Urgent: Is Davidson too hard?

Northamerican1357
Fri, 30 Oct 2020 12:52:49 +0000

Haha unfortunate misfire. Happy things are going well for your D and I love the school. Also love WIldcat parents. Appreciate you acknowledging that her situation is anecdotal and that you aren’t aware even of how it might compare to those of other majors.

I don’t want to seem too harsh here because it was a great choice for me and this one of my few qualms. I am also interested in probably the most competitive space out of undergrad, so struggles are magnified for sure. The distinction you mentioned is worth unpacking. I’m referring to when someone works 2x as hard as someone at a comparable school and receives 25% worse grades (maybe a 0.5 hit) when all is said and done. In my opinion, no amount of extra work, effort, and learning compensates for that disadvantage.

To contend that GPA in and of itself has no significance is a nonstarter, unfortunately. I hate to use this reference, but it epitomizes the situation and is indicative of many other conversations I’ve had. A recent call with a Wall Street recruiter (sorry) included her certitude about the importance of GPA and its ability to disqualify candidates. She said verbatim “a say 3.2 GPA at Davidson is equivalent to a 3.9 elsewhere.” She sees thousands of resumes and places tons of candidates, so I’m inclined to trust her stance on the matter over others’, at least in finance, although the importance of GPA frankly defines lots of other areas, especially law and medicine. It’s unfortunate that the deflation most typically occurs in the “preprofessional” majors that are most hurt by it.

As an aside, I think there’s a tendency to comment on posts out of one’s depth as a parent of a student. I frankly don’t think you’re qualified to chime in on grade deflation at Davidson. You’ve never taken a class there and the sole relevant connection may not be entirely truthful with you. One could easily argue that a kid there distorts the view of a school a parent would otherwise have. In fact, you are basing your entire stance on one such bias. Pushback is good, but what you contributed really amounts to an opinion. What else would you be able to offer on the nature of grade deflation at the school? I don’t purport to know about the nuances of your workplace because I have a friend who worked there for half as long and in a different department. You’ve basically stated that “making classes harder” does not equate to deflation, and your naivete is showing. Maybe that was the case where you went to school some time ago, but it does not apply to lots of Davidson students.