<p>I was curious as to how inflated/deflated grading was at Rice. For all those who are currently attending, would you say many of your classes are "saved by the curve" or strictly adhered to a set standard regardless of difficulty (i.e. WASHU, UMich, ivies). As many of you know boosting the GPA is one the key factors into getting into competitive med/grad schools, so I'm looking into the difficulty of Rice's grading standards.</p>
<p>I mean, Rice is not an easy school. As far as I know, most classes are not graded on a curve (including bio/chem classes as far as i am aware, though i am not positive).</p>
<p>Seriously, although are worried about getting a high GPA, you shouldn’t choose a school that is easiest to do well in. I’m pre-med too, and I got significant scholarships to my state schools, which also would have been easier, but I chose Rice because of the personal attention and the community feel. Yes, the classes here are tough, but med school is even more tough. If you work hard, though, you can do well in the pre-med classes here, and still have a life. Keep in mind that 90 percent of med school applicants from Rice get into med school.</p>
<p>Choose a school based on fit and quality of education, not based on which is the easiest to get a good GPA in. </p>
<p>However, there are curves in some of the most difficult classes if I’m correct (have only been taking the basics). I wouldn’t say we have grade deflation, but I also wouldn’t say we have grade inflation. This is a tough school, but if you develop disciplined work habits, you can definitely thrive here.</p>
<p>How large are the introductory classes in biology and chemistry, for example?</p>
<p>Intro classes are big, on the order of 100+ kids for the lectures, then smaller groups for labs.</p>
<p>As far as grading, it depends on the class/instructor. I’m in honors physics, and pretty much our entire class gets destroyed by the tests, so there is a verrrry generous curve in that class. I don’t think any of my other classes have had curves, and I finished last semester with a healthy GPA.</p>
<p>If my experience here so far is any indication, Rice doesn’t practice grade inflation at all, even if the average undergraduate GPA is quite high.</p>
<p>In one of my math classes, for instance, there is no partial credit for wrong answers–and it’s enforced very literally. There’s no curve, either. This is “sort of” a graduate-level course filled with half undergraduates, half graduate students (in mathematics). I say “sort of” because it’s offered as a 400 level course. The math department here puts a number of courses designed to prepare graduate students for the Ph.D. qualifying exams in mathematics as 400-level for some reason.</p>
<p>Rice has some mechanisms in place to help you out, though. During your first semester (either as a freshman or a transfer) you can drop any class up until the last day of classes with no consequences. You are also allowed up to four pass/fails in non-major classes, and if you end up doing well in a class that you had declared pass/fail you can revert it, take the good grade, and get the pass/fail back.</p>
<p>Further, I’ve been a student both here at Rice and a pretty ordinary state university (I transferred), and I can say that the professors I’ve had here at Rice tend to be a lot more open to extra credit projects, etc (including the professor who does not give partial credit). That said, most of my classes are advanced/graduate-level math courses, so this could be a peculiarity of the math department here–I don’t want to make any undue generalizations.</p>
<p>Grades are inflated, and GPAs seem to be trending upwards. The problem is severe enough that there’s a special committee at work on it this academic year:</p>
<p>[Rice</a> University | “Grade Inflation” and Academic Honors](<a href=“http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Grade_InflationAcademic_Honors.asp?SnID=2]Rice”>http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Grade_InflationAcademic_Honors.asp?SnID=2)</p>
<p>The scale is set such that an A+ is now a 4.33, which is absurd.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I agree about the absurdity of A+ being a 4.33, if only because an A+ grade tends to be very hard to get in most non-LPAP classes that I’ve taken.</p>
<p>Admittedly I forgot that an A+ is a 4.33 here–As and A+s coincided in GPA calculations at my old school.</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, it does feel somewhat like grade inflation, but on the other an A+ generally seems very difficult to get here, so it wouldn’t feel right for it to be the same as an A, just like it wouldn’t feel right for an A- to be the same as an A. More precisely, it’s hard to see the point in actually awarding A+s if these simply translated into As when used for GPA calculations. My old school did this, and most people had developed the attitude that there was no point in ever trying to get an A+ unless the subject just came that naturally to you or you needed to really impress the professor for some reason.</p>
<p>I’ve managed a few over the years. Not that I didn’t work hard or didn’t appreciate them. The trouble is that the 4.33 makes Monopoly Money out of your transcript.</p>
<p>Would just like to note that this varies considerably by major. One of my roommates is dumb, but she’s a psych major and has a 4.0. I know several poli sci majors with GPAs greater than 4. On the other hand, there are electrical engineering classes of 40 people where 3 people get A’s…and those are A-'s. Most of the introductory classes curve considerably but once you get into legitimate engineering classes that stops real fast. My last physiology exam had a class (of 140) average of 80, no curve, which I feel provides an accurate representation.</p>
<p>Given, that’s not to say it’s impossible to get a 4.0 as an engineer; though I don’t think I know any bioes with 4.0s, I know several 3.7-3.9. But you’d probs have to bust your ass, all the time.</p>