Do admissions officers know about Cal's grade deflation?

ucbalumnus
Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:19:58 +0000

Berkeley does not have grade deflation; it has [grade inflation](UC-Berkeley), though probably not as much as at many other schools (private schools generally seem to have more grade inflation than public schools).

The usual talk in the pre-med forums is that medical schools look at GPA without looking at (a) whether your school has more or less grade inflation, (b) whether your school has more or less competitive students, and (c) whether you took a “harder” major and course schedule versus the minimum pre-med courses and the easiest major and other courses. Law schools have a similar reputation.

Graduate departments in academic fields are more likely to consider these things.