<p>There are multiple ways to perform grading. One way would be to determine if the class undertands the material well and if they do, they would get an A which might allow an entire class to receive an A. Another way would be to establish a median grade and curve the class to it to allow those students who excel in the material to rise to the top and others to sink to the bottom in order to obtain a distribution. This latter method seems to be the norm in engineering, some science, and some other classes. The professors frequently mkae the grading so harsh and the tests so difficult that nobody can ever get 100% and the average is frequently closer to a 50%. Since everything’s relative, this may not be a problem within that program and it allows the school to distinguish between students (all of whom are very smart students) but it can be a problem when one is competing for grad schools with those taking majors at the same school that don’t perform the harsh grading or when they’re competing with other schools who don’t follow the practice of the infamous ‘curve’. I hope grad schools understand the grading policies of schools and departments at some of the other schools although it’d probably be difficult for them to know this intimately for any other than the schools supplying the greatest number of applicants.</p>
<p>btw - I can tell you that UCSD engineering is also tough on grading as are many engineering schools - especially the higher-ranked schools. They can be brutal in the ‘weeder’ courses.</p>