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A 4.00 is not literally an A+, just fyi. An A is worth 4.00, A- is worth 3.67, B+ is worth 3.33, etc. And the grade deflation sets the average grade at a B+ (3.33) for courses at the 100 and 200 level with at least 10 students in the class.
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<p>Right, but for many classes (actually, all the classes I've had so far), professors care little about grade deflation and will give you whatever grade they think you deserve. Meaning, if you did A- work, you'll get an A-.</p>
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And the grade deflation sets the average grade at a B+ (3.33) for courses at the 100 and 200 level with at least 10 students in the class.
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<p>B+ average is grade DEFLATION???</p>
<p>Is anyone here on the Wellesley Sailing club? How difficult is it for someone with little racing experience to join? (I've been a sailor since I was three, but I've barely ever raced in a regatta or anything like that. Could I still be involved with sailing?)</p>
<p>Trust me, when you realize how much work you'll have to put into a course just to end up with a B+, you'll understand the drawbacks of grade deflation. Or when you get a paper back that has an A- on it thats been crossed out and replaced with a B+.</p>
<p>Also, admission rates for recent Wellesley graduates into GPA obsessed fields such as law and med school have lowered since the grade deflation was instated.</p>
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[quote]
A 4.00 is not literally an A+, just fyi. An A is worth 4.00, A- is worth 3.67, B+ is worth 3.33, etc. And the grade deflation sets the average grade at a B+ (3.33) for courses at the 100 and 200 level with at least 10 students in the class.
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<p>This has been bugging me since the first question appeared in the thread. Wellesley's grading policy is not about grade deflation. The phrase implies that students receive grades that undervalue their work. The policy is anti-inflation, meaning that grades don't overvalue the students' achievements. This same topic came up last year (or was it the year before?) and Wendy astutely noted that grades don't mean much when a B is considered borderline and you essentially have six degrees of failing. Grade inflation also devalues excellent work. How do you distinguish truly exceptional work from above-average work if they both receive A's?</p>
<p>Bottom line: you earn your grade. A professor will not give you a lower grade than you deserve. The standards for your work might (and hopefully will) be higher than you've encountered so far, and your grades might (and probably will) go down from high school, but this is not grade deflation.</p>
<p>And I couldn't help but notice aquafoam's post-- Are other schools' extracurriculars in the Boston area pretty open for Wellesley students?</p>
<p>=> LonelyFishBowl: Actually the reason why Wellesley's orchestra is Wellesley/Brandeis is because Wellesley doesn't have enough people to form a real orchestra :P Even then, the Wellesley/Brandeis orchestra is SMALL compared to MIT (in MITSO we have 80+ people in full symphonies). We can participate in Olin, Babson, and MIT ECs because of our unique cross-registration thing.</p>
<p>How difficult is it to find the transportation to participate in all these awesome MIT/Olin/Babson/Brandeis EC's? Is there a bus or something?</p>
<p>LaMariposaAzul--
If you're interested in sailing, my friend is the captain of the sailing team at Wellesley, and I can try to put you in touch with her. She's one of the sweetest people I know and sooo enthusiastic about the sport/team.</p>
<p>There is a bus between MIT and Wellesley, and a small shuttle between Wellesley and Olin/Babson, that has more limited hours. I think the Brandeis Orchestra has a bus (I may need to stand corrected), but there is no school sponsored way to get to Brandeis.</p>
<p>Ringer, I think your post about grade deflation is the best that I've seen so far. </p>
<p>Millionlittlepieces, you claim that admission rates for law and med schools have dropped since the institution of the policy. I'd be very surprised if it was true, especially if the drop was outside of the normal range of acceptance rates over the span of a few years. Do you have any evidence to support your claim, besides anecdotal?</p>
<p>I was a student when the grading policy was debated and then instituted. Believe me, there was a lot of concern, from both students and faculty, about what the new policy would mean. But if you looked at the data before the policy, Wellesley's average GPA was the highest (or second highest?) among our peer group, meaning other top LAC and the Ivies. This information was made available during Senate when the policy was first proposed. Would you really want Wellesley to be known as the school that gives out easy A's, thus devaluing everyone's work?</p>
<p>One of the academically oriented things I liked best about Wellesley was that grades were a non issue amongst classmates. Not to say that they weren't important to students, just that talking about grades and GPA's wasn't done. I never knew the grades of my friends, nor did I ask or want to know. This was so different from my high school, where everyone was really competitive and knew where everyone else stood relative to one another. And it wasn't a small school either - 400 students per grade. Wellesley was such a refreshing change. I liked how the focus wasn't so much on how you were doing in comparison to someone else in class, but how you were doing against your potential.</p>
<p>So if I were to take some of my classes at MIT or other colleges, will my grades still be affected by the grading policy?</p>
<p>Your grades at another school are determined by the rules and policy of that other school. Know that only MIT grades will show up on your transcript, adjusted because they calculate GPAs out of 5.0, not 4.0. Also, even though MIT gives out plusses and minuses, these are not official, and your grade comes in as the straight letter (as far as I know, I got the straight letter in my class to begin with, so I 'm not sure). Other schools' grades will show up as "Olin Course" with a pass/fail type grade. If you want to get more detail about those courses, you need a transcript from the other institution (a PAIN) when you apply to transcript wanting programs.</p>
<p>How are the normal freshman dorms? How big is it? How comfortable is it and whatnot?</p>
<p>Also, I was browsing through the catalog, and was wondering if it is possible to major in english with a minor in either women's studies or theater studies??</p>
<p>I just have a thousand questions and I'm just going to keep on asking them.
So, are you LIMITED to 32 units as in can you not take more? Also, what is the "Wellesley Plus Program" and after your first year, is taking 5 classes a semester manageable and normally done? </p>
<p>Also, how really is the alumni network and how do you access it?</p>
<p>A) The first-year rooms vary dramatically from very large (New Dorms) to very small (Munger). Some are doubles, some are triples, and some are multi-room quads. They come with enough furniture to be comfortable and useful--bed, desk, desk chair, bookshelf, bookshelf over the desk. The temperatures tend toward the too-warm rather than too-cold in the winter, which is generally a good thing.</p>
<p>B) You can have one major, no minor; one major, one minor; two majors no minor. Some departments don't offer minors (many of the language departments, for instance), but they indicate this in the course catalog. If the departments you're looking at show that you can either major or minor, then you're fine.</p>
<p>C) 32 is the lower limit--not the upper limit. Take more, if you like! The registrar has more information about how you can and cannot accrue credits.</p>
<p>D) 5 classes per semester is manageable but not always advisable. Your extra-curriculars are likely to suffer (especially if you have more than one), and the benefit of having that extra course isn't always worth it.</p>
<p>E) No idea what the "Wellesley Plus Program" is, but I'm sure the college website has information about it!</p>
<p>F) The alumnae network is large, widespread, strong, and helpful. There's an online directory and community for the group, and clubs exist for both cities and regions (depending on relative population). The network also exists in unexpected connections: you meet the child or spouse or cousin of a Wellesley alum, which starts a conversation. I've found that anyone who knows a Wellesley student or alum will say so as soon as they learn that you are/were there.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! I visited during Spring Open Campus and absolutely fell in love with it. I'm really excited to be a part of Wellesley.</p>
<p>wannabeivy, while students do take 5 courses a semester, the vast majority of students will take 4. 5 courses are a lot of work, and usually you'll find that students who are taking 5 have something that makes it a little easier - for example one of the classes might meet once a week, not the usual two, or it's a thesis or independent studies credit.</p>
<p>If you take 4 classes every semester and graduate with 32 credits, you are not a slacker!!!! You need to take at least 3 classes to be considered a full time student. Many students will try and plan out their courses so they only have to take 3 classes their last semester as a senior - it helps!</p>
<p>Be warned: if you're a science major, taking 5 classes a semester = major suckage because of the amount of class time/work involved.</p>
<p>As for the Wellesley network, it definitely works, and you definitely want to be a part of it.</p>
<p>Ok, I have not so much a question but a critique. I was accepted at Smith, Wellesley and MHC. I am choosing MHC, but I want to share a short story: when I had an interview at Wellesley, there was this student from Eastern Europe who was applying as a transfer student as well. She had a 3.85 GPA at her community college and had completed 74 credits. She had been in USA for 3 years, during this time she was physically abused by a family member and could not leave because then she would lose her education. She had attended a private high school in her home country, based on the British sytem, with 14 classes a semester and with lectures from Cambridge and Oxford University-the only problem she had was that she had Cs in Math, Physics and Chemistry-but these were not just A-level high school classes, they were classes that were taken by grad students in Oxford. As EC activities she had worked with war refuges, taught ESL to 138 students, worked with victims of female trafficking (sex slaves), worked with victims of domestic abuse, two internships, Red Cross, survived a civil war, witnessed a girl kill herself because of gender discrimination etc. I thought that I was never going to have a chance of being accepted at Wellesley with this brilliant young woman applying there. Guess what: Wellesley did NOT accept her. She is going to attend MHC in the fall. This says a lot about Wellesley: what diversity do they talk about? What emancipation of women do they dream? Who are these women who are going to change the world according to them (women who have never known what suffering is, or women like her who know what it means)? The fact that she was not accepted (and therefore her wit and strength were not cherished) shows a lot what Wellesley really is.</p>
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The fact that she was not accepted (and therefore her wit and strength were not cherished) shows a lot what Wellesley really is.
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<p>Which is? (And I do mean that in a non-confrontational sense! I'm interested in hearing your conclusions based on this interaction.)</p>