Suggestions to incoming 2014, re: Grade Deflation

ec1234
Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:50:04 +0000

I dont have much experience with professional schools-- although I do know a relatively large number of my class mates at top 5 law schools and medical schools-- but I do have experience with graduate schools and with top finance/consulting jobs.

If you want to go to graduate school, I would argue that princeton is the best school to go to, regardless of grade inflation. The upper level classes more closely resemble graduate classes than those of harvard or mit (the only two that I am also familiar with). And the senior thesis is invaluable for graduate student preparation. Also, undergrads at princeton are really treated like mini-grad students and allowed to have a lot more responsibility than undergrads at other top schools. This shows in graduate school acceptance rates.

In terms of finance jobs, I think princeton also has a leg up, or is at least on par with the other top ivies. When I was intervieiwing for jobs, I think that the minimum GPA for most applications was a 3.0 – far lower than the mean GPA of the class. I know a decent number of people with relatively poor grades (myself included) who were given offers at top firms.