Top Colleges with Grade Inflation/Deflation

College Search & Selection
1

<p>i know that princeton is famous of grade inflation, while mit is very harsh on grade system (very big grade deflation). </p>

<p>is that a reason why many people are afraid to apply for mit because of its famous "low grading" system and hardcore academics?</p>

<p>do any of you have links to where i can find the grade inflation/delfation status of those top schools in the nation?</p>

<p>if not, how about other ivy league, standford, duke, caltech, and johns hopkins?</p>

<p>where can i find the average gpa of these top colleges?</p>

2

<p>I've heard some talk on the Georgetown forums of a lot of grade deflation. </p>

<p>A lot of the upper Ivies (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) seem to have problems with grade inflation.</p>

3

<p>I don't understand why grade inflation/deflation is such an issue. When your transcripts are sent, the college gives the median GPA for each class, so they can compare it to yours. It's all relative.</p>

4

<p>exigent, not necessary; for med school application, high gpa is important, regardless which "prestigious" college you come from. going to college with large grade deflation will probably hurt you on med school application.</p>

5

<p>Ugh...then what's the point of grade deflation if colleges don't look at the median?</p>

6

<p><a href="http://www.gradeinflation.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.gradeinflation.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

7

<p>I have multiple friends at Harvard, and have been told that the workload is very hard and that the competition for grades is with a large genius population. From the personal experience of friends, I don't think Harvard has grade inflation. Two of my friends there graduated at the top of their class at one of the most well known boarding schools in the nation. If they're having a hard time, I'm guessing anyone that is not a genius doesn't believe there is grade inflation. At princeton, i know they're limiting the number of A's given out, so, while I don't have any personal experience with that school, it would seem there isn't any if they're limiting the number of A's. Also, consider it has a population very similar to Harvard's in academic makeup. I'm not so sure how the top colleges got the reputation for grade inflation.</p>

<p>I'd take everything everyone says with a grain of salt. Most of the posters here aren't even in college yet. And for posters who do have experience in college, that is only one individual. I don't know if my friends' situations at Harvard are reliable either, but I believe them.</p>

<p>But to post what everyone else here is going to post anyway. Here are the reputations of grade inflation at schools.</p>

<p>Deflation: Chicago, Hopkins, MIT, Berkeley, Cornell
Inflation: Brown, Stanford, Columbia, Yale</p>

8

<p>My brother currently goes to Harvard, and he says there's definitely no grade inflation for his math and science classes.</p>

9

<p>Princeton may have had problems with grade inflation in the past, but that definitely isn't the case now, at least relative to other Ivy League schools. Somewhat recently, a cap was put on the number of As a professor could assign for any class. While I don't think the cap is really all that restrictive, it has definitely still had a significant impact.</p>

10

<p>this also changes a lot by department. I know at my school, you can see that chemistry and economics have grade deflation, wheras asian languages and culture has a lot of grade inflation. I'm sure the same is true at many other schools.</p>

11

<p>Yeah, I agree with EconMajor. I am still in high school, but at my school, the average grade in my AP Chem class is like a C-, whereas the average grade in my AP American Gov class is like a B+</p>

12

<p>
[quote]
When your transcripts are sent, the college gives the median GPA for each class

[/quote]

I believe majority of colleges don't do this. I believe a typical transcript besides some information about the student (e.g. name) includes only the courses taken, grades in them, and other notations such as dean's list, graduation info, etc. If you have some information that including means per class is common, much less something done most often, I'd be glad to see this.</p>

<p>Otherwise speaking, I find it interesting to believe most ivies have grade inflation. How do you define it? Higher mean GPA, ok sure.... Then what's a C? An average grade? If using this definition, then average compared to whom - people going to that school? Nationwide college students?</p>

<p>If you're using definition of C being average amongst students of that school - sure, mean GPA for Harvard should be the same as that of a community college. But if you're using the idea that a C is the average grade say nationwide, wouldn't you think Harvard has more academically apt students then lower ranked institutions, and as such should have a higher mean GPA?</p>

<p>As far as rising mean GPA's amongst a particular college from decade to decade - can't you argue that the longer a college has been in existen the more selective it's able to be with its incoming students?</p>

13

<p>Supposedly Middlebury has some inflation.</p>

14

<p>comparing to other top schools, MIT has some very bad grade deflation =(</p>

15

<p>Boston University is rumored to have deflation as well, although it may or may not fit your definition of a "top" school.</p>

16

<p>for HYPSM, HYP = grade inflation, SM = grade deflation</p>

17

<p>There is a prof at Chicago who gives 1/4 of the class each an A, B, C, or D. He is old school, though, and not all profs are that tough.</p>

<p>But Chicago does have grade deflation.</p>

18

<p>Grade deflated:
-University of Chicago
-NYU Stern
-Other schools that use the so-called "Stern Curve"</p>

19

<p>its said that Vanderbilt has grade deflation. A stat was released in the paper where it stated that the avg. GPA at Vandy was a 3.2 whereas at Harvard it was near 3.5 (3.45 or something like that). Ive also heard WUSTL has grade deflation..though perhaps not as bad as vandy, mit, uchicago,jhu, etc. shrug</p>

20

<p>MIT2010: stanford has grade deflation?</p>