I am so jealous of everyone in pass/fail curriculums. I went from an undergrad that did the straight forward A/B/C/D/F grading scheme to vet school (Oregon) that does the whole A, A-/B+/B/B- etc. grading. 70% minimum to pass. The only exceptions are electives in 3rd/4th year that are pass/fail. I never appreciated how much +/- grading can screw up your GPA and man is it STRESSFUL worrying about every grade down to the percent. An 82% impacts your GPA differently from an 85% which is different from an 87%, and I hate it.
To anyone who had + and - added to A/B/C grading scheme in undergrad, I don’t know how you did it. I had a good undergrad GPA, but if A- had been a thing it would have been significantly worse.
We also get stats on each individual assignment or exam through canvas, where we can see the average score, the high, the low, and the quartiles. Sometimes this has made me feel better, sometimes worse 😅 But we can compare how we performed to the rest of the class without knowing who had what scores. I do actually appreciate having this available.
I do consider it a plus that we have to actively seek out our class rank from the dean’s office if we want it, it’s not readily available. I’m not sure that’s something I want to know, honestly.
That said, I don’t feel like we have a particularly competitive class environment. I feel like we all get along and cooperate well.