<p>I reread your post:
A wild guess here: Do you happen to be working toward a degree that is relatively more marketable right after graduation? I hate to mention this, but it is usually the case that, as long as a degree is more marketable (but is also “not too vocational”) AND this degree is from a prestigious college, two things happen naturally:
- More competitive students will be crowded there. The curve tends to be steeper for every student there.
- The professors from that department (esp. they are from a prestigious department/program) tend to give students worse grades. These professors are used to dealing with students of high ambition year after year so they naturally expect more from the students before they give out an A.</p>
<p>But you benefit by having a backup plan. You can not have the best of both: 1) having a good backup plan, and 2) having an easier grade. In other words, you can not have the cake and eat it too – you need to accept the whole package (a very marketable degree from a prestigious college vs easier grades.) If I misread your post, I apologize here.</p>