@bluebayou : The numbers are there on that website, Go look at the numbers. It doesn’t matter what any of us “hear” or “think” when places like Berkeley release their numbers and they are in the range I suggest (Georgia Tech students still complain about grades but if you go on course critique, their grading norms are now in line with STEM at other elite schools). You do hear a lot about “grade deflation” and all that in STEM from some places more than others, but many schools just grade similarly in STEM (B- is a classical target) . The numbers suggest that. The lowest I saw in classes relevant to say a neuro major at Berkeley was a course GPA of about 2.67-2.7 (hell the gen. chem 2 average was approaching 3.2 at Berkeley!). This is in line with the stereotypical B- targets of many into. and intermediate courses at top schools and non. I am sure some professors are exceptions, but those are averages account for all sections. I think the problem is that people have no clue what goes on elsewhere so tend to assume the grass is greener elsewhere when things get rough for them. That is what I alluded to. Take any disagreements up with the Berkeley website compiling those grade distributions. Perhaps they miscalculated (but they appear to have solid sample sizes).
I didn’t care about “student culture”. Never mentioned it at all. Any nastiness among students at some schools versus others is all kind of in vein if they will ultimately get similar level courses and grading curves as similar caliber schools. You mentioned that the grading at USC and other California schools, and I addressed THAT. I don’t care to address “culture” because I don’t know what to believe. I just know that OP’s child should expect similar intellectual intensity and grading in those particular areas if USC grades similarly to a Berkeley or UCLA. I have no idea if such grading norms are sufficient at USC to yield the same alleged competition that Berkeley or JHU is known for, so I stuck to commenting about grading. Maybe a B-/B average should be considered “deflation”, but all I know is that it remains fairly standard in STEM at a lot of places.