<p>I just realized this should be in college search instead of this forum. Whoops! </p>
<p>Is there a way to determine roughly how competitive grades are at undergraduates among the colleges that aren't already known to be the most challenging?</p>
<p>i'd bet there's a pretty good connection between highly competitive to gain entrance to and highly competitive once you're there. but LACs and places known for a lot of weed are probably a little more relaxed.</p>
<p>Schools like Hampshire, Reed, and NCF that have no grading to begin with probably don't have much competition.</p>
<p>Reed is reputed to be extremely tough.</p>
<p>Hampshire and Reed have very low graduation rates, given the strength of their students. I can't say why.
Going back a generation (mine) the mean GPA at my flagship public was 2.3, with a 2.0 needed to graduate. Easily 40% of my friends flunked out within the first two years. It was simply the math.
From what I've heard, the school has since gone in the opposite direction. I think I heard it leads the national pack in "Students Hardly Ever Study" and "No. 1 Party School".
The USN&WR has tried to come up with a metric on 6 year graduate rate vs. expected rate given the students enrolled. IMO this is a public service. I would ask questions of school officials and students if there seemed to be a gap between the two, in whichever direction.</p>
<p>Reed has grades, but you have to ask to see them.</p>
<p>I am not sure that I read this correctly, la la. Places where marijuana is more abundant does not ensure grade inflation. Anecdotal evidence suggests that UW Madison and UMich (Ann Arbor) both have a high prevalence of wacky tobaccy but are well known for stiff grading practices. </p>
<p>If you are interested in finding places with less stringent grading practices, check average undergraduate gpas for students in the department you are interested in. Also note that in the sciences, certain classes (organic chemistry for one) are "weed out" classes where a high number of students get low grades in order to dissuade the overwhelming numbers of students that come in as pre meds. Organic chemistry was the only class that I ever received a C in and it had a pretty detrimental effect on my overall GPA.</p>
<p>Thanks. </p>
<p>Does anyone happen to know of a website that gives the average GPAs of undergraduates? And average GPAs of students of departments.<br>
I have tried for a while to find such a site with google. Probably missing something :)</p>
<p>belevitt, i didn't mean grade inflation, i just meant maybe the students were more relaxed and less competitive. i don't know for sure though, i'm just guessing there's a connection</p>
<p>Yeah cncbmb, the advising sites for the schools eg. college of letters and sciences advising page, have those kind of stats listed</p>
<p>Look at the 75th percentile of math/CR reading SATs and compare those to the graduation rate. That should be a crude measure for determining difficulty.</p>
<p>How does that method to determine difficulty work? How do you compare SAT scores to graduation rate and why does that give us a crude measure for difficulty?</p>
<p>Most LACs are not as competitive. Swarthmore is a great school with tough academics but everybody there is pretty chill.</p>
<p>what are these LAC, UCs and all that? I googled UC and got University of California.</p>
<p>LAC= Liberal Arts Colleges
UCs= University of California System</p>
<p>Reed has a low grad rate BECAUSE of its extremely tough academics. Seniors have to right a PhD level research paper in order to graduate that takes 2 years of planning. There are no grades, but you still have to have the prof pass you.</p>
<p>Relaxed does not mean easy grades, it means that all the students are not cut throat in getting to the top of their Class.</p>
<p>Reed's six-year grad rate is currently 75%, up from 67% six years ago, due to increasing selectivity (due to increasing popularity). The senior thesis is more at a master's level than a PhD level, and takes one year. There are grades (no pass/fail) but students must ask to see them, and the culture is not to ask. Papers receive written comments in lieu of grades. Reed is not usually considered relaxed, but students are not at all in competition with each other. The overall academic climate results in grads later earning PhDs at a rate somewhere between one quarter and one third; Reed is number one in the country for biology (REED</a> COLLEGE PHD PRODUCTIVITY).</p>
<p>Isn't Brown pass/fail? I know the New College of Florida doesn't have grades.</p>
<p>Here is a list of top 10 colleges without grades, courtesy of blog.ivyresearch.com:</p>
<p>Alverno College one of the pioneers of American narrative evaluation. The assessment systems are famously long and tedious, but probably still better than finals!</p>
<p>Antioch College a consistent member of the Colleges that Could Change Lives guidebook. Its also part of the Eco League of green universities, and the 300+ student population creates a nice small-school feel.
Bennington College one of Americas top-ranked liberal arts colleges. Students draw their own curriculum, and can major in one subject or minor in two or more.</p>
<p>Brown University an Ivy League university, known for its very competitive admission and comprehensive financial aid for the underprivileged. Its a major landmark in Providence, Rhode Island.</p>
<p>The Evergreen State College offers one of the most challenging academics for freshmen and sophomores, and one of the most comprehensive narrative grading systems in the country. In other words, difficult but rewarding!</p>
<p>Reed College another pioneer of the narrative evaluation, located in a culturally rich campus in Portland, Oregon.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence College best known for its high creative standards and academic excellence. Located in busy New York, but boasts a nice, sprawling peaceful campus.</p>
<p>Soka University of America sister university of a prominent university in Tokyo. Located in a beautiful campus in Aliso
Viejo, California and holds a staunch global pacifist stance.</p>
<p>St Johns College, US famous for its four-year Great Books Program (The Program) featuring works by Aristotle, Descartes, Einstein and Shakespeare. Talk about learning from the masters!</p>
<p>University of California, Santa Cruz a large modern university with ten residential colleges and a beautiful sprawling campus. Its a bit high-class, though, with the students median family income at over $80,000.</p>
<p>Top</a> 10 colleges that don't issue grades | colleges</p>
<p>I will warn you, however, that these schools are not necessarily "easy." These schools are perfect for the self-motivated student who prefers written evaluations over letter grades.</p>
<p>Alas, Antioch College has ceased operations:</p>
<p>Antioch</a> College - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>Just a correction if somebody wants to search for it:</p>
<p>"Colleges that Could Change Lives" in M. Rom's post should be "Colleges that Change Lives." It's a book by Loren Pope that's available on amazon.com or probably in a local bookstore (my local bookstore always has a ton of copies). Even though I ended up seriously considering only two or three schools on Mr. Pope's list, I think he was onto something about choosing a schools that truly value the student and schools at which the student can grow. (He even points out that the book includes schools that would be perfect for one person and terrible for another).</p>
<p>Antioch, Evergreen State, Reed, and St. John's College are all CTCL schools. Another CTCL school that wasn't mentioned in the previous post was Hampshire College.</p>
<p>I'm still confused on Brown's grading system-- S/NC (I think that's what they call pass/fail) is optional-- the default is letter grades.</p>
<p>However, in the big picture, I'm not convinced that issuing or not issuing grades makes that much of a difference. Reed doesn't readily make grades available (though I think they are issued?) but students there still work very hard. Academic stress can come (and, in my experience, more often comes) from within than from without. I attend a college with a traditional grading system and I very infrequently feel pressured because of the grading system.</p>