<p>I am wondering, since currently there are 30 senior majors in physics and only 30% gets an A in a course, what happens in the courses that concern mostly one major only? If all 30 take it only nine of them can get an A. Isn’t the environment really cut-throat instead of being an environment promoting camaderie and an atmosphere of learning rather than persuing grades? Thanks.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the 30% goal is for the entire department, not individual courses. From the comments I’ve seen on this subject, many departments give fewer As in the huge introductory courses, where there are a lot of non-majors and enrollment is high, so that they can give out more As in upper-level classes. That said, I imagine not everyone is going to be getting an A at the higher levels, but I’m sure that’s the case with all schools.</p>
<p>Exactly. The 35% (not 30%) target is for the entire department, not individual classes. Also, I’m pretty sure the PHY department only gives approximately 25% A’s in 101-102 and 103-104 (by far the biggest classes), and departmental A’s range around 45-50%. It’s like this in many departments with big intro classes (math, chem, computer science, etc.). And I’ve noticed that grade deflation has allowed people to not stress so much over getting a B because, short of the top 5% or so of the class, everyone gets them at some point. This isn’t Harvard, where one B in the department could potentially knock you out of contention for departmental honors. Anyway, after bonding through Death Mech (PHY 205), I would be shocked if physics students really cared more about getting better grades than everyone else than helping their friends out with problem sets.</p>