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<p>I’m curious how this squares with declining acceptance rates. We see that the median GPA of graduates in 1997 was 3.24 and the median GPA of graduates in 2009 was 3.53 (the 2.83 from figure 1973 is not useful, since we don’t know exactly what it represents). Swarthmore’s acceptance rate declined over that same period. This implies that the average student at Swarthmore today is more competent than the average student a decade or more ago. So, it’s not so much that Swarthmore professors are going easier on everyone today and handing out better grades, but that the students are just better. Seeing as how grading on a curve is an unpopular method of assigning grades, it makes perfect sense that median GPAs would rise.</p>