<p>hawkette, it wasn’t a survey. Boalt never explained how it created its rankings, although given the number of transcripts they saw every year from schools around the country, and the data they had on hand about students’ LSATs and law school grades, it’s reasonable to suppose that that was a source.</p>
<p>However, it’s obvious from the list that it was based on Boalt’s understanding of how challenging the school was, not simply how many A’s it handed out. Then and now, Harvard awards far more A’s (as a percentage of grades) than does Fresno State. The schools at the top of the list uniformly have higher mean GPAs than the schools at the bottom of the list. Boalt was trying to figure out how good your work had to be to get A’s at those schools.</p>
<p>Just FYI, Boalt was forbidden to use this list several years ago, partly because it was accused of discrimination. But it is widely believed among admissions professionals that most law schools still informally weight some undergrad degrees more heavily than others.</p>
<p>As you are very close to what is going on in colleges these days, what would be your view on how the reality might have changed since the study was done? Part of what I am trying to understand is grade inflation, both at institutions generally and also how grading levels might have been influenced by the larger pool of statistically stronger students. Is it easier to get an A now at most colleges and/or are there more better students today?</p>
<p>Hanna-I cross-posted with you. I think you are saying that this is not a reflection of absolute number of As, but the number of As adjusted for the (perceived) difficulty of the awarding institution. Right?</p>
<p>Right. They were trying to capture the actual academic accomplishments of the student. In other words, they thought that a student with a 3.4 at Williams had shown roughly the same level of talent and achievement as a student with a 3.8 at CS Chico. So Boalt would award both students a GPA of 3.6 for purposes of admission to Boalt. </p>
<p>If Boalt was right about this, then it could be true even if 3.4 was the 50th percentile at Williams and 3.8 was the 99th percentile at Chico (which isn’t far from the truth). In other words, Boalt thought Chico was setting the bar low, AND that most Chico students weren’t reaching the low bar.</p>
<p>What is actually causing grade inflation, whether it’s a problem, what we should do to change it, etc. are all hotly debated questions. You’re going to find conflicting answers from different sources.</p>
<p>Well…there are many schools out there that are highly selective in admissions but not all that rigorous unless you seek out super rigorous profs and courses…so to some extent it depends on you.</p>
<p>WashU St Louis is a tough school and the kids we saw there on our tour were all like alice in wonderland, “I am late, late, late…for a very important date!” And triple majoring and way too much caffeine. I am not exaggerating. Fact.</p>
<p>So if that is what you want, its out there, from a first class institution with superb professors and programs. My D got waitlisted and so we are not there. But its a great school.</p>
<p>Make a list of 3 or 4 schools and then visit them as soon as possible and TALK TO KIDS on campus. Then make your choice.</p>
<p>and yes grade inflation is out there…and severe in some places. I know some notorious suspects but wont go there on this thread. I also know some colleges are notorious grade DEFLATORS…where getting an A is near impossible, particularly for freshmen, and getting a B is a significant achievement.</p>
<p>By the original posters message I inferred rigor to mean just the level of work and so forth. Maybe he meant the intensity of the student body, the grades, the average SAT scores or something like that. I dont know. Its almost irrelevant as to why he thinks Bard is not rigorous enough for him. The point is he wants to transfer, so its best to go visit a few schools and find a place where he feels sufficiently challenged and happier.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s more challenging in areas that you haven’t taken courses in?
Like if you’re taking mostly science courses, and it’s known more for churning out writers than for tons of science PhDs ?</p>
<p>If that’s the case, Warblersrule has researched LACs strong in the sciences, published on threads such as this one:</p>
<p>Also, it’s possible you are jumping to unwarranted conclusions; You may have had particularly strong courses in high school, but upper-level courses in the college may be quite a bit tougher than their entry-level courses. You might talk to upperclasmen in your areas of interest to get some feedback on this.</p>
<p>Personally, if I were transferring from an LAC, I would be tempted to seek a larger school. The key advantages to an LAC are: fit with your fellow classmates (strike one in this case, evidently), and class size. The biggest class size impact is on entry level courses, which you may be taking now. Past the underclass years, larger schools are likely to offer more courses related to your areas of interest, which can start looking like a bigger consideration as you move forward.</p>
<p>You might look for places that actually make an effort to integrate their transfer students socially. It can be hard to break in socially past freshman year, when many people have already found their groups.</p>
<p>I thought about looking into universities outside of Tufts, but I really desire that personal relationship with teachers that there is at LACs. My favorite teacher ever is actually my First-Year Seminar teacher, and I love how we have such a strong teacher-student relationship. The problem is, he’s a physics teacher, and if I pursue a double major, I will have no possible chance to take electives. That’s the other problem with Bard. Even if I take 5 classes a semester, I’d only open up like 3 or 4 elective classes, and I’d really like to use my electives in Philosophy. That’s why I like Wesleyan so much; it has a Neuroscience program that is not only Psych+Bio, but Psych+Bio+Chem. That eliminates my double major, and instead I can major in Neuro and minor in Chem, without missing out on too many electives.</p>