I misspoke when I said Emory has grade deflation. The data doesn’t reflect that. It’s more accurate to say that Emory has had less grade inflation than most of its peers. My bad.
My main point in starting this thread is that there is a disconnect between popular perceptions of academic rigor/difficulty and the reality as reflected in average GPAs. Emory actually has held the line on its academics, and its students have benefitted, more so than many peers that haven’t. An A at Emory still means something. Can’t say the same for Brown.
It is well known that schools like Brown have had rampant grade inflation and this is supported by the data at gradeinflation.com. Brown’s average GPA from 2007 onward has been over a 3.6.
http://www.gradeinflation.com/Brown.html
Less well known is that grade inflation runs rampant at schools like Rice and Wash U, for example, that are reputed to be more rigorous. State universities actually grade more harshly than many highly selective universities according to gradeinflation.com and that too belies the popular perception.
On another thread, a former medical school admissions committee member of a “very well known private medical school” stated that they gave a boost to engineering candidates’ GPAs because of the harsh curves deployed in engineering courses.
“Private schools have a lot more flexibility in building their class, but adjustment of GPA for rigor of a college isn’t something that I remember doing a lot (except in the cases of engineering students where we knew the curve was dramatic.”
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/2019939-premed-at-uchicago-p3.html
But as I’ve posted above, the average GPA at MIT is about the same as at Emory in several, recent years.
At Rice, another school with a predominant engineering program, the average GPA from 2010-2015 has been over 3.5 - in most years substantially over 3.5.
http://www.gradeinflation.com/Rice.html
At Harvey Mudd, also an engineering focused school, the average GPA as early as 2006 was 3.40, which is higher than Emory’s has been for many years.
http://www.gradeinflation.com/Harveymudd.html
For more liberal arts oriented schools, the University of Chicago is reputed to be a harsh grading school but the average GPA was 3.35 as early as 2006 and presumably has not gone down since then.
http://www.gradeinflation.com/Chicago.html
At Wash U, the average GPA from 2014-2015 was also substantially above a 3.5.
http://www.gradeinflation.com/Washingtonu.html
Course rigor can’t explain all this away. U of Chicago has an intro orgo sequence that emphasizes memorizing reactions – an approach which would net you about a D- on an Emory orgo exam administered by Dr. Weinschenk. I can’t imagine why a school with a sterling reputation for strong academics and preparation for grad school (Chicago) would teach orgo that way.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/2019939-premed-at-uchicago-p2.html
Selectivity can’t explain it all either as many of the super selectives didn’t become so until fairly recently.
MIT admit rate in 2000 = 24.3%
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/mit_admissions_statistics_2008_1
UPenn’s admit rate in 1991 = 47%
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kat-cohen/college-admissions_b_1408552.html
Harvey Mudd’s admit rate in 2009 was 34%
https://www.hmc.edu/dean-of-faculty/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2014/02/CDS_2009-10_C.pdf
U of Chicago’s admit rate in early 2000s was around 40%.