What are the most DIFFICULT schools?

sakky
Thu, 22 Sep 2005 23:48:49 +0000

In that thread, sakky posted links showing GPA and LSAT of law school admits from Stanford and Berkeley. If one examines GPAs vs LSAT scores for both groups and compare LSAT scores of those with the same GPAs, one actually finds the unexpected–the Stanford group usually has higher LSAT scores. For example, the students with 3.5 GPA at Stanford generally score higher on LSAT than those with 3.5 GPA at Berkeley. If GPA and LSAT are closely correlated, a Stanford student with a 3.5 GPA can expect to get >= 3.5 at Berkeley on average. I guess grade inflation is more complex than people think. The Harvard professors who defend their “generous” grading may have their point after all.



Yeah, but the analysis breaks down completely when you start talking about places like MIT and Caltech. I think that even Harvard and Stanford people will admit that their grades are inflated relative to MIT and Caltech students. Let’s face it. From a quality standpoint, Harvard and Stanford students don’t have anything over MIT and Caltech students, so why should the grading be any easier? Yet it is. Why?

That’s why I don’t buy the notion of Harvard professions being justified in their ‘generous’ grading. The MIT students have to put up with tough grading, so why can’t the Harvard students do that? What gives them the right to have easier grading than the MIT students?