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<p>Sure, there is an advantage to those relatively few Berkeley students who can nevertheless get top grades anyway, as it allows them to stand out. The problem is that that advantage is clearly dwarfed by all of the problems incurred by all of the students who don’t get immaculate grades. </p>
<p>As I’ve always said, Berkeley is an excellent school for those students who do well. But what about all those students who don’t do well? What happens to them? It could be argued that perhaps those students should simply have not been admitted in the first place, and I have in fact advocated that argument myself for those students who earn GPA’s of less than 2.5, as those students would clearly have been better off at some other school. But given that Berkeley won’t change its admissions policies, the next best thing to do is reform its grading policies.</p>