tennisgirl08

I've heard a couple of things about grade deflation at Princeton. Could we discuss? I want to separate fact from fiction...

libra

If anything, grade deflation is the ONE thing that has me thinking Yale over Princeton. I like competing with myself and trying to constantly improve, but the grade deflation system seems to foster competition with your peers, and ultimately, an unpleasant atmosphere of bitterness.

tennisgirl08

Yeah I might be leaning more towards Harvard/Yale because of it...not because it would be "harder" at Princeton to get a good GPA per say, but more because of the resulting competitive environment? Idk anyone else have any takes on this? Does the grade deflation make competition more bitter and harsher?

opqpop

wait what exactly is this grade deflation at princeton? Do they have a limited amount of A's they can give to students?

tennisgirl08

yeah it's topped at 35% for classes I think

angelawho

My friend at Pton says that in a lot of classes, the professors still just give A's to all students who deserve it...so I'm not sure how big an issue it ACTUALLY is.

But what would worry me is that yeah, people would probably be way more competitive (but like, come on, like people at Harvard/Yale wouldn't be competitive...)

ivanadoeslimbo

I know Princeton departments have a limited number of A's to give out, but does grade deflation limit B's or C's too?

tennisgirl08

are there any current Princeton students who can give some insight?

Alumother

I can give some insight via my D. A's are possible. Absolutely. But they won't be given out willy nilly. You will have to do your best work. Isn't that how it's supposed to be?

Weasel8488

Current student here. You have to work very hard for A's, even in subjects for which you have a natural affinity. It's no longer enough to simply be smart; your work ethic is definitely a factor. That said, A's are definitely attainable. It's hard to give much more insight than that because different students have very different abilities. The policy really doesn't bother me that much because it affects all Princeton students equally. Sure we have to work harder than students at Harvard to get A's, but I came to Princeton because I wanted to be challenged. It's still too early to say conclusively that the policy hasn't hurt Princeton students in the job market, but most of the popular employers say that they take grade deflation into account when evaluating applicants.

IAmNobody

I've reiterated this, but in most science/math classes , this policy never rears its head because there usually aren't >35% A's anyway. It has had 0 effect on my science and math courses.
In other humanities courses, I don't think it's fostered an atmosphere of competitiveness at all. I work in groups for prob sets for econ and there are study groups for many courses. I haven't felt the super-competitive type of atmosphere that people fear.

echang08

Weasel, can you clarify what you mean by working "very hard"? Most people, I think, will have different standards for what this means based on the quality of their high school.

midatlmom

According to my daughter, she truly does not feel that the students at Princeton are competitive with each other over grades. She tells me that people rarely mention grades and there is no sense in her classes that it's a zero sum game and students are being pitted against each other. She adores the school and thinks that the students are really kind to each other and extremely happy (and she frequently mentions studying with groups of friends). She thinks that it can be difficult to get an A and you have to work hard, but kids don't seem unduly stressed by the grading system.

ec1234

It is quite difficult to get an A in my experience, although doable. A-s are given out more readily, and I would say that the most frequent grade in the majority of classes is a B+ Very few classes change grades lower, they just maybe don't award as many A range grades as they used to. I don't think that it hurts in getting a job (I know that I got a very good job without a great GPA) or professional school admission, and it definitely doesn't hurt in graduate school admission.

ceebee63

According to a current Pton senior whom I met at Preview Days, the policy was made in part to make majors more "fair." For example, only 35% of kids in science and math majors were getting A's, and 65% of kids in humanities majors were getting A's. Does that mean that the kids taking humanities classes were smarter, or worked harder? Probably not. I think Princeton just wants to make all the majors equally difficult. He did say that by the time my class really starts caring about grades (e.g. junior/senior year when we'll be applying to grad school and jobs), the policy will have been around long enough that no one will care and no one will feel jipped.