Adding “Dean’s List Every Year” takes up no space and if you are selected for PBK all the better! It should probably go on all applications or resumes that include your college performance.
The specific question was how useful it is for a UChicago grad. A few google hits reveal that there were a few posts several years ago mentioning how a sizable majority of graduates were General Honors (meaning a 3.25 cum. gpa upon graduation. That’s like Dean’s List every, or near every, year). We also know from prior CC posts that UChicago’s famous “grade deflation” isn’t exactly that - it’s just a slower climb to the inflated numbers of other schools. My impression is that the Dean’s List gpa minimum hasn’t kept up with what seems to be ever higher average gpa’s.
Now, there are several reasons why gpa’s might be climbing. For instance, UChicago very likely has academically stronger students than, say, 15-20 years ago (due to higher selectivity, better and more intense college prep among elite applicants, etc.). Also, there have been significant changes to the Core (more options, cutting the total required number of credits back, and so forth). Yet another factor might be that the academic offerings have broadened a bit within the major (allowing Calc. 130’s to satisfy some pre-reqs, for example, or offering various principles courses in economics that simply didn’t exist a few decades ago), allowing more time to ease into the rigors of a particular course of study. And, there’s always pressure on instructors to make their students happy (although, believe it or not, that existed even in the bad old days like back in the 80’s, according to some grad students who were teaching back then). Finally, at one point quality grades didn’t used to include plusses or minuses - at least in the graduate schools and divisions. Have no idea about the College but obviously such a switch to a more fluid grading scale would impact that “B” range where the Dean’s List potential lies.
Taken as a whole, it’s quite possible - even probable - that average gpa’s have increased for very good and legitimate reasons. However, to quote Dashiell Parr, if everyone’s special, that’s another way of saying that no one is. If a sizable majority of your undergraduate population is headed for General Honors at graduation, doesn’t that mean the threshold is a tad low?