<p>I just received the memo today.. Very interesting..</p>
<p>Marshall School of Business</p>
<p>University of Southern California</p>
<p>January 14, 2008</p>
<p>This memo is to announce a change in the grading procedure for Marshalls undergraduate courses, effective immediately.</p>
<p>In 1997, Marshall instituted a grade target for all undergraduate courses in an effort to prevent grade inflation. This has often been interpreted as a curve by students but Marshall has never had a practice of grading on a curve. These guidelines have been modified on several occasions, most recently last January when the target was adjusted from 2.85 to 3.00 for required classes and 3.30 for elective courses. </p>
<p>Beginning this semester, the grade targets will no longer be mandatory. Each instructor will have the discretion to assign grades commensurate with the performance of students in his or her class, and each grade must be assigned on the basis of student performance. No student shall be assigned a grade simply to fit a curve.</p>
<p>Each course/class will continue to have a suggested target to maintain some consistency across classes. These general targets may be adjusted over time, as has been the practice in the past, to account for changes in the quality of the student population. After the third week of each semester, each instructor will be notified if the mean GPA of the students in a particular class is unusually high. If so, a higher mean GPA for that class for that class will be recommended.</p>
<p>As with any change to a procedure, we will monitor this and make adjustments as needed. Please let us know if you any questions or suggestions.</p>
<p>Kim D. West, Ph.D.
Associate Dean
Undergraduate Programs
Marshall School of Business</p>
<p>True, and it could work against you depending on how the prof sets it, but I like how it gives them more freedom to administer their own types of testing without having to conform to a school-wide curve.</p>
<p>Interesting, I'd like to hear more from the USC students whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Is it bad or good because it probably decreases the competition?</p>
<p>son of a gun. i graduated already and i am ****ED. </p>
<p>the curve was bad thing for students most of the time, good fro recruiters who needed to weed out applicants, and made the universty administration feel over all better that there was no grade inflation. where it did the most damage was in easy A courses, like OB and OM. it was near impossible to get an A after the grade because the class would be curved backwards. usually only the top 5 or top 10 students would end up with A's. it didnt matter if you scored a 90/100 on that final, if the average was 89/100, you get a B. but on the upside, it was just about as difficult to fail a course, becasue the curve is so lenient on the low end.</p>
<p>whats even better is that our rankings might actually go up, as students become more satisfied with grading. grade inflation is a good thing for our rep.</p>
<p>As a current student, I view this new development as slightly negative. With the 3.0 "B" curve (as opposed to the 2.7 "B-" curve that MrTrojanMan had to contend with), you were almost guaranteed a grade in the B range unless you did really poorly or extraordinarily well. Without a curve, you don't get that same comforting consistency from class to class, and some teachers might grade even harder (accounting?). Tough to say for sure.</p>
<p>Well they realized that perceptions about grading were worse than the actual grading.</p>
<p>For example, engineering classes almost certainly, on the average, hit a lower mean GPA than the "target" mean GPA that marshall had that was so maligned.</p>
<p>Yet, you never really heard anyone complaining that vocally about how bad the "curve" is, because there never was any mandated curve or target grades.</p>
<p>From what I have heard, the current "curve" system will be the same (3.0/3.3) UNLESS the entire class does more poorly than classes from previous semesters. If that happens, the professor can lower the target gpa for the course. On the upside, if the class scores higher than previous classes, the curve can be raised.</p>
<p>Assuming nothing has changed in terms of class performance relative to previous classes, the system remains the same. I think most professors will continue to use the current system of grading rather than eliminating the curve in their particular class all-together.</p>
<p>i think it is similar to what moss said. I spoke with my OB professor today and she informed me that because my class was so strong there were only 2 A's out of 35 students. I received a 93.7 and received an A- (one student got 94.8 and got an A-). Basically she said in this new situation the target grade can be adjusted so students who scores grades like this will get the grade they deserve, an A. However, she said don't take her word for it because better explanations are coming soon.</p>
<p>The curve hasn't been eliminated it has just been reevaluated</p>