<p>Uh, no, once again, you should reread more carefully. Or perhaps you have forgotten what we are arguing about.</p>
<p>“For first-year undergraduate students: (a) in the first semester and in the Independent Activities Period, the only passing grade permanently recorded by the Registrar shall be P; and (b) in the first semester, in the Independent Activities Period, and in the second semester, the non-passing grades of D, F, O, and OX shall be recorded by the Registrar foruse within the Institute only, and shall not appear on official Institute transcripts”</p>
<p>So afan, you tell me, what does that mean for second-semester grades in the freshman year? </p>
<p>Here, I will make it as clear as I can. I quote straight from MIT’s academic handbook.</p>
<p>“None of the grades that students can receive in the first semester of their freshman year (P, DN, FN, ON, or OXN) is calculated in the term or cumulative ratings. For freshman in their second semester and transfer students granted an initial term of ABC/no external record grade reporting, A, B, and C grades are counted in the term and cumulative ratings but DN and FN are not.”</p>
<p><a href=“Advising resources | MIT Registrar”>Advising resources | MIT Registrar;
<p>Or how about this one?</p>
<p>“The second term {meaning the second semester of the freshman year} at MIT is graded on an “A/B/C/no record” basis.”</p>
<p><a href=“MIT Admissions”>MIT Admissions;
<p>So, tell me, afan, what does that mean for freshman year, second semester grades? </p>
<p>Honestly, do you really think I don’t know how MIT’s grading works? While I don’t want to put my biographical information online, why don’t you email me privately, and I’ll tell you everything you’d ever want to know about who I am, and then we can figure out who knows more about MIT’s grading policy, you or I.</p>
<p>Or, maybe even better, let’s go the MIT section of CC. There are people there who are known for being current MIT students or MIT alumni. Why don’t we ask them what happens with the grades of the freshman year, second semester? Hey, if you’re really sure that you’re right, then you have nothing to be afraid of, right? So why not ask them? Or are you now starting to doubt yourself? </p>
<p>And if you really say that grade inflation is a herring, then why is it that around 1996, the average Berkeley GPA was a 3.10, whereas the average GPA at, say, Stanford was a 3.44, the average GPA at Dartmouth at that time was somewhere between a 3.25-3.31, the average GPA at Brown was between a 3.4-3.47? Seems to me that in peer schools, Berkeley’s GPA is significantly lower than that of its peers.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/stanford.html[/url]”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/stanford.html</a>
<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/berkeley.html[/url]”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/berkeley.html</a>
<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/brown.html[/url]”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/brown.html</a>
<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/dartmouth.html[/url]”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/dartmouth.html</a></p>
<p>Looking at A’s is simply not enough. You have to look at the whole proportion of grades. At certain schools, it’s practically impossible to get anything lower than a B-, and certainly almost unheard of to get anything lower than a C. At Berkeley, low grades are indeed handed out at a rather substantial rate.</p>