<p>Embarrassed by this question, but need any advice I can get. I was accepted early decision for the class of 2016 - the college of arts & sciences. Both parents went to Cornell, met there and then got married. Hotel and Engineering colleges. Brother and Sister are both older than me and went to and graduated from Brown, both studied music. They both went to grad school, one at UPenn Law School now, and one went to Harvard and got a graduate degree in English, she now is a teacher at the prep school all 3 of us went to. They both had practically all As and they say Bs were rare at Brown. I wanted to study Economics, visited Cornell last year, loved it and my parents have been good participating alumni for a long time. My dad and his friend even hosted an event for accepted students a few years ago. Early Decision looked right and my guidance counselor thought it was a good idea, and my parents were thrilled I applied and so happy when I got the acceptance. Just drove from Boston with mom to Cornell again, this time with my sister who had vacation and wanted to check the school out with me last week because she was never there. I wanted to check out the dorms, which my sister and I both said were much nicer than the housing at Brown. and then we decided to take a tour and the tour guide who was an actual student in arts and sciences said that the dean of the college makes a point of saying that you should expect to get Cs at Cornell. I was kind of upset. I know that College is not as easy as high school to get As. Now I’m really worried about getting C’s because I know that will hurt with getting into graduate school after college. My sister was surprised because she says at Brown not only were most of the grades As when she was there, but professors at Brown are not even allowed by school rules to give anything less than a C, and they never give out Cs anyway, and you can always pass/fail as many classes as you want there. I’m for sure not trying to get out of my early decision contract, but I am worried about going to cornell if they give out so many low grades. My boyfriend just started Columbia this year as a chemistry major and he says most of the grades that he and his friends are getting are As in all their classes. Does anyone know if grading at Cornell is that much harder than other high ranked colleges and universities or is what the tour guide said just like a scare tactic to make people study harder if they are accepted. She was nice, but did seem like the competitive type. My mom and dad say that cornell is known for hard grading and it helps their reputation and that i’ll be fine as long as I do the work. Can any current students who read this send me a message through this web site or post in this thread so I have an idea about what grading is like at cornell, and also tell me if they know how it compares to students at other high ranked colleges. If Cornell is really that hard on grading, is it taken into account by people looking at cornell students after they graduate? Peace and Love.</p>
<p>Cornell’s average GPA is 3.4-3.5 (somewhere b/w a B+ and a A-). Not much different from most top schools. No need to be scared lol</p>
<p>^Where did you find that stat?</p>
<p>Yeah you’ll be fine</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat. I’m super scared about the grading an the 44% acceptance rate into med school. More like terrified. Yes where did you get that stat?^^</p>
<p>I even started my own thread bc im freaking out. I’ll report to you any info I get</p>
<p>[Cornell</a> University](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/cornell.html]Cornell”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/cornell.html)</p>
<p>[Grade</a> Inflation at Cornell](<a href=“http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/grade_inflation_at_cornell/]Grade”>Grade Inflation at Cornell – Outside the Beltway)</p>
<p>Cornell used to post its median grades online and actually had to stop because the grade inflation has gotten so rampant. The vast majority of classes were curved to a B+ or A-, consistent with the reporting of its average GPA. My guesstimate of 3.4-3.5 is an extrapolation of the grade inflation that has been taking place over the past 20 years.</p>
<p>And the acceptance rate to med school for Cornell students is ~70%, not 44%.</p>
<p><a href=“Career Services | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University”>Career Services | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University;
<p>@norcalguy maybe I was just freaking out and didn’t pay attention. Thanks</p>
<p>i mean, if you’re studying engineering or hard science, then it will probably be difficult. but there isn’t like a grade deflation policy, as it is in princeton, so professors shouldn’t be pressured to give out lower grades to fit some sort of standard. im sure it will be tough, but you should be fine!</p>
<p>shout out to norcalguy for your post. thanks for the info.
but now I’m even more nervous. If you replace the names of the other ivy league schools in the grade inflation link you gave, cornell has for sure what seems like one of the the lowest GPA of all the schools, some are even way higher
If Cornell grading is really that much below average, then I believe that grad schools have to know that cornell grading is lower on average, otherwise cornell students are not fairly treated.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, Cornell has one of the weakest student bodies in the Ivy Leagues. So, you are competing against weaker competition. So, it would be fair for Harvard to be curved to 3.5 while Cornell to be curved to 3.4. That’s the only way to equalize the GPA’s when the students are of different quality. </p>
<p>I had a pretty easy time at Cornell, even as a premed science major. I averaged over a 4.0 my last 5 semesters at Cornell and graduated with close to a 4.0 overall. Then, I went to med school where most of my classmates are from peer schools (like Harvard, Yale, Duke, Notre Dame, Northwestern, etc.) and I am barely above average. Don’t think for a second that a 3.9 at Cornell is more difficult to achieve than a 3.9 at Harvard or Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Here are some sample GPA’s from 2006 based on the link I provide:
Cornell 3.36
Harvard 3.45 (2005)
Duke 3.42
Princeton 3.27
UChicago 3.35
Dartmouth 3.39
Northwestern 3.37
UC Berkeley 3.27</p>
<p>There is nothing that indicates to me that Cornell is substantially grade inflated compared to its peers, particularly when you control for the quality of the students.</p>
<p>From personal experience, Econ classes are curved from B to A-, with most probably at B+. C’s and D’s are more common in the hard sciences/engineering, where not “getting” something means no chance at credit on some questions (Yes, gross oversimplification). With Econ, as long as you study, you should be able to get in the B-range.</p>
<p>My calculus teacher this year is a Cornell graduate. He told me that the grading system in Cornell makes it hard to get great grades. He said that who ever had the highest grade Ina class gets the A and a bell curve is used for everyone else. So even if you a 93 grade In a class you can end up with a B. </p>
<p>This is how I understood what he was saying. I could be completely off. Any correction are welcome. </p>
<p>This is one of main reason that I dont like Cornell… It just seems too competitive for me.</p>
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<p>This implies that only 1 person in a class can get an A. Which is not true. </p>
<p>The second part is definitely not true. If there are so many people getting 93’s, then the class is usually uncurved. The curve is usually to help you, not hurt you. This means you can get a 60% in a science class and still get a B (common scenario). If the class were uncurved, you’d be looking at a D-/F.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. from your link about grading, I also checked Brown and Yale. The average grading there is 3.61 and 3.51. Brown average admission stats are basically the same exact as Cornell. If Brown is 3.61 average grade and Cornell is 3.36 from the link you gave, do you know if grad schools consider cornell’s on average lower grading when making an admissions decision. I can live with harder grading as long as it is recognized after cornell that I went to a hard grading school. now I know why my siblings loved Brown, not only is it a real chill place but also - 3.61 average GPA. It would be interesting to see how cornell matches up with getting their students into grad schools such as law compared to other ivys like Brown. That seems like the best way to know if the low average grading at cornell has any impact. For the last 24 hours, I have been reading so many threads on college confidential about cornell and hard grading and whether it is real and if it really makes any difference. When I have this figured all out, I’ll post again.</p>
<p>The only thing I can do is provide you with facts and statistics. If you want to focus on isolated examples, you can choose to do so. Good luck.</p>
<p>BTW: I’m in the admissions committee at my medical school. We do know that Brown is grade inflated. I wouldn’t say that makes Brown grades worthless but we focus more on MCAT scores with applicants from Brown. Hence, Brown’s acceptance rate to med school is only slightly better than Cornell’s (which is easily attributed to the fact the students at Brown are a bit stronger).</p>
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<p>Does this apply for engineering students as well?</p>
<p>Thank you. The URL you gave is helpful, but only one factor. I was just including some other schools. I am trying to get as much data as I can and it is not easy. I don’t put much weight in opinion and think actual data is a better measure. I will post again when I have as much data as I can find. For now, all I can say is that I’m a little bit worried because cornell has so many negative posts on this web site about its hard grading and iffy grad school admission rates, and none of the other high ranked colleges have anything like those kinds of posts here in the threads on this web site. Maybe cornell students are more vocal or maybe the posts are not accurate. Right now, I’m not sure about anything except that cornell is on the low end of average grading according to the link you gave. Its nice to know though that grad schools will hopefully account for that. I’ve been reading this web site on and off for about a year and never thought I would be posting, but the feedback is real helpful. Thank you.</p>
<p>This is in no way a generalization, but I have noticed that some students tend to complain a class is too difficult when they are not putting their best effort forward.What seems to be a growing trend is that highly capable kids are hearing that Cornell courses are very difficult and are accepting lower grades because it’s “supposed to be hard.” Since each class is curved quite well, some kids are able to get through by literally doing nothing and still getting an A- or above. To do well in these classes you don’t need to perform of A caliber level but simply be well above the average Cornell kid in your class. As norcalguy had pointed out, our student body (I only know about engineering) is weaker than student bodies at MIT/Caltech/Stanford/etc. So, this enables some kids to bs each class and bang out As while taking 25+ credits and not actually doing any work. Point is, what you’re hearing is exaggerated. </p>
<p>Sent from my iPhone 4 using CC app</p>
<p>Thank you WongTongTong! I really hope you are right and since you go there, I trust your opinion. Psychology plays a major role in this.</p>