<p>How competitive is Penn? I have heard that the classes are based on curves and you need to be top 15% for A, etc. Can anyone please share insights and experiences on this? Also, any information regarding this in the context of pre-med would also be helpful (more specifically CAS).</p>
<p>It depends entirely on the course, professor, and what school you’re in.</p>
<p>the toughest curve you’ll find is top 20% for A-/A/A+ and this is in certain intro classes like Biology and Accounting. a typical pre-med class is probably 70th percentile for an A- and 80th percentile for an A. doing around average generally yields a B. this is just for your premed requirements(maybe 8 classes total).</p>
<p>the other 25-30 classes you take at Penn could be total nonsense with a class average of an A-</p>
<p>this is mostly true for your pre-med bio 101/phys 101, but NOT true for chem 101…chem can be curved to either a B- or a C+ depending on the professor while the former two are usually curved to a B…it makes a big difference</p>
<p>Like people said, it really depends on your professor/class.</p>
<p>Chem department curves can be pretty harsh, orgo especially. Even some of the higher level classes aren’t too generous.</p>
<p>Basically, don’t expect to get straight As in college. Being “average” in Penn means getting Bs in classes that are curved, but it has a much more different meaning than in HS.</p>
<p>Penn has grade inflation from what I hear so you shouldn’t have to worry as long as you work hard enough. The Ivy known for grade deflation is Princeton.</p>
<p>I’ve never <em>ever</em> heard that about Penn. In fact, I’ve heard just the opposite. ^^ source?</p>
<p>From what I hear, Penn is actually less inflated then many of the other ivies (Harvard, Brown, Columbia for example).</p>
<p>The average graduating GPA at Penn is a 3.4 but since the “typical” penn student is actually an exceptional student in the grand scheme of things, I don’t think it’s fair to call the grading inflated.</p>
<p>Calling Penn’s grading policies inflationary is an enormous over-generalization. Wharton, SEAS, and at least the pre-med departments of CAS are rather known for their brutality. Wharton’s curve in particular is just as tough as Princeton’s (top 25% get As). If you’re a gender studies/art history major then I doubt the competition is going to be that tough, but I wouldn’t call all or even most of Penn subject to grade inflation.</p>
<p>wharton15-maybe 25% get As in wharton classes, but (i can’t quote the exact number) but close to 40-50% get Bs or better…thus grade inflation when “average” is C. wharton’s curve is pretty generous compared to engineering/science courses.</p>
<p>axc, that is true…but based on his wording I suspect the OP cares more about the difficulty of getting an A than the ease of getting a C.</p>
<p>everyone thinks they care about getting an A before they get here…it quickly transforms. sure everyone wants an A, but people learn to be more realistic with their goals. and still, 25% in wharton is better than 10 or 15% in science/engineering courses.</p>
<p>“Competitive” is not the best choice of words… not sure what IS the best choice, but I don’t think competitive is. Most people at Penn are very motivated, and they compete with themselves, but there is very, very little direct competition with others. Even in classes with curves and student-assigned grades (a la MGMT100), you are more likely to try to work in teams than you are to work against all of your peers.</p>
<p>As for grades… meh. whatevs</p>