<p>Just wondering if it’s the national/at least northeastern consensus when applying to grad school that grades at BU are significantly lower on average and that deflation is present… Do they take that into consideration?</p>
<p>I think so. Admissions officers at grad schools would be nieve to think that every school's grades mean the same thing. At the high school level this is why the SAT exists because every schools grades mean different things. I mean the 3.7 harvard average is a complete joke</p>
<p>DJ, Harvard is a special case so that's not comparable. One can argue their strategy for differentiating themselves includes making a mockery of work requirements. That is, if you're going to get a high grade anyway, there's no reason to work.</p>
<p>I've gone through this in some detail. GPA's are reported for the schools. I know that law schools used multipliers to raise or lower gpa for a given school. There are some mediocre schools where the average gpa is above 3.5 but there's no evidence their graduates are getting into places, etc.</p>
<p>Grad schools are a different scale than undergrad. You don't have 38k applicants for any grad school. Grad schools look at applications more closely, especially when you're outside the glare of law and medicine. Better business schools now mostly get people with work experience so the undergrad experience matters less anyway.</p>
<p>I don't think Harvard is a unique case. Grade INflation is common among any school that has competitive athletics and superior academics neither of which BU has. Notre Dame, USC, Princeton, to name a few..</p>
<p>BU doesn't have superior athletics, but arguably their academics are definitely well above average... I know that the grade deflation at BU has made national news in some cases, so I was curious to know if grad schools are sensitive to that fact.</p>
<p>Also - on BU transcripts is there distinction on your percentage/rank in the class or is the class average posted on the transcript? I have these inquiries specifically because I plan to graduate from SMG and I know that the GPAs there are not the highest on average...</p>
<p>thanks for the input.</p>
<p>What SMG does specifically is give you a sheet that explains the grading system and average GPA's at BU. There is no class ranking. It doesn't really matter for graduate school as most MBA programs are looking for people with work experience.</p>
<p>lostandfound5 - could you possibly summarize what's on that sheet?</p>
<p>I don't know. I've never seen it and I already have a job so I won't be needing it. It's not really a big deal when people are searching for jobs. GPA only usually comes up if you are finance or accounting concentrator and my friends on those majors have not had troubles finding jobs.</p>
<p>I've heard a lot about grad deflation at BU and it's worrying me a little since I'm top ten in her class. I'm used to top grades and I think not getting them would worry me.</p>
<p>It's an adjustment that everyone at BU has to go through. We were all in the top 10-15% of our classes. It's just what happens when you put that many smart people together. You won't start failing. But you may have to deal with some B-'s. I found that once I got adjusted to college workload and started taking more classes that I really wanted to take, my grades went up.</p>
<p>I graduated from SMG and I have never seen a sheet that breaks down the GPA for each class, unless they are sending it to each school or employer. If you graduate in the top 30% you get a latin honor on your diploma (cum laude ~3.19, magna ~3.33, summa ~3.58). These cutoffs are all very low compared to other schools even at BU, lower than ENG. So be prepared to be disappointed sometimes.</p>
<p>More importantly, people get so use to doing well and then they come to BU, get frustrated and end up hating it. Eventually it makes it's way into the peer-assessment of the school and ultimately the rankings.</p>
<p>THey just introduced the sheet thing last spring</p>
<p>yeah that's a good point. I did absolutely no work in high school hardly had to even show up to classes was stoned a great majority of the time and was at the top of my class. I get to Boston and find myself sitting next to kids not only just as smart but most of the time smarter than myself and not only that but competing for grades with them. It's just an adjustment you have to make. And if you're worried about how you're gonna make it well don't worry, you just kinda feel it out and get better as it goes.</p>
<p>the curve gradually gets higher. I think SM121/2 is around 2.5ish (C+/B-) and then in CORE I believe it's curved to a 3. Concentration classes may be even higher like around 3.2.</p>
<p>What about SM299?</p>
<p>the curve doesn't really change. People just get better over time because they develop better time management skills and begin choosing classes that really interest them.</p>
<p>Average grade at BU is somewhere around a 3.2. I've never had a class curve down. They usually put the average at a B or B-. If you're doing better than the average person in the class then you can get a better grade. Professors design classes so that not everyone can get an A, but if you legitimately get an A then you get an A.</p>
<p>I wasn't in 299 so I don't know for sure, but my guess would be that the curve is very close to 121/2. The thing about 299 is that it's loaded with CGS transfers who only have to get a C to be accepted whereas transfer students from any other school have to get a B. If you're smart and confident you can get a B, go to CAS for a semester that way you only have to deal with the grade deflation BS for one semester in 299 instead of 2 with 121/2 and you're competition is predominantly CGS students.</p>
<p>As far as classes not being curved down is subject to debate. SMG is far more strict on their grading policies and the fact that more than 50% of your grade is subjective crap (presentations, class participation, memos) allows them to deflate grades without explicitly doing so. I've also experience classes being curved down, My freshman year econ class had 2 midterms where the average for each was 90, so basically people who got 100s got an A-. Other teachers will just make the final impossible so they don't have to curve down. No joke, I took a test where the class average was 21. I scored a 7/100, I **** you not.</p>
<p>Also as of Sept 06 the average undergrad GPA at BU is 3.04, not sure how it has changed in the last year and half.</p>
<p>I am not trying to discourage people from attending, I personally think it's one of the most underrated business schools and will get better in terms of rankings. Just know what to expect.</p>
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[quote]
yeah that's a good point. I did absolutely no work in high school hardly had to even show up to classes was stoned a great majority of the time and was at the top of my class. I get to Boston and find myself sitting next to kids not only just as smart but most of the time smarter than myself and not only that but competing for grades with them. It's just an adjustment you have to make. And if you're worried about how you're gonna make it well don't worry, you just kinda feel it out and get better as it goes.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It was opposite for me. There were days I didn't sleep. I studied for five hours straight for my Calculus midterm. DX Didn't even get a good score either. >_< But I'm somehow 10/459 in my class. I'm very surprised too because I always feel everyone is so much smarter than me. But I guess this whole grade deflation stuff just means I have to work twice as hard! No sleep for Nickel!</p>