<p>Sorry, I was misled by those stats on their website. But still, to say that Princeton still has "massive grade inflation" or ever did have it is quite incorrect. And while the 3.1 GPA is lower than what I figured from the stats I had access to, it does not really surprise me. I never really meant to argue that Princeton grading was harsher than MIT's but Sakky's comment led me to search for his statement's validity and I was left with misleading stats.<br>
However, it is still important to note that Science/Engineering majors typically have GPAs lower than their humanities counterparts. If the average GPA at Princeton is now about 3.25/3.3, then it is presumable that the average Engineering GPA is a bit less. While the average Princeton engineer may still have a higher average GPA than an MIT one, the difference is surely within .15
MIT may grade harder than Princeton but I don't quite see any school (perhaps Caltech?) as having grading that harsh along with a brilliant student body. Even if Princeton has grading that is more lax than MIT, it is still the hardest grading ivy. Coupled with a brilliant student body, the new grade inflation measures seem to ensure that getting a high GPA at Princeton is more difficult than most anywhere else (save MIT!).</p>