Myth=Grade DEFLATION at Cornell??

yayatime · 08-28-2006, 05:51 PM

I was just looking at the median report for courses during the spring semester of this year at Cornell and I was actually very surprised. With the exception of some natural science courses and mathematics courses all I saw was median grade reports of a lot of A's and then some B's and then some rare C's...
So is Cornell really that grade deflated as it is rumoured to be?

norcalguy · 08-28-2006, 06:36 PM

No. It's challenging and less grade inflated in comparison to some other schools but there are plenty of classes with medians of B+ or above.

gomestar · 08-28-2006, 06:42 PM

right, compared to its peer schools Cornell is certainly less grade inflated.

it's totally possible to get A's in many classes, though you'll have to work for it.

also, keep in mind that the highest grade at Cornell is an A+ (4.3) and this is factored into the median grade reports

college-woot! · 08-28-2006, 07:45 PM

its tough to get the grades though. a lot more work is needed for an A at cornell than an A at harvard. but i guess it all pays off? at least im hoping it will haha because this is hell...

AJKates · 08-28-2006, 08:06 PM

Well, the median grade in the DSOC 101 class I'm taking this semester is an A. How's that for grade inflation?

college-woot! · 08-28-2006, 08:18 PM

you get your easy courses (psych 101 where an A+ is not hard if you do the work)

then you get courses like the govt ones. hell.

yayatime · 08-28-2006, 08:29 PM

Yes I admit it depends on the course. But that is pretty much true for all other top tier institutions rumoured to have high grade inflation isn't it? Anyways what I wanted to discuss is that Cornell isn't super die hard as it is rumoured to be or at least the perception I have received so far. As a rising senior I was at first turned off from applying to Cornell but grade wise it seems really manageable to get a 3.8-4.0 at Cornell. As a future pre-med-er I am really curious and a bit worried about this. Are high gpas really that rare for a science major?

norcalguy · 08-28-2006, 08:47 PM

Yes.

http://www.career.cornell.edu/downlo...art%202005.pdf

Notice that only 14 students out of 210 students applying to med school had a GPA of 3.9+ while 47 had a MCAT score of 35+. There is clearly an incongruity b/w GPA and MCAT scores, suggesting that the school is perhaps too hard (although it appears that students do just fine when standarized against other schools on the MCAT). And this doesn't even include the hundreds of premeds who didn't even make it to the application stage. I am willing to bet that a significant percentage of the 14 students were not science majors.

Fortunately, I have a 3.9 and a 35+ hehe

norcalguy · 08-28-2006, 08:50 PM

Although I would like to note that you don't need a 3.8+ GPA to get into med school.

Also before you cringe at 2005's numbers, check out 1993:

http://www.career.cornell.edu/downlo...h/accapp93.pdf

3 applicants to med school out of 300 had a GPA of 3.9 or above.

chillax88 · 08-28-2006, 11:39 PM

is the poli sci department known for really difficult courses?

SeaLocust · 08-29-2006, 12:56 AM

Well, there isn't a poli sci department - it's government.

And, like most departments if I had to guess, it's known to be very difficult.

yayatime · 08-29-2006, 06:02 AM

I'll have to admit those numbers are daunting norcalguy but I do believe that if admitted to CAS, which requires about 1/3 of humanities courses, which are shown to have really high median grades... it would be pretty manageable to get a respectable gpa in the 3.6+ range even with some challenging hard science courses.
For the hard science courses in particular are professors really out to lower grades? My perception is that as long as the heavy course work is managed sweet grades will follow.

norcalguy · 08-29-2006, 11:52 AM

I would say that most of the high GPA people are probably from the College of Human Ecology. It's pretty amazing to consider the fact that freshman year every other person you meet will probably be premed and by the end of junior year there are only 30 premeds from all of the schools combined who have 3.8+ GPA's.

I'm not trying to deter you from applying. I love Cornell and encourage everyone to apply. But expectations of 3.8+ is unrealistic. 3.5-3.6, on the other hand, is fairly easy to achieve.

ballerina · 08-29-2006, 12:02 PM

Okay, I'll just say this. If you're totally hardcore about getting that 3.8+ gpa in WHATEVER subject it is at Cornell, you can do it. Yes, that may mean working harder, managing your time, and not partying every night (a lot of people I know who claim to be "premed" party all the time...probably why they'll either get "low" GPA's or switch to something else). But if you are that driven, you will accomplish it.

norcalguy · 08-29-2006, 12:33 PM

Most of those people don't even become a statistic on the applied/accepted charts. I estimate that approx. 1000 per class start out premed (by looking at the Chem 207/208 enrollment numbers)-->approx. 600 are still premed by the end of freshman year (by looking at the orgo enrollment numbers)-->approx. 250 still premed by the end of junior year (these are the 250 that take the MCAT and apply to med school)-->approx. 200 of those actually get into med school.