<p>i know schools like John’s Hopkins, Cornell, MIT, UC Berkeley, and etc. are known to deflate student’s grades which is very disadvantageous when applying for professional school. I was wondering if any of the top 25 liberal arts colleges deflate grades, if so which ones?</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd is NOTORIOUS for grade deflation.</p>
<p>Reed has grade deflation.</p>
<p>what about the lac’s in new england like middlebury, williams, colgate, bowdoin, colby, trinity</p>
<p>Grad schools know all about this; there is no disadvantage.</p>
<p>BTW, Reed’s average GPA has been about 3.1 for over 20 years, so no deflation or inflation. A few schools have actually had some deflation recently.</p>
<p>how about amherst?</p>
<p>There is no grade deflation at Hopkins. Every student gets the grades he/she deserve. Also, grad schools are very aware of the schools that have high expectations, and adjust accordingly. Anyway, it is really useless to have a high GPA from a school that inflates grades, and a relatively lower MCAT, GMAT, LSAT, etc.</p>
<p>“Every student gets the grades he/she deserve.”</p>
<p>Well, okay, but we can assume that students get the grades they “deserve” at every school, according to the grading standards of each school; some have a higher average GPA, some lower.</p>
<p>The practical problem with continuing grade inflation is that as the average GPA goes up, it becomes increasingly difficult to recognize the top students whose work stands out above the rest. Imagine a top school where every student is said to “deserve” an A.</p>
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<p>If one med school applicant has a 3.9 GPA from Harvard and a perfect LSAT, and a second applicant has a 3.5 GPA from MIT and a perfect LSAT, which student is the med school more likely to accept? Will he accept the second student because Harvard is notorious for inflation and its likely that the MIT student worked harder for his GPA than the Harvard student? I doubt it.</p>
<p>The fact is that grade deflation does hurt admissions into professional schools.</p>
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This is wrong. Law school admissions, and to a lesser extent med school admissions, is a numbers game in which the people with the highest gpa and test scores win.</p>
<p>It doesn’t hurt when applying to grad schools; just look at how many Reed grads get phds.</p>
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<p>Med schools use the MCAT… the LSAT is for Law school.</p>
<p>Regardless, I would expect both of those applicants to get in. Correct me if necessary</p>
<p>I still believe that grade inflation is something a student should not reject. Less stress and better chances towards grad school admissions. Remember, top grad schools want to be able to say “average GPA of 3.9!” because it helps their rankings. It’s all a rankings game.</p>
<p>“The fact is that grade deflation does hurt admissions into professional schools.”</p>
<p>Any “The fact is…” requires credibility, often derived from references.</p>
<p>in post #11 I want to specify that by top grad schools, I meant to say top Med/Law schools. PhD programs might be less obsessed with rankings.</p>
<p>I came across a quote from Columbia Law School Dean of Admissions Jim Milligan that jumped off the page. In response to the question, “What factors do you consider when evaluating an undergraduate record?” he responded: “Not all GPA’s are created equal. Swarthmore and William & Mary, for instance have refrained from inflating grades; their averages are between 2.8 and 2.9. At the other end of the spectrum, Stanford and Yeshiva have mean GPAs over 3.4.”</p>
<p>[The</a> Case for Grade Deflation - Editorials/Op-Ed](<a href=“http://media.www.yucommentator.com/media/storage/paper652/news/2003/04/10/EditorialsopEd/The-Case.For.Grade.Deflation-582638.shtml]The”>http://media.www.yucommentator.com/media/storage/paper652/news/2003/04/10/EditorialsopEd/The-Case.For.Grade.Deflation-582638.shtml)</p>
<p>I dont think that it is a universal LAC trend, but many do (esp. williams and swarthmore).</p>
<p>Grade deflation is actually a boost to the higher people in the class, even if their GPA is lower. It really doesnt hurt people until you reach the middle of the pack because then the difference starts becoming too noticeable.</p>
<p>If someone comes from williams/swat with a 3.8 and harvard with a 3.9, adcoms dont really have a hard time believing that a .1 difference at that high a level is material if nothing would indicate otherwise. But if the average GPA at harvard is 3.4 or yale is 3.5 (which it roughly is) and the average GPA at swat is 2.8-2.9 (which I never knew until the post above), it is a lot harder to justify a .5-.7 adjustment to balance it out even if that is what the averages would indicate. People always go on to say that people at school X are smarter and therefore deserve a higher GPA, but the difference between your average swat and harvard students is certainly not 2/3 of a grade.</p>
<p>davidson does, for sure</p>
<p>“If one med school applicant has a 3.9 GPA from Harvard and a perfect LSAT, and a second applicant has a 3.5 GPA from MIT and a perfect LSAT, which student is the med school more likely to accept?”</p>
<p>Perhaps the one with the higher MCAT score. Med schools are notoriously indifferent to LSAT scores.</p>
<p>Speaking from limited experience, Amherst does not deflate grades. The average grade one stands to receive from a humanities professor is a B (3.0), and Economics, Math, and Science courses are all curved at the B/B+ range.</p>