<p>Does anyone have any tips on how to determine how difficult it might be to get an 'A' grade from a college? Are there any listings that give the average grade by department, for example?</p>
<p>I asked my daughter what the issues are now in making a decision about which college to attend. She said one issue is how hard it would be to get an 'A' in classes from each school.</p>
<p>Pickaprof.com has the average grades for a course, the teachers average for that course, and the average for the other courses a teacher teaches. Also, the grade distribution, like percentage of As, Bs, Cs, Drop Rate, etc....</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>Hist 1312<br>
Brown 2.5
20% As
30% Bs
30% Cs
20% Ds
Smith 3.0
40% As
20% Bs
40% Cs</p>
<p>And then you can click on the teachers name and it will show the average GPAs and grade distribution for their other classes</p>
<p>excuse me, Ph.D. </p>
<p>We're stuck in the Matrix of College, Ph.D. All questions are, or should be, game. grad schools, which produce Ph.D's, among other D's, seem to be very interested in the pap of gpa. Personally, I think gpa is an anagram for pap - but I can't spell. The process of getting to the heart of the subject can be undermined by the game of getting a grade. Too often a student has to regurgitate what the prof says to get a good grade. The original thinkers who might suggest different ideas to the prof might jeopardize their grades, so thinking is reduced. The very reason of going to college, to learn and to think, is then reduced because of grades. THAT is what is pathetic.</p>
<p>unfortunately, there is great variation across schools in how easy or difficult good grades are given out, so this is quite a valid question when trying to assess schools. </p>
<p>it is one the few tangible outputs from the $100,000 expenditure (for us to an avg 4yr college ). diploma and gpa.</p>
<p>thanks crs.</p>
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grad schools, which produce Ph.D's, among other D's, seem to be very interested in the pap of gpa.
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</p>
<p>Some schools have lower GPAs and still get a ton of students into grad school. For example: Duke premeds</p>
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Too often a student has to regurgitate what the prof says to get a good grade.
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</p>
<p>Isn't the point of college to learn from a professor? Why go to college at all then if you don't want to learn from someone more experienced in research?</p>
<p>
[quote]
unfortunately, there is great variation across schools in how easy or difficult good grades are given out, so this is quite a valid question when trying to assess schools.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There is even greater variation among professors, departments, etc. The easiness of a school is hard to determine.</p>
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The original thinkers who might suggest different ideas to the prof might jeopardize their grades, so thinking is reduced.
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</p>
<p>Why are the the two mutually exclusive? Why will worrying about grades prevent you from thinking independently?</p>
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[quote]
it is one the few tangible outputs from the $100,000 expenditure (for us to an avg 4yr college ). diploma and gpa.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What about the experiences, friendships, opportunities, skills, and fun from college?</p>
<p>You're still a high schooler, and you don't understand the point of a liberal arts education. It's to challenge you while teaching you critical thinking skills that will help you for the rest of your life, not to give you an easy A so you can pat yourself on the back and tell your friends how smart you are.</p>
<p>Anyone else know of other ways of finding out the grade distribution or tendencies of a college? </p>
<p>why ? just curious, usually a sufficient reason for the intellectually robust. </p>
<p>pls debate the value of grades in another thread.</p>
<p>
[quote]
unfortunately, there is great variation across schools in how easy or difficult good grades are given out, so this is quite a valid question when trying to assess schools.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think this is actually very very overblown. As lollybo stated, the difference in grading b/w specific professors or b/w majors (chemistry vs. sociology) is much much bigger than differences between schools.</p>
<p>the schools I was interested in right now, Illinois Wesleyan U in Illinois and Lawrence U in Wi, were not shown in pickaprof.com</p>
<p>somewhere I read that certain different schools were harder to get an A. I guess that is called grade deflation. Swarthmore and H Mudd, for example, comes to mind.</p>
<p>here's a thread, for example:</p>
<p>Here is another thread on grades <em>at a summary level</em>. In this thread there are numerous references to the average grade at college X, and even median grade, I believe I saw in the thread. Where can one find this data?</p>
<p>Again, there's a lot of information that cannot be inferred about the easiness of a school.</p>
<p>A low average gpa can mean something like there are a lot of engineering students (engineering students tend to have lower GPAs). Or it could mean the student body is not as motivated, in which case a strong student can excel. Or it could mean that the school is so fun that people don't worry too much about grades. It could even mean that the students are very academically motivated and tend to take the hardest, upper level classes.</p>
<p>The "exceptions" that people mention, like MIT, are not as bad as people make them out to be because freshman year is taken pass/fail. A lot depends on the major, professor, etc.</p>
<p>Ok kid how about this, if you work hard you can get an A anywhere. If you don't you won't. By the way U of I looks like the best pick to me.</p>
<p>I think I would agree with that, Phd. But I saw at some site today, I believe rateaprof.com, and there were entries that said that students worked their heads off, days on papers, etc, and still recvd a B. That is what grade deflation is: you gotta be jesus to get an A; it is a part of the bias of the teacher and possibly the school.</p>