Grade Inflation

cawacko

cawacko

Well-known member
Was talking to a buddy today who has two kids in high school, his daughter being a Senior. I asked what she had heard back from the schools she applied to. Now he did say she wants to do some Major that not a lot of people get accepted for (I didn't catch what it was) but nonetheless he gave the list of schools she got wait listed for (decent schools but not Ivy League or Stanford level). Then he mentioned his daughter having a 4.4 GPA. I did a double take.

When I was in school people barely got above a 4.0 and that was only a few kids. Now numerous kids are doing it. When I was coming up I had classmates that went to schools like San Diego State where if you got a 2.0 and could sign your name you were admitted. Now kids with 4.0 GPAs are being turned away from State. Are kids really that much smarter today or is something else going on?

One thing my buddy said was his kids could retake exams if they didn't like their scores. I was like "what?!" I remember taking tests that were half your grade or more and if you didn't do well then sucks for you. I don't know how prevalent retaking tests are across the country but no wonder so many kids have such high GPAs if that's allowed.

I think a couple people here work in academia. Any more insight into this?
 
cawacko said:
Was talking to a buddy today who has two kids in high school, his daughter being a Senior. I asked what she had heard back from the schools she applied to. Now he did say she wants to do some Major that not a lot of people get accepted for (I didn't catch what it was) but nonetheless he gave the list of schools she got wait listed for (decent schools but not Ivy League or Stanford level). Then he mentioned his daughter having a 4.4 GPA. I did a double take.

When I was in school people barely got above a 4.0 and that was only a few kids. Now numerous kids are doing it. When I was coming up I had classmates that went to schools like San Diego State where if you got a 2.0 and could sign your name you were admitted. Now kids with 4.0 GPAs are being turned away from State. Are kids really that much smarter today or is something else going on?

One thing my buddy said was his kids could retake exams if they didn't like their scores. I was like "what?!" I remember taking tests that were half your grade or more and if you didn't do well then sucks for you. I don't know how prevalent retaking tests are across the country but no wonder so many kids have such high GPAs if that's allowed.

I think a couple people here work in academia. Any more insight into this?
Click to expand...

Grades are now mostly irrelevant. The Universities are now gone.
 
cawacko said:
Was talking to a buddy today who has two kids in high school, his daughter being a Senior. I asked what she had heard back from the schools she applied to. Now he did say she wants to do some Major that not a lot of people get accepted for (I didn't catch what it was) but nonetheless he gave the list of schools she got wait listed for (decent schools but not Ivy League or Stanford level). Then he mentioned his daughter having a 4.4 GPA. I did a double take.

When I was in school people barely got above a 4.0 and that was only a few kids. Now numerous kids are doing it. When I was coming up I had classmates that went to schools like San Diego State where if you got a 2.0 and could sign your name you were admitted. Now kids with 4.0 GPAs are being turned away from State. Are kids really that much smarter today or is something else going on?

One thing my buddy said was his kids could retake exams if they didn't like their scores. I was like "what?!" I remember taking tests that were half your grade or more and if you didn't do well then sucks for you. I don't know how prevalent retaking tests are across the country but no wonder so many kids have such high GPAs if that's allowed.

I think a couple people here work in academia. Any more insight into this?
Click to expand...

The schools are trying to shake down the father for monetary support. A 4.4 GPA student should be a lock for a state school. The easy way around this is for the student to take a gap year and then re-apply when they're no longer part of the natural incoming freshman class, in that case if the check cashes they're in. Or enlist in the Guard which also puts them in.
 
cawacko said:
Was talking to a buddy today who has two kids in high school, his daughter being a Senior. I asked what she had heard back from the schools she applied to. Now he did say she wants to do some Major that not a lot of people get accepted for (I didn't catch what it was) but nonetheless he gave the list of schools she got wait listed for (decent schools but not Ivy League or Stanford level). Then he mentioned his daughter having a 4.4 GPA. I did a double take.

When I was in school people barely got above a 4.0 and that was only a few kids. Now numerous kids are doing it. When I was coming up I had classmates that went to schools like San Diego State where if you got a 2.0 and could sign your name you were admitted. Now kids with 4.0 GPAs are being turned away from State. Are kids really that much smarter today or is something else going on?

One thing my buddy said was his kids could retake exams if they didn't like their scores. I was like "what?!" I remember taking tests that were half your grade or more and if you didn't do well then sucks for you. I don't know how prevalent retaking tests are across the country but no wonder so many kids have such high GPAs if that's allowed.

I think a couple people here work in academia. Any more insight into this?
Click to expand...
One of my classmate’s daughter graduated with a perfect 4.0 avg. from LSU undergrad in 3.5 years and did not get accepted to dental school her first try.
In my day a 3.0 would guarantee acceptance.
I knew guys that were barely above a 3.0 that skated into medical school and did quite well once there.
And it’s not like being a doctor is more lucrative now than then, especially with the amount of debt they graduate with.
So yes, I think something’s going on with grades in general.
 
anonymoose said:
One of my classmate’s daughter graduated with a perfect 4.0 avg. from LSU undergrad in 3.5 years and did not get accepted to dental school her first try.
In my day a 3.0 would guarantee acceptance.
I knew guys that were barely above a 3.0 that skated into medical school and did quite well once there.
And it’s not like being a doctor is more lucrative now than then, especially with the amount of debt they graduate with.
So yes, I think something’s going on with grades in general.
Click to expand...

Is she white?

That might explain it.
 
cawacko said:
Was talking to a buddy today who has two kids in high school, his daughter being a Senior. I asked what she had heard back from the schools she applied to. Now he did say she wants to do some Major that not a lot of people get accepted for (I didn't catch what it was) but nonetheless he gave the list of schools she got wait listed for (decent schools but not Ivy League or Stanford level). Then he mentioned his daughter having a 4.4 GPA. I did a double take.

When I was in school people barely got above a 4.0 and that was only a few kids. Now numerous kids are doing it. When I was coming up I had classmates that went to schools like San Diego State where if you got a 2.0 and could sign your name you were admitted. Now kids with 4.0 GPAs are being turned away from State. Are kids really that much smarter today or is something else going on?

One thing my buddy said was his kids could retake exams if they didn't like their scores. I was like "what?!" I remember taking tests that were half your grade or more and if you didn't do well then sucks for you. I don't know how prevalent retaking tests are across the country but no wonder so many kids have such high GPAs if that's allowed.

I think a couple people here work in academia. Any more insight into this?
Click to expand...

this has been happening for a long time..I have a nephew (who now has kids in college of his own) who graduated with a 4.+ high school grade level decades ago. He went on to get a scholarship for an engineering degree from the GM institute (now called Kettering University) and currently has a high level management position at Amway....
 
PostmodernProphet said:
this has been happening for a long time..I have a nephew (who now has kids in college of his own) who graduated with a 4.+ high school grade level decades ago. He went on to get a scholarship for an engineering degree from the GM institute (now called Kettering University) and currently has a high level management position at Amway....
Click to expand...

A 4.+ grade level and an engineering degree? I would say that he isn't the brightest crayon in the box if all he could do was work at Amway.
 
floridafan said:
How much can the guy be making selling cosmetics door to door?
Click to expand...

I have no idea how much you earn selling cosmetics door to door......I also do not know how much he earns as an engineer managing the production of chemical products for a company with billions of dollars in sales in 37 countries.....
 
PostmodernProphet said:
I have no idea how much you earn selling cosmetics door to door......I also do not know how much he earns as an engineer managing the production of chemical products for a company with billions of dollars in sales in 37 countries.....
Click to expand...

But I do know that this is all your typical bullshit. Of course this person doesn't exist.
 
anonymoose said:
One of my classmate’s daughter graduated with a perfect 4.0 avg. from LSU undergrad in 3.5 years and did not get accepted to dental school her first try.
In my day a 3.0 would guarantee acceptance.
I knew guys that were barely above a 3.0 that skated into medical school and did quite well once there.
And it’s not like being a doctor is more lucrative now than then, especially with the amount of debt they graduate with.
So yes, I think something’s going on with grades in general.
Click to expand...

You hear so many stories today of kids getting rejected from non-elite schools that have 4.0 or higher GPAs when back in the day that would have earned you a scholarship. I'm guessing more kids apply to school today and we definitely have more international students applying, so there's an added level of competition, but nonetheless that doesn't fully account for all that's going on.
 
cawacko said:
You hear so many stories today of kids getting rejected from non-elite schools that have 4.0 or higher GPAs when back in the day that would have earned you a scholarship. I'm guessing more kids apply to school today and we definitely have more international students applying, so there's an added level of competition, but nonetheless that doesn't fully account for all that's going on.
Click to expand...


When I graduated from high school, 4.0 was as high as you could get. I graduated in a class of almost 2,000, I had a 3.9 and I was sixth in my class. So things have changed radically since that time, but that was almost 50 years ago. I had great ACT scores, but I was accepted at every college I applied to.
 
Concart said:
When I graduated from high school, 4.0 was as high as you could get. I graduated in a class of almost 2,000, I had a 3.9 and I was sixth in my class. So things have changed radically since that time, but that was almost 50 years ago. I had great ACT scores, but I was accepted at every college I applied to.
Click to expand...

Exactly, which is why I think so many (older) people have trouble understanding why kids with a 4.2 GPA are getting rejected in multiple places. The whole retaking a test thing was new to me but sounds like its been around for a little bit. I don't know if it's simply a matter of having many more AP classes or what but something has changed. Kids didn't just get that much smarter overnight.
 
cawacko said:
Was talking to a buddy today who has two kids in high school, his daughter being a Senior. I asked what she had heard back from the schools she applied to. Now he did say she wants to do some Major that not a lot of people get accepted for (I didn't catch what it was) but nonetheless he gave the list of schools she got wait listed for (decent schools but not Ivy League or Stanford level). Then he mentioned his daughter having a 4.4 GPA. I did a double take.

When I was in school people barely got above a 4.0 and that was only a few kids. Now numerous kids are doing it. When I was coming up I had classmates that went to schools like San Diego State where if you got a 2.0 and could sign your name you were admitted. Now kids with 4.0 GPAs are being turned away from State. Are kids really that much smarter today or is something else going on?

One thing my buddy said was his kids could retake exams if they didn't like their scores. I was like "what?!" I remember taking tests that were half your grade or more and if you didn't do well then sucks for you. I don't know how prevalent retaking tests are across the country but no wonder so many kids have such high GPAs if that's allowed.

I think a couple people here work in academia. Any more insight into this?
Click to expand...

I’m a little confused, how does one attain a 4.4 GPA? Based on an alphabetical grading system, isn’t a 4.00 perfect, all straight A’s?

There are often other considerations that go into the colleges’ admissions. Community service is a biggie these days, plus, how did the kid occupy themselves while in high school, ie, working or participating in sports

Plus many schools will wait list prospective students if their test scores are even slightly below the incoming classes scores. They’ll accept the student as sophomores because it doesn’t count towards the average acceptable scores they publish in all the guides
 
archives said:
I’m a little confused, how does one attain a 4.4 GPA? Based on an alphabetical grading system, isn’t a 4.00 perfect, all straight A’s?

There are often other considerations that go into the colleges’ admissions. Community service is a biggie these days, plus, how did the kid occupy themselves while in high school, ie, working or participating in sports

Plus many schools will wait list prospective students if their test scores are even slightly below the incoming classes scores. They’ll accept the student as sophomores because it doesn’t count towards the average acceptable scores they publish in all the guides
Click to expand...

I think AP classes allow you to go over a 4.0.

Extra curricular activity has always played a role in University admissions. It's nothing new for today. My friend's daughter has done it all; played sports, student gov't, volunteer work, internships you name it.

But even with AP classes something has changed. I was hoping someone like Flash who works in academia might shed some insight but you hear a lot about grade inflation and it's a real thing.

I became a father late but numerous friends of mine have kids applying for college now and from talking with them the story I shared in the OP is far from an anomaly.
 
cawacko said:
Was talking to a buddy today who has two kids in high school, his daughter being a Senior. I asked what she had heard back from the schools she applied to. Now he did say she wants to do some Major that not a lot of people get accepted for (I didn't catch what it was) but nonetheless he gave the list of schools she got wait listed for (decent schools but not Ivy League or Stanford level). Then he mentioned his daughter having a 4.4 GPA. I did a double take.

When I was in school people barely got above a 4.0 and that was only a few kids. Now numerous kids are doing it. When I was coming up I had classmates that went to schools like San Diego State where if you got a 2.0 and could sign your name you were admitted. Now kids with 4.0 GPAs are being turned away from State. Are kids really that much smarter today or is something else going on?

One thing my buddy said was his kids could retake exams if they didn't like their scores. I was like "what?!" I remember taking tests that were half your grade or more and if you didn't do well then sucks for you. I don't know how prevalent retaking tests are across the country but no wonder so many kids have such high GPAs if that's allowed.

I think a couple people here work in academia. Any more insight into this?
Click to expand...

Grades in both high school and college have been increasing for many years while performance has remained stable or declined. Students see an average grade (C) as unacceptable. Universities which have attempted to keep grades down have found their students at a disadvantage when applying to grad, law, or professional schools.

Despite claims about tenure protecting poor teachers, it protects easy teachers at the expense of those with higher standards.

"The student is our customer" is a current mantra. In many large cities students enrolled in universities will flock to local community colleges to take required courses viewed as harder at the university.

In older times it is equivalent to the "gentlemen's C".

https://www.gradeinflation.com/
 
Flash said:
Grades in both high school and college have been increasing for many years while performance has remained stable or declined. Students see an average grade (C) as unacceptable. Universities which have attempted to keep grades down have found their students at a disadvantage when applying to grad, law, or professional schools.

Despite claims about tenure protecting poor teachers, it protects easy teachers at the expense of those with higher standards.

"The student is our customer" is a current mantra. In many large cities students enrolled in universities will flock to local community colleges to take required courses viewed as harder at the university.

In older times it is equivalent to the "gentlemen's C".

https://www.gradeinflation.com/
Click to expand...

I was listening to a podcast where a professor from Brown was speaking and he said if he even tried to give a kid a C that kid's parents would fly across the country in a heartbeat to be in his office to let him know he's ruining their kids future.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top