College GPA

TooOld4School
Wed, 15 Jul 2015 01:45:43 +0000

In general literature and arts have higher grades than sciences and engineering. At Umich, the ‘target’ grade in the engineering school is curved to a B+ average. Also at Umich, the average in english, history, etc is A-. Some colleges have averages that are higher, some lower, some don’t have grades at all.

The skill set you use in college is completely different. There is far less class time, far more reading, little to no busy work, and rarely graded homework. Instead, you have tests, papers and projects. You are expected to contact your professor for assistance early, form study groups, conduct research etc. and organize yourself.

Let me give you an example of a rigorous senior writing class I took. We were expected to write six 6-8 page papers over a semester, re-write two of them, read 400-600 pages per week, and participate actively in class discussions and defend our arguments orally. In addition, the professor held 4 hours per week of office hours in which nearly everyone brought drafts of papers for preliminary input.

The typical ‘formula’ estimates 2-3 hours of homework per hour of class time. This class was more time consuming than most, however.