@Hunt I want to say it was in the 1950’s - I looked it up once and never really thought about it again until this weekend when my daughters friends (all local and from various universities) were all comparing grades and if they made the Dean’s list. My daughter although doing extremely well her first semester (still waiting on one grade to be posted and the rest were all A’s) she was not able to say the same and she also didn’t have any reasons as to why. I just thought you guys would have more definitive answers or maybe even dialogue to share. Ultimately its a silly thing to measure but it still is a thing here in our small town.
@Memmsmom, I’d consider myself lucky that Yale doesn’t have such a list. Tbh, there is a bit more “jockeying for position” at Yale than I previously thought, and I don’t consider it a positive. Anything that keeps grades private and personal is a plus, IMO. Being at Yale and thriving is an accomplishment in its own right.
Re “she was not able to say the same and she also didn’t have any reasons as to why,” sure she did. The reason is that Yale doesn’t have a Dean’s list. It not existing seems like a good reason not to be on it 
@IxnayBob that is kind of what I interjected with. I was in the same room as the conversation and added “Yale does not offer a Deans list because its Yale and there are so many exceptional kids there” - I also added to the conversation things like “There are multiple deans” and “I think that being there, people just assume you are working hard to do well” and things like that. I know it was just one of those things that people that are not a part of the Yale system just wont understand. My daughter said that to put online “I got all A’s” or to post any grades at all is considered flaunting but to say “I made the Dean’s list” is an acceptable way of telling others that you did very well. I think its silly that they feel the need to compare. I told her to just say what she got for grades in her classes and end it but she said that you don’t do that. LOL… the dance of the overly judged and self conscious college freshman.
I think the way to respond to questions about grades (except from your parents) should be, “Well, they’re letting me come back next semester, so I guess my grades are OK.”
Agree @IxnayBob, with the ‘jockeying for position.’ I found it interesting that as each student receives his/her diploma at graduation, the announcer identifies any Phi Beta Kappa members by their induction date…‘junior year,’ ‘senior year’ or ‘at graduation.’ I would think it would be adequate to simply identify those students as Phi Beta Kappa. That is a huge honor in and of itself!
I was surprised too. But my D’s name was in the local paper so much in HS. I figured now is the time for the other kids to get the limelight. She thinks it is weird when her friends post that on Facebook. Some post about getting a 4.0. She tells them how hard it is to get a 4.0 at Yale. (Although her GPA is consistently above a 3.5) There are honors at graduation that would compare with some schools’ Deans lists. Some do it by percentiles, some just by a certain GPA.
http://catalog.yale.edu/ycps/yale-college/honors/
“The bachelor’s degree cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude is awarded at graduation on the basis of a student’s general performance in courses taken at Yale. At Commencement, General Honors are awarded to no more than 30 percent of the class. The bachelor’s degree is awarded summa cum laude to no more than the top 5 percent of the graduating class, magna cum laude to no more than the next 10 percent of the graduating class, cum laude to no more than the next 15 percent of the graduating class.”
I was on my university Dean’s List every semester except one. I though it was very strange when the neighbor down the street asked my mom why I was not on that time. Small town folks do like to track what the local kids are doing.
@musicmerit that is exactly what she is dealing with- small town nonsense. There are going to be many including those that competed with her for grades in HS that will look for it. She is rather private about grades but she also doesn’t want people to think she is struggling either.
@Hunt - I do say that about my son! When people ask how he is doing I answer with,“Well he is still there and he hasn’t lost his scholarship yet so we are good” - ha ha ha
She could say, “I’m getting average grades–of course, at Yale, that means mostly As.”
@Hunt, I know that there is grade inflation, overall, at Yale, but the memo to inflate might not have been received by all faculty or departments. CS is one, for example, according to what I see with DS (who is doing fine, so he’s not making excuses).
Yeah, we didn’t see much inflation on our end either. Papers were heavily scrutinized and my daughter who tends to be a little OCD studied more for her chem exam than I had ever seen her do before and she was thrilled to get the B she ended up with. Most of her friends received C’s in the same class. I suspect it depends on what classes you are taking too.
This very discussion came up about Dean’s List over the holidays. When one of my neighbor’s announced their child was on the DL (top 20 school), thankfully, another neighbor shouted, “Cut the cord.” We all laughed, and hopefully put a permanent end to those types of discussions.
FYI - Most Dean’s Lists published in local papers are self-reported anyway.
There was no Dean’s list at Yale when I was there from 1978-82. Who the heck needs that extra pressure?
I don’t think that Dean’s Lists are generally self-reported. I had a friend who was surprised to see her kid’s Dean’s List honors from the neighboring state’s flagship written up in the local paper–she had always assumed that parent’s submitted that info. My son’s East Coast prep school regularly submitted honors list info. to our small town Midwest paper. I think they consider it a good way to get their names in the local paper.
Agree, mine from big state u was a list of all the local students submitted by the university. Now I see some from small schools that include a picture and are only about one student. I do wonder if those are self reported.
Here because we are near UCONN and a few other state schools, most of her graduating class attends them. We see long lists of students in our local paper. The school submits the names and not the parents. Last week one of the state schools even submitted an entire article about all the clubs that the students from our area had participated in. I found that to be very odd. I do not know about the smaller schools.
I think once she gets out of that mode where it means something that everyone checks for the honors list, deans list etc. that she will get over the fear of judgement. I am sure that those that know and love her will already know how she is doing and the rest need lives beyond what is in our silly local paper.
On a side note, she mentioned that every once in a while she will recognize how incredibly lucky she is and tear up. She was recently at our HS hockey game and accidentally yelled “Go Yale” and in that moment, as stupid as she felt she realized that she did it out of habit and that it was such an amazing habit to have.
@Memmsmom, every trip home for breaks, I can see that DS is one step more independent from the judgments of others, one step more self-assured, and one step more aware that he is launching. The HS friends he spends time with have changed somewhat, but he was already lucky with a mostly supportive bunch.
Amen, @lxnayBob! The sooner they realize anyone nosy enough to prod into their GPA isn’t worth their time, the better off they are!
Hi, on another thread someone mentioned making hotel and restaurant reservations for big events way ahead of time. I think I am good on hotel, but what about restaurants? Where do parents take their kids out to eat on family weekend? Don’t need to do the most extravagant thing in town but ok going out for a nice dinner. Thanks!
^We’ve enjoyed Thali, Oaxaca, Thali Two (vegetarian), Pacifico, L’Orcio, Zinc, Heirloom. We tend to go slightly upscale, since that’s about the only time DH and I go out to dinner anyway. At least once you ought to try one of the quintessential pizza places (Pepe’s, Sally’s, Modern, Bar-- we’ve only been to Pepe’s and Modern). I like Caseus as well. Definitely make reservations.
Not intending to be contrary, but just giving my feedback. We come from a part of the country where the authentic Mexican restaurants are plentiful and delicious and we weren’t impressed with Oaxaca, though their guac was yummy. I’ll be visiting my son in February and looking forward to visiting the iconic supper club … is it called Morrie’s? He paid the “membership fee” but has never been for a meal yet. I don’t really know if I’m using the right lingo for any of that, but hopefully I’m getting the point across.