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Princeton, which set a third consecutive record for admission applications this year, doesn't mind taking the lonely stand against grade inflation, she adds. "What we're after here is real culture change, and culture change doesn't come easily. We are comfortable taking the lead."
Some Princeton students have asked, if the policy is so great, why haven't others followed their lead, says Alex Lenahan, a senior politics major...</p>
<p>Lenahan, 22, of Piedmont, Calif., a recent past student government president, let students vent this fall in a survey that elicited 2,180 responses from a student body of 4,700. Nearly 70% said the policy had a negative effect.</p>
<p>In 68 pages of anonymous comments, students said they avoid classes where they're less confident of getting a good grade or drop out if highly competitive students enroll. They also griped about the policy putting them at a disadvantage with their peers at other Ivy League schools when applying to graduate schools or for jobs.</p>
<p>"It's difficult for me to believe that a B-plus at Princeton would ever be viewed as the same as an A at Harvard or Yale," says Lenahan, who still calls Princeton the best college in the country.</p>
<p>Princeton undergrads may take heart from Merrill Lynch's director of campus recruiting, Connie Thanasoulis. "I'm not in the least bit concerned about the chances for those at Princeton in comparison with any other Ivy League student," she says.</p>
<p>"I have never seen the quality of students that I've seen this year," she says. "I'm impressed."
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