or about 2.8</p>
<p>Office</a> of the Registrar - University of Wisconsin-Madison</p>
<p>^^A look at the grade distribution for all classes going back about 10 years. It looks like, for my major at least, the curves have become even tighter in recent years.</p>
<p>^ nice link, that's what i'm looking for. do most universities make these available?</p>
<p>I'd imagine a good number of colleges put grade distriubtions online. They'd most likely be on the registar's site.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Say you need to take ECON 304
You type in ECON 304, then you go to that classes page with a list of all the teachers who teach and have taught that class. On this page, you'll see what the average gpa each teacher gives for said class, and what percentage of the class receives As, Bs, Cs, etc..., along with the dropout rate. Also, each teacher will have a section where you can read what the teachers previous students said about them in said class. This student review usually includes whether or not the class is hard, how the prof grades, if there are essays, etc...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Heh, I like how my undergrad school (Carnegie Mellon) does most of this as a free service to the students.</p>
<p>Of course, for most all courses it's the same professor that teaches it every year (at least in engineering/science courses), so there's not a whole lot of massaging around when you take classes to have easy profs.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Show me 5 courses with a median grade under B+. OK, SOMe math courses and a psychology.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>"The Biology of Lactation" had a B- average... :D</p>
<p>
[quote]
The average gpa at even lower tier schools ranked in the second 100 is over 3.0. And, standards are lower at second-tier schools.</p>
<p>The workload at Cornell is grueling. It would wilt students at almost all other schools, including other Ivies. Work ethic is part of the curriculum. </p>
<p>The standards and expectations at Cornell are very high. Students are very highly motivated and talented at Cornell. That is why there are good grades. Not because it is easy.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>While I agree with the your first paragraph; I don't see how you can claim it's more "grueling" than other Ivies or peers. Did you compare classes across various discipline to know that? Did you look at their problem sets, paper requirement..etc to know that? I was told AEM classes aren't that difficult.</p>
<p>What you said about high standards and expectation applies to other peers known for grade inflation too, just in case you were implying otherwise.</p>