@BiffBrown : Harvard is definitely a posterchild for grade inflation because it is a large target, but believe it or not, some of the schools in the top 10 and top 25 are worse as well as some of the elite and well respected LACs. The only difference between the inflation at a place like H or Y versus some of the LACs and newer places is that I imagine the inflation could have an aristocratic edge as described (whereas everywhere else it is primarily only because everyone pays too much money). With that said, as far as STEM goes, you should also realize that the “general biology” (it essentially is an integrated course that integrates molecular cell stuff, general chemistry, and some basic bio-organic concepts. However, one could argue that the little bit of bio-organic concepts is more plentiful and pitched at a higher level than they are in biochemistry 1 courses elsewhere) course at Harvard looks like this:
http://people.fas.harvard.edu/~lsci1a/exams.html
This is very old, but at one point a more recent offering was available to the public (now you must have a Harvard login) and it was almost exactly the same. I could do this for several “lower division” STEM courses (except maybe the average math course as they have so many tiers…perhaps the ones that STEM majors take would be relevant for comparison) there and let you think about what the equivalents look like at most schools within the elite and non. I can tell you that only a few consistently (as in either has 1(or 2) sections of the equivalent course always taught rigorously or has a majority of students taking an instructor equally as rigorous or similar in level to the Harvard counterpart) fare favorably, at least in terms of the cognitive complexity required on exams and the level of content taught in the course. Some intermediates and upper divisions are different stories.
However, I need not talk about some of the honors (for first years/or entry classes for those with very advanced backgrounds) level STEM options at H level schools. They put that course to shame and will blow the minds of many students taking upper division courses at many other ELITE schools.
- Admittedly I would not pass a person in the teens, but one could argue that it deserves at least a slightly higher curve to the mean and median than the "equivalent" (often does not exist) course at most even top universities. This course is more akin to an upper division molecular cell class that has an emphasis on problem solving. I think it is really only fair to compare Harvard to schools that have comparably pitched courses and then compare the curves. Such schools are not that common, and when it does happen at other places, it is often that rare professor that goes out on a limb, whereas this sort of thing was essentially "planned" and each instructor that teaches the course teaches it kind of at a similar level.
Either way, Harvard ain’t special in this arena no matter how much people like to slam it. Welcome to higher education at research universities, elite and non.