NYT: "Want a Higher G.P.A.? Go to a Private College"

[johncalvin]

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I think the study's sort of flawed (at least by the description), but I wanna know what you guys think.

http://finance.yahoo.com/college-ed...a-go-to-a-private-college?mod=edu-collegeprep

 

[CaliGirl14]

That's what I thought when I read it. LAAAAAMMMEEE. Correlation does not mean causation..come on people we learned this in high school!

 

[NightSwim]

A few points
1) Looking at figure 2 in the actual study, if you compare "private liberal arts" to "public flagship" don't the results contridict the author's main point? The graph says that based SAT scores, public schools give students higher GPAs than the authors formula predicts, while private schools only barely do. Am I mis-interpreting this?

2) Doesn't this sound like total BS, or at the very least, a gross generalization:
"The authors suggest that these laxer grading standards may help explain why private school students are over-represented in top medical, business and law schools and certain Ph.D. programs: Admissions officers are fooled by private school students' especially inflated grades."

3) The article says science departments give lower GPAs by 0.4 points compared to humanities departments. Finally, evidence to back up b****ing about harder classes. lol

This study seems questionable, especially the author's "explanations".

 

[Narmerguy]

Where'd you find the actual study?

 

[TakeMe]

It's at www.gradeinflation.com

 

[libraryismyhome]

Is is true that ADCOMS is private med schools prefer private school grads??

 

[TakeMe]

I think that's an awfully big assumption. I think they prefer people with high GPA's and high standardized test scores.

 

[Cytotoxic]

Is is true that ADCOMS is private med schools prefer private school grads??

The top med schools are overwhelmingly filled by graduates of top undergrads. Make of that what you will.

 

[d1ony5u5]

I'd like to think that AdComs are wiser than the article gives them credit for, and know which schools are notorious for grade inflation...

But looking at the thread about that kid from Brown who flunked Ochem, but due to the school's grading policy didn't have it show on his transcript, I'm tempted to think that maybe some students from those "top" universities are being shown a lot more leniency than the average student in a large university.

 

[alibai3ah]

I think the study's sort of flawed (at least by the description), but I wanna know what you guys think.

http://finance.yahoo.com/college-ed...a-go-to-a-private-college?mod=edu-collegeprep

I'm not surprised. I have multiple friends at Stanford tell me that they would have lower GPAs if they went to a UC school. However, these kids are still VERY intelligent and score top percentile on the MCAT. So I'm not really bitter b/c I know they would kick butt at a public flagship. Plus they pay double the tuition so I'm not complaining....😀

 

[dingyibvs]

I'm not surprised. I have multiple friends at Stanford tell me that they would have lower GPAs if they went to a UC school. However, these kids are still VERY intelligent and score top percentile on the MCAT. So I'm not really bitter b/c I know they would kick butt at a public flagship. Plus they pay double the tuition so I'm not complaining....😀

i heard at stanford you can drop a class at any time with no penalties, is that true?

 

[bobsmith]

x

 

[guyski79]

i heard at stanford you can drop a class at any time with no penalties, is that true?

Yes, this is false.

Also, to alibai3ah in regards to high tuition--therein lies the irony of many private schools. Massive tuition, but massive endowments, so massive financial aid.

 

[Naijaba]

The content of the article is correct, at least from my perspective. UC Irvine has a fixed curve in its biology courses that mandates only 8.5% of the 300+ students in a class will receive solid A's. This fixes the average GPA of biology majors around 2.7 (C+).

Note that I can't compare the quality of an A at UCI as compared to a prestigious private school; maybe the latter gives out more A's because their average student learns just as much as that upper 8.5% at UCI. This would justify having a much higher mean in biology courses at the private school.

 

[mdeast]

I went to a Top 10 small liberal arts college and our grades are DEFINITELY not inflated. In fact, I'd say the opposite. We have one student who is selected as "suma cum laude" every year. I think her/his GPA was 3.89. The highest GPA in our graduating class. No one gets a 4.0.

I also find the sciences to be easier courses to receive an A in. Our humanities/social science departments rarely gave out 4.0s to students...it's a more abstract grading system because most of the graded work is writing. One of my english profs used to laugh that he would never give someone an A unless they handed in a perfect piece of work, which had never seen in his 30 years of teaching. Science classes usually have exams with distinct answers that you can get correct (or incorrect). There are no blurry lines, so to me..it made it much more do-able to get an A.

Also, the assertion about medical/business/law schools is ridiculous. Students at top private schools go to top graduate schools, because they are great students. Sure their institution helps, but they're disproportionately represented because they have a disproportionate number of top students.

 

[shouldvestudied]

Princeton's Grade Deflation Policy called. It would like to have a word with this article...

 

[Perrotfish]

I think that's an awfully big assumption. I think they prefer people with high GPA's and high standardized test scores.

He addresses this on the website. There really hasn't been an increase in private school matrculat GPA and SAT scores relative to public school in the last 20 years, but there has been a huge increase in private school Graduate GPA vs. public school graduates.

 

[chocchipcookie]

i don't think this is true at all. i transferred from a public to a private and it's 1000 times harder.