<p>(stolen from the duke forum)</p>
<p>can you analyze the difficulty based on</p>
<li>Grades, especially grade deflation (is it hard to keep a good GPA at Tufts)</li>
<li>Coursework and Homework (in terms of time, amount/amount of papers etc.)</li>
<li>Scheduling (good or bad i guess)</li>
</ol>
<p>if u can, for the school of arts and sciences</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>ooh, I'd like to see some responses on this too. Also, if anybody cares to, discuss how hard it is on what i guess is a more subjective level (how much do classes make you think? - if you know what I mean . . . I'm not really sure how to phrase that)</p>
<p>this topic felt really familiar...if you want to see a discussion on grade inflation, here's one:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/361541-grade-inflation.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/361541-grade-inflation.html</a></p>
<p>k thx!</p>
<p>any1 else?</p>
<p>I'll requote myself from that old thread:</p>
<p>The average GPA of graduating senior classes usually hovers around 3.25, or a B. This shows that there is neither rampant deflation nor inflation at Tufts. This may, of course, vary from department to department (i.e. harder in engineering/hard sciences, than, say, art history), but on the whole, I'd stand by the assertion that Tufts grades rather fairly.</p>
<p>Source of this number?: A friend who worked in Student Services rattled it off to me one day -- it sounded right given my experiential knowledge of my own and others' grades, but it could very well be totally off.</p>
<p>That being said, let's say 3.25 is the right number -- the average (grade-wise, GPA overall) Tufts student. With a higher GPA in your major, great recommendations, some good internships/research experience/jobs, etc. you're still a good candidate for great grad/professional programs.</p>
<p>The better-than-avg Tufts student is likely to have excellent chances at the best grad/professional programs.</p>
<p>LOL lolabelle I rip on Art History too but I have friends who say it's really hard!</p>
<ol>
<li>I don't know how it happened, but my GPA has gone UP every semester, and I've taken harder and harder classes, including EPIIC and at Fletcher. I think grade deflation/inflation will vary across classes, that it's possible to choose a really rigorous or less challenging curriculum for oneself, but that most kids like to be stimulated and try to find engaging courses and professors.</li>
<li>Again, depends on the subject matter and professor. Some like to give you a lot of reading, lot of assignments. Others do two tests or papers per semester. Most people have enough time to get their work done, do some relaxation and also participate in stuff outside classes while getting good grades. But it also depends on personal capability - some kids will live in the library for weeks to write a paper, and still get a worse grade than the kid who wrote it 2 hours before it was due. I've had assignments that were annoying and others that were really captivating. But overall I've had a lot of exciting intellectual stimulation.</li>
<li>Registration? You usually get classes you want. Sometimes I don't get into one I wanted. But it's better than other places - I've posted before that my friend at UDel is told to send in his top 5 choices and the administration will try to accommodate him, and usually he'll get 3. At Tufts at least when you're registering in real-time and can see where spots are available you can weigh available options...and besides, lots of kids add/drop their way in anyway.</li>
</ol>
<p>I can't say that questions 1 or 2 were ever a part of my thinking during my time at Tufts. Neither were problems I approached having, and so I never needing to mentally address either of those issues. </p>
<p>I am, however, not always normal, and so I have a question for the Tufts students who post on the board. Do you devote much thought to either question 1 or 2 (as stated above) and do you feel they occupy much space in the collective consciousness of Tufts' students?</p>
<p>In response to your question, Dan: </p>
<p>I cared enough about my grades to always do my best. That's about as far as I thought about grades, because for the most part, I cared about what I was learning more than the letter grade that appeared on my transcript twice a year. (Sidenote: Fortunately, my hard work paid off because I graduated with top honors. My motivation in terms of grades was mostly in terms of grad school: I just wanted to make sure any grad program I might be interested in later would be a viable option for me, in terms of GPA.)</p>
<p>And I always found the amount of coursework to be fair according to the type of class: lecture, language class, seminar, etc.</p>
<p>I actually really don't think too much about #1 - although I know my friends that take the hard science courses worry about them more than I do. As far as coursework, it varies depending on what classes you take. I've always had time for leisure activities and procrastination, but some classes had larger loads than others and the work could add up.
And as far as scheduling goes, don't give up when you don't get into a class you want. When I didn't get into two classes I wanted for next semester, I just kept checking online until spots opened up, and now I'm in both.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say art history is so easy. My daughter has had some very tough teachers in art history. When I went to Tufts a long time ago, the only C I got at Tufts was in art history with Dr. Caviness. She's still at Tufts, I believe.</p>
<p>I too haven't made much of an effort in thinking about #1, though I try to do my best in all classes. The difficulty of a class really depends on your personal strengths and weaknesses. Being a more art oriented person, I found my 100-level art history courses and even a 200-level FAH seminar much easier than the 3 weeks during which I tried to take Chem 1.</p>
<p>Tufts is a hard school grade-wise. Most professors grade very fairly, but if you're looking for grade inflation, go somewhere else.</p>
<p>I just graduated from tufts and must add that tufts is much harder than many other top-ranked schools. I graduated summa cum laude, but worked for every grade i received. there’s little to no grade inflation at tufts, unlike at harvard. </p>
<p>secondly, scheduling is difficult but manageable. the hardest part is recognizing all your requirements early on.</p>
<p>^^whatever made you revive a 3 1/2 year old thread?</p>
<p>Our S studies Engineering at Tufts. This Spring he took a course and received an 85 (which is a B at any university that I am familiar with in the world). </p>
<p>The Prof decided to “scale down” the class grades b/c too many students did well. S’s 85 became a B-.</p>
<p>In our eyes you get what you get. Never heard of scaling down grades before. Profs should be pleased that their students master the subject matter, not punish them for it. </p>
<p>Tufts is a tough tough school (at least if you are not a liberal arts major of some type). There is NO grade inflation at Tufts (in the Engineering School). </p>
<p>Here’s hoping that potential employers and/or graduate schools are aware of this fact. If not, then we are spending $58,000 annually for a good education that may not result in a job for our S.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You haven’t seen McGill; 85 is the interface between an A- and an A there. Yet McGill faces no accusations of grade inflation whatsoever. Presumably a school that can afford to put 85 as the bar for an A is a tough school, perhaps even tougher than Tufts (which already is nicknamed Toughs somewhere)</p>
<p>I, myself, attend a college where 85 is the minimum number grade that qualifies for an A (90%+ qualifies for A+s) and, as per a Tufts physics professor, a 3.7 in physics from my current college is worth about the same as a 3.7 in physics from Tufts, even accounting for A+s worth 4.3 (said professor attended my current college as an undergrad, physics-mathematics dual major too)</p>
<p>decided to copy and post as a new topic</p>