Suggestions to incoming 2014, re: Grade Deflation

PtonGrad2000
Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:57:32 +0000

There are several issues that always seem to come up on the Princeton forum. The issue of Princeton’s grading policy is certainly one of them! You might be interested in the following analysis if you are worried about how the policy affects graduate and professional school admissions. I use medical school admissions as an example because the data are publicly available. Data for admission to law school, business school and graduate school in the arts and sciences are less easily obtained but I strongly suspect that what I show in the following applies to them as well.

The analysis was performed in January of this year, from self-reported scores on a public website used by students applying to medical school. It assesses the average GPAs and MCAT scores for successful applicants from some leading undergraduate schools. Limited data points are available for analysis but I still believe the general picture they reveal is accurate.

What quickly becomes apparent in this analysis is that a lower GPA from Princeton is seen as equivalent to a significantly higher GPA at schools known to have more grade inflation. For example, among the applicants reporting data, a GPA average of 3.53 was enough for a Princeton applicant to receive an offer of admission to medical school. At Stanford, a 3.63 was required. At Harvard, successful applicants had an average GPA of 3.64. At Yale, successful applicants appear to have needed around a 3.71 GPA.

To Get into Any Medical School:

Required GPA Based on Reporting By Successful Applicants

3.53—Princeton
3.63—Stanford
3.64—Harvard
3.71—Yale

One might wonder whether this changes if looking at admission offers from just the top 25 medical schools in the country (as ranked by U.S. News for 2010). The answer is that the pattern still holds true. Princeton applicants apparently required an average GPA of just 3.68 to be accepted to a top 25 school. Medical schools seem to have required higher GPAs for successful applicants from Harvard (3.71), Stanford (3.76) and especially from Yale, where successful applicants to the top 25 medical schools had an average GPA of 3.80.

Te Get Into a Top 25 Medical School:

Required GPA Based on Reporting By Successful Applicants

3.68—Princeton
3.71—Harvard
3.76—Stanford
3.80—Yale

Finally, looking just at successful applicants to the top five medical schools, the same pattern held true. At the low end, an applicant from Princeton required just a 3.76 GPA to be admitted to a top five school. Those same schools seem to have required a 3.85 GPA from Yale while Harvard and Stanford fell somewhere in-between.

To Get Into a Top 5 Medical School:

Required GPA Based on Reporting By Successful Applicants

3.76—Princeton
3.78—Harvard
3.80—Stanford
3.85—Yale

Of course, GPAs are not the only factor in medical school admissions. MCAT scores are equally important and interviews play a role as well. The following comparison shows the MCAT scores and GPA averages for successful medical school applicants from each of these four schools:

Successful Medical School Applicants:

Average GPA—Average MCAT—School

3.53—36—Princeton
3.63—35—Stanford
3.64—37—Harvard
3.71—36—Yale

Again, it can be seen that Princeton applicants were successful with significantly lower GPAs and yet received the same average MCAT scores as successful Yale applicants (at the other end of the extreme) with much higher GPAs.

The point here is that medical schools seem to be quite aware of the tougher grading standards at Princeton and its applicants do just as well as applicants with much higher GPAs from schools with more grade inflation. I would turn the classic “grade deflation” worry on its head. In fact, if attending a school with more grade inflation, you’ll need to have a significantly higher GPA to be competitive.

These results are not terribly surprising. As grade inflation continues at many schools, medical schools and other graduate programs will require higher and higher GPAs for students applying from those schools.

Among the Ivies, grade inflation is greatest at Brown and lowest at Princeton:
Ranking of Ivies from highest average GPAs to lowest:

Brown
Yale
Harvard
Columbia, Dartmouth
Cornell
Princeton

[National Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](http://gradeinflation.com/)

The problem with grade inflation is that it appears to be a trend that is unchecked. While students might defend the distribution of grades and average GPA at a particular institution today, how do they explain the fact that the averages were so much lower in the past? Is it really true that students are so much smarter today than they were ten or fifteen years ago? What about the future? If the grade inflation trend continues unchecked, at some point grades become totally meaningless. All students at the top schools will receive an “A” for every class. Long before this point is reached (and we’re quickly heading in that direction) there will be a natural reaction from employers and graduate schools. They’ll simply cease to accept meaningless grade point averages from these schools and will require something, like class rank, that cannot be inflated. From the above analysis, you’ll see that medical schools are clearly already beginning to take grade inflation at various schools into account in their admission decisions.



I’m convinced that the reaction of graduate schools and employers to continued grade inflation will only accelerate. Here are some additional news stories about the problem:



Boston Globe:

“In truth, some university leaders are embarrassed that grading is so lax, but they are loath to make any changes,” he says in an e-mail. “Grade inflation in academia is like the alcoholic brother you pretend is doing just fine. When someone calls your brother a drunk, you get angry and defend him, although privately you worry. That’s where we are with grade inflation: public denial and private concern.”



[Doesn’t Anybody Get a C Anymore? - The Boston Globe](http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2008/10/05/doesnt_anybody_get_a_c_anymore/)



Washington Post:

Yet even the most transparent grading system won’t eliminate our students’ desperate pursuit of A’s. Of the 20 teachers who came to the session, most could offer some tale of grade harassment.

“Most of the complaints that colleagues tell me about come from B students,” said James Mooney, special assistant to the dean for academic affairs in the College of Arts and Sciences. “They all want to know why they didn’t get an A. Is there something wrong with a B?”

Apparently there is. “Certainly there are students who are victims of grade inflation in secondary school,” said Mooney. “They come to college, and the grading system is much more rigorous. That’s one of the most difficult things to convey to the students. If you’re getting a B, you’re doing well in a course.”



[A’s for Everyone! - washingtonpost.com](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/02/AR2005060201593.html)



Christian Science Monitor:



I learned that grades started to shoot up nationwide in the 1960s, leveled off in the 1970s, and then started rising again in the 1980s. Private schools had much higher grades than public schools, but virtually everyone was experiencing grade inflation.
What about today?

Grades continue to go up regardless of the quality of education. At a time when many are raising questions about the quality of US higher education, the average GPA at public schools is 3.0, with many flagship state schools having average GPAs higher than 3.2.
At a private college, the average is now 3.3. At some schools, it tops 3.5 and even 3.6. “A” is average at those schools! . . .

These changes in grading have had a profound influence on college life and learning. When students walk into a classroom knowing that they can go through the motions and get a B+ or better, that’s what they tend to do, give minimal effort.

Our college classrooms are filled with students who do not prepare for class. Many study less than 10 hours a week – that’s less than half the hours they spent studying 40 years ago. Paradoxically, students are spending more and more money for an education that seems to deliver less and less content.

With so few hours filled with learning, boredom sets in and students have to find something to pass the time. Instead of learning, they drink.

A recent survey of more than 30,000 first year students across the country showed that nearly half were spending more hours drinking than they were studying.



[Grade inflation gone wild / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com](Grade inflation gone wild - CSMonitor.com)

. . . and then there is the following:

“Parents [of high school students] Fight FOR Grade Inflation Despite Warnings”

[Parents Fight for Grade Inflation Despite Warnings](http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/education/2009/jan/Parents-Fight-for-Grade-Inflation-Despite-Warnings.html)