I heard from various places that State (public) colleges’ average GPAs awarded are lower than those awarded by Private Colleges.
Is it true?
If it is true, why does such phenomenon happen?
I don’t know if that’s true or not, but the cynic in me would say that IF it’s true then it could be that pricier schools are more likely going to lose students if the parents don’t like the grades given.
^^haha
Pubic uni’s have a much wider range of students from very top students to ones who may be just barely college ready, so it might make sense that they have a wider range of gpa. Many public classes are graded on a curve. The privates may not have a curve or it is not as harsh. When you take a college that basically accepts only super high achieving valedictorians, they may feel comfortable to award all A and B. But many consider that a lot of privates have grade inflation. You can probably read a lot of articles that go into depth on this in The Chronicles of Higher Education, search ‘grade inflation’.
I also think it has to do with who matriculates. With the exception of flagships the students accepted at state schools are much more varied in there academic preparation than those at private schools. By law or necessity they will be accepting students which may require remedial work or students who while passing weren’t really prepared in HS for the rigor of college course work. Private schools on the other hand can be more selective. Either because they can be more particular or because the cost of the school prohibits marginal students from low SES backgrounds from affording to attend. The result I think is an overall more prepared and academically homogenous class. At publics the students who are less prepared will fail more and often do so spectacularly (quit going to class and have 0.0 GPAs.)
There is data to show that private schools give higher grades than public schools. Go to
http://www.gradeinflation.com/
Again, this is a generalization as there are varying degrees of grade inflation/deflation out there…especially among LACs.
So that means flagship public universities’ average GPA is higher than other normal public universities?
Then, are average GPAs fof flagship public univiersities similar to those of private univiersites?
One possible explanation:
at more selective colleges, students tend to earn better grades; this would at least partially account for higher average GPAs at those schools (if in fact that is the pattern).
All (or almost all) of the 30 or so most selective colleges (including LACs) happen to be private.
Most of the 100 or so most selective colleges (including LACs) happen to be private.
But if we compared equally selective public v. private schools, maybe we’d find the average GPAs are similar.
You also might need to account for different percentages of students in “hard” majors. Some big state universities have big engineering programs. Many small private colleges have no engineering programs at all.
Show us that anthro, English, or math majors at Berkeley/Michigan/UVa do in fact have lower GPAs than students in the same majors at Cornell, Boston College, or Emory. Then (if it’s so) we can speculate about why.
@lvvcsf, most state flagships aren’t terrible selective either (just to get in; not counting renown programs or honors colleges) so would also have kids with a wide range of abilities.
@lvvcsf, most state flagships aren’t terrible selective either (just to get in; not counting renown programs or honors colleges) so would also have kids with a wide range of abilities.
Yes, possible. 3.90 is the average for Yale.
No colleges “give out” GPAs like one serves pizza. Students earn their GPAs.
Indeed Colleges do not give out GPAs
But some argues a student who would get a A in a Private institution ends up getting a B in a Public institution
It is true that selective private schools are with more academically prepared students.
My daughter was the valedictorian of her high school class of ~450, 34 ACT and enrolled in the Engineering honors program her freshman year in a flagship university. She had never gotten less than an A in her life time up to the end of her college freshman year; she was still the top of the top students in the flagship.
She took the opportunity that Cornell University offered her to transfer after freshman year when she applied as a high school senior. She received B’s the first semester at Cornell and a C in a later semester. I was totally surprised but later learned that Cornell Engineering SAT Math 25%-75% is 750-800; 25%-75% ACT is 34-36. The students are ALL top students.
I wouldn’t mind if they only gave students A’s and B’s when the student body is so strong.
It depends on the school and the major. A basket weaving major at Umass Amherst will probably have a higher GPA than someone studying engineering at Cornell. But at many top schools, there is grade inflation. Of course there are always exceptions…JHU, Cornell, and Swarthmore come to mind; I know there are others too.
With the quality of students in these highly selective universities, the higher GPA isn’t grade inflation.
@2Daswell That is likely true between a student at Umass and a student at Harvard. However, Harvard and Yale students have average GPAs that are much higher than, say, the average student at U Chicago or Johns Hopkins. I would not say the average student at Harvard is markedly better, more studious, or more intelligent than the average student at U Chicago- these schools have similar high school GPAs and test scores among admitted applicants.
This debate is like saying public schools give out lower GPAs than private/Christian schools. There’s grade inflation and deflation everywhere. Every school is different and the GPA depends on the rigor of the major and the difficulty of the classes.
The GPA should reflect the distribution of grades pertaining to that college. It’s hard for employer to distinguish whether this is an A student at X college if everybody gets A. Cornell engineering is a different beast altogether.
@Qwerty568, I agree that Harvard students and U Chicago kids may have similar high school GPAs. I like what Harvard does for their students and think U Chicago (Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Princeton, MIT) should do the same. It’s hard to see the best students suffering their GPA’s at top schools.
@2Daswell I mean, ideally, there should be neither grade deflation nor grade inflation 