<p>Do you think that going to Chicago would hurt a person's chances for LS? The academic preparation is fantastic due to its rigorousness and all, but the GPA-killing aspect of it isn't that great. Any insight on Chicago alumni? What was the average GPA?</p>
<p>From what I learned from reading around, UChicago people is one of a few institutions (Swat is another one) notorious for deflation, and adcoms take it into consideration. Nonetheless, having a 2.0 is still going to kill you; you still need to be within the ranges, but consider your gpa to be slightly higher when looking at schools.</p>
<p>Check lawschoolnumbers.com and try to find some Chicago people there.</p>
<p>Where did you here that going to UChicago would kill your GPA? </p>
<p>According to Newsweek, UChicago actually has massive grade inflation:</p>
<p>
[quote]
A 2003 Princeton study found that marks of A and A-minus accounted for 44 to 55 percent of grades at the Ivy League colleges, MIT, Stanford and the University of Chicago.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>GRADE</a> DEFLATION | Newsweek Education | Newsweek.com</p>
<p>I don't think Reed and Swarthmore do though.</p>
<p>Chicago's grade deflation is a myth. Their courses may be more rigorous than their peers, but the average GPA isn't any lower.</p>
<p>There is no grade deflation at UChicago. The median gpa of its students is lower than that at Harvard and Yale...but so are the median SAT and LSAT. See bluedevilmike's analysis in another thread.</p>
<p>It actually really depends upon your major. In the humanities, it's pretty easy to get high GPAs. I know plenty of people who are, well, not so smart who are getting 3.8s. If you major in mathematics or the sciences, however, there IS grade deflation.</p>
<p>how about BU?</p>
<p>How could grades be deflated in math/sciences? You mean the material is harder? Because in math or science, as you know, you get a question either right or wrong and the professor can't "deflate" grades in that they can't make them any lower than what a student deserves based on the problems he/she got right. On the other hand, an English professor could easily grade a paper more harshly, thus "deflating" its grade from the standard grade that the average of professors would've given it.</p>
<p>sanhenferrer- grades are typically curved. your way of looking at grade deflation is very naive. I have taken a class at BU where I received and A on every single assignment and test and got a B+ at the end of the class</p>
<p>So why are the math/sciences curved and the humanities not? I'm assuming that's the distinction then? I know Princeton curves the humanities classes as well, but as far as I know, Chicago does not.</p>
<p>In my experience, every Chicago prof has his or her idea of what constitutes an A, B, etc. I think they sort of take for granted that grades are an arbitrary notion to begin with and give out what they feel is right. To understand Chicago's grading methodology in humanities would be to consult each and every professor in what's sure to be a very philosophical discussion about what kind of quality constitutes what grade and how they feel grades do or do not contribute to education. </p>
<p>In my rocks for jocks science class, though, the professors smiled when they said that usually 60%+ of the class gets an A.</p>
<p>Ah so if I was going to be like a philosophy major, would that be very hard at Chicago?</p>
<p>Hard, but not impossible.</p>
<p>Philosophy is pretty flexible at the U of C. Check out the program requirements:
<a href="http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf_09/PHIL.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf_09/PHIL.pdf</a></p>