Surprise in Harvard ALDC admissions

[mynameiswhatever]

Rather than a generalized discussion of grade inflation, I’ve started another thread on the topic to avoid letting this thread stray away from the specific topic of the academic performance of ALDCs at Harvard.

Grade inflation at colleges: good thing? or bad?

Interesting discussion going on in another thread, and the topic of grade inflation at colleges (and elsewhere) has come up. I had heard about this but simply hadn’t realized how pronounced it is, to the extent that the average undergrad GPA at Harvard is something like a 3.7 out of 4.0. That’s staggering to me, and I am curious what others (parents, students, etc) think about grade inflation. What purpose does it serve? And does it hurt our students? Rather than hijacking the other thread, I thought I would post one on the concept of grade inflation at any school and the motivations behind it. Here’s a couple of recent articles on the topic to consider: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2021/09/28/grade-inflation-is-real/?sh=541718c57ae4 https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/11/09/research-links-rise-college-completion-grade-inflation https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/09/21/why-grade-inflation-is-useful/