Harvard Says It's Been Giving Too Many a Grades to Students
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Harvard University has acknowledged giving too many A grades to students, sparking discussion about grade inflation and its implications for Ivy League education, with commenters debating the causes and consequences of this trend.
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Scholarships for grad school can also be sensitive to undergrad GPA.
(For the non-Americans: 4.0 is a 'perfect' A+ 100% Grade Point Average. Strangely, >4.0 GPAs are possible too, with extra credit work.)
* First * Upper Second (aka 2:1) * Lower Second (aka 2:2) * Third * Pass * Fail
Some students put module scores down but they are basically meaningless.
And then like the US a degree from a top University is worth more than a degree from another University (by a class or more)
Part of the reason they are worth less is the lack of standardisation of course content. Part of it is grade inflation. Part of it is legacy.
One interesting case is that I know Cambridge grades to a curve. There will never be more than x% of the students getting a first in a single year.
Comparitively my University just had a overall % threshold of weighted module scores.
Does anyone think that a degree from Harvard says more about what you know than who you know? I suppose for certain careers, particularly perhaps research or writing/ideas/think tanks, a 4.0 GPA plus increasing distinctions / PHD work etc. is important.
But for just like working in business?
Absent complaints, I'm sure the vast majority of professors would be much happier to assign "No-pass," "Pass," "Superlative Pass" arbitrarily based on vibes at the end of each course.
From the article. “About 60% of the grades handed out in classes for the university’s undergraduate program are A’s, up from 40% a decade ago and less than a quarter 20 years ago, according to a report released Monday by Harvard’s Office of Undergraduate Education”
Harvard is currently under a lot of pressure from donors , courts ( loss of case on admissions), and political pressure from US administration.
Awarding 60% A’s does not help them make the case that they know what they are doing and should just be allowed to carry on.