<p>No Friday classes!!! I'm going there!</p>
<p>No, just kidding. But the Commerce school wouldn't be ranked #2 for undergraduate business in Business Week if it were full of kids from Novacoco.</p>
<p>I'm really surprised to hear people say that the McIntire kids "aren't the brightest lot." Statistically, they are. After two years in CAS their average GPA is 3.48 -- far higher than any other group of students in the university. </p>
<p>Perhaps instead of acting arrogant, you math and sciences kids should be down on your knees thanking god the McIntire students aren't in your classes - destroying the curve and lowering your GPA.</p>
<p>Do you have a source on that statistic?</p>
<p>Yes, com school kids are very smart - or at the very least, very motivated. I think it is somewhat arrogant of people to say they arn't the brightest bunch - especially when it is one of our better, if not our best undergraduate program.</p>
<p>However, I will speak of that comm school GPA. Yes, comm schoolers do graduate with really high GPAs. However I will point out that it is somewhat "easy" to maintain a high GPA in comm school - it is mostly group work. If you're a slacker, your more than likely to have somoene in the group who will pick up the dead weight. However, they do compensate for that - in the college to graduate with honors you need a 3.4...in comm school you need a 3.8. Hope that sheds a litte light on the situation.</p>
<p>3.48 is obviously all relative. The physics kids have crappy GPAs by that standard, but is it because they are less smart? Chemistry? Math, Engineering, Biology, etc? No, the commerce school applicants only have to deal with some easy prereqs and whatever else they take expressly for the purpose of maintaining a high GPA so they can get admitted to a vocational degree program. I don't think any math is even a prereq, except statistics probably. To suggest that these students would 'destroy' curves in other classes is amusing. </p>
<p>The number 2 is only BusinessWeekly's rank. However, McIntire does indeed rank high in other places, such as number 9 in the 2007 rankings for USNWR with a top 10 program in Management.</p>
<p>Jags, that does seem to be a good way of balancing the situation to ensure that the top students who deserve honors are the ones who get it. Still, the grade distributions for most of the classes are laughable.</p>
<p>Sure, it's possible. The classes that the McIntire students took may have been marginally easier than what physics students took in their first two years. Still, the difference between a couple prereqs don't explain a GPA gap of nearly half a point spread across hundreds of students.</p>
<p>And that's it for me with this argument. It's pretty shallow and I don't exactly feel like my pride is at stake. I think cavalier302 was just trying to push some buttons.</p>
<p>so.... i'm assuming all of you comm schoolers took some classes where the average grade was a 2.5? 2.3? gimme a break. engineer GPAs are low as ****... I guess that means that comm schoolers are that much smarter than engineers</p>
<p>All the class averages are available online.
Average Grades in Comm School Pre-reqs:
Comm 180: 3.2 (4 credits)
Comm 201: 2.8 (2.95 in fall 2005, 2.7 in Spring 2005 and Fall 2004)
Comm 202: 3.1 (although the mean grades are all over the place)
Econ 201: 2.7
Econ 202: 2.8
Math 111: 2.9
Math 121: 3.4 (4 Credits)
Stat 212: 2.9 (4 Credits)</p>
<p>By the end of second year a pre-comm student typically would have taken all of the courses above. </p>
<p>In comparison a few classes pre-med students take their first two years:</p>
<p>Chem 141: 2.65
PHYS 151: 2.8 (Intro Physics for Majors)
PHYS 201: 2.9 (Physics for Pre-med students, frequently taken 3rd year)
BIO 201: 2.7</p>
<p>A Pre-med student would typically have taken Chem 141, 142, 241, and 242 and Bio 201 and 202 by the end of their second year. These classes require a number of labs. Some students either have AP Bio credit for 201 and 202 or just generally want to accelerate the required courses and have started on the Bio core by second year. Chem 241 and 242 are orgo. The mean grade in these classes is usually about a 2.8 </p>
<p>Pre-med students are required to take two semesters of calc, while pre-comm students only have to take one. Generally I think most kids in both groups take two semesters and most kids take 131 and 132 instead of 121 and 122, although 131 and 132 aren't required of either group. Some top students (kids looking for an edge on their med school applications generally) take Chem 181 and 182 instead of 141 and 142. These classes are significantly harder but usually have higher mean grades. </p>
<p>So our Liberal Arts friends don't feel left out:
PLAP 101: 2.9
PSYC: 2.8
PHIL 100: 3.3
SOC 101: 3.1
HIUS 201: 3.0</p>
<p>Other than these pre-reqs, pre-comm students and pre-med students pretty much take the same classes. Both groups have to fulfill the language requirement, the writing requirement and the non-western perspectives requirement. Both groups fill out the rest of their schedules USEMs, English classes, and other social science classes.</p>
<p>I have tried to be as objective as possible. Ill let everyone else do the interpreting.</p>
<p>holla, most impressive. I appreciate your effort</p>
<p>"I would say 70% acceptance rate in a school full of a ton of NoVa kids isn't impressive for anything. Others on this board will disagree though, so it's a relative thing."</p>
<p>mmmm, comm school has a lot of out of state kids, such as the typical fratboy from mississippi, etc.</p>
<p>i just met 2 drunk out of state kids (one from greenwich, CT, one from lexington, Kentucky) two nights ago at little john's. they are both pre-comm majors.</p>
<p>'In general, the smartest people in any environment aren't interested in a major like "business". Sorry.'</p>
<p>What a pathetic statement! How can you just assume that people in the business world aren't as bright as others who don't major in business. You don't need to be an engineer or a biology researcher to look bright in front of someone. Shallow.</p>
<p>No, not shallow. Genuinely intelligent people generally follow their academic interests - not vocational interests.</p>
<p>Who's to say that people aren't interested in business as an "academic" major? It's really a combination of math with learning how to deal with people (communication, organization, leadership). </p>
<p>Just because a person is interested in business doesn't make them less intelligent than others; I would say that's just an arrogant statement used to justify why a person won't be making as much as a business major, or have as many marketable skills when they graduate. </p>
<p>Or someone could possibly be bitter that business majors get paid well and have lots of opportunities to succeed in a field they enjoy.</p>
<p>Too bad you don't like business.</p>
<p>It's interesting that you and others in this thread have resorted to accusing non business majors of being jealous of the high salaries that business majors earn. Hmm...</p>
<p>Well, there must be some reason for all the anti-business sentiment going around. I won't try to argue that business is more intellectual than philosophy, or as difficult as physics, but it does carry some advantages, primarily salary and job opportunities. </p>
<p>Of course anyone could get a business job without the degree, but I still don't understand why someone who is interested in the field is automatically stupid.</p>
<p>Let me know if you think of a better reason than arrogance or jealousy.</p>
<p>according to cav's logic of people pursing "vocational interests", people who go to law school and medical school are stupid, too.</p>
<p>Oh lord no. Those are graduate degrees - and slightly higher up on the academic food chain.</p>
<p>well then, if a person gets a BA in business or BS in commerce or whatever, the person is stupid...but what if he gets an MBA and now has a graduate degree? i don't see your logic in this. what you choose to major in doesn't make you smart or stupid. there are dumb physics majors just as there are genius business majors.</p>
<p>No, simply pursuing a an undergraduate degree in business does not make someone stupid. I've never, ever said that. All I've ever implied is that business majors, on average, are not as intelligent as, say, chemistry majors.</p>