<p>For confirmation, look through this list of the 2006 Academic All-America football teams. There are more mechanical engineering students than phys ed/coaching majors, and even more students in the combined engineering fields.
Sure, everyone can’t get a great GPA in an engineering major (or in most other majors, for that matter), but those who clearly are tops will make those GPAs in engineering, too.</p>
<p>That list revealed above, I think, actually demonstrates part of the problem, which is that engineers are often times not recognized for their grade deflation. For example, there is one football player from MIT on the team (yes, MIT has a football team), Chris Ruggiero. Yes, his perfect GPA in mechanical engineering is extremely impressive, and he definitely deserves to be named. But what about some other players on the MIT football team? I would argue that most of the MIT football team is probably more deserving than, say, Leon Douglas, was is carrying a 3.89 GPA in Physical Education at Missouri Western State University, because, while I could be wrong, somehow I think that that major at that school isn’t particularly difficult, and certainly not as difficult as the majors at MIT. Yet the fact remains that only 1 guy from MIT got named. It’s just another piece of evidence that shows that students who major in difficult schools tend to get shafted when it comes to national academic awards. Sad but true.</p>
<p>Take the knowledge you learn and make some cash with it. You can get a 4.0 and be poor. You can get a 2.0 and be rich. At the end of the day, how much money you earn will matter to others than whether or not you earned some “award”</p>
<p>Sakky: to be eligible for the award the player has to be nominated by the school’s sports information director. Perhaps MIT has a policy of limiting such nominations.</p>
<p>Maybe they do. But that’s not really the point, because at the end of the day, it still means that people who go to tough schools like MIT get screwed over for major national awards. After all, I see on the list that a school like Penn State managed to place 3 people on the list. And MIT can only place one? One of those Penn State guys who won got a 3.38 in management/telecomm (whatever that is). Come on, this guy wins the award, but some other MIT football player doesn’t? </p>
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<p>Look, I agree that this award isn’t all that big of a deal. But it’s symptomatic of a larger problem. There are larger awards like there - like the Rhodes Scholarship, Marshall Scholarship, Fulbright, Soros, Gates/Cambridge, which can make a big difference in your life’s opportunities, but are highly GPA dependent. MIT, for example, has had notably few Rhodes Scholars compared to its peers (HYPS), despite the fact that I think there is little dispute that MIT students are just as strong, quality-wise, as the students at the other schools. </p>
<p>While I obviously can’t prove it, I am convinced that harsh grading and difficult courses have a lot to do with it. For example, it’s much harder to get a top GPA at MIT than at the peer schools. Furthermore, one might contend that MIT students don’t participate in as many extracurricular activities as students at other schools do, I would contend that that is also related to the tough grading and workload of the school. After all, when you have to work harder just to get a decent grade, you have less time to participate in activities.</p>
<p>MIT isn’t much of a football program though, it is Division III. Penn State is a major program, so I would argue the Penn State guys worked harder than the MIT guys in terms of a combined academic/athletic workload.</p>
<p>I agree that Penn State is a bigger football program. But we could then compare Div 3 programs vs. each other. Looking at that list, there are other players there from Div 3 programs that don’t approach the difficulty of MIT. For example, what about the guy who is getting a 3.51 in elementary education from Augsburg College (a division 3 program)?</p>