More Than Half of Brown Grades are A’s
More than half the grades given to Brown students last year were A's, the university reports. The 1.1 percentage-point increase over the previous year puts the figure at 50.6 percent, which is about 15.8 percentage points higher than in the 1994-1995 school year, writes the Brown Daily Herald.
While grades are up across all disciplines, students in the humanities, social sciences, and life sciences receive the highest proportion of top grades, while 47.1 percent of grades given to students in the physical sciences were A's.
Cynics say grade inflation explains the increase, while the system's defenders point to better high school prep and higher admissions standards. "I think people should not rule out the possibility that students are just doing better," said one faculty member. "We don't have to always look for nefarious or bad reasons."
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Reader Comments
It takes a hard working student to get in.
In order to get into the ivies one must have the work ethic and intelligence required to get in. Or at least the work ethic. Although you might THINK they are handing out A's because it seems like so many students are achieving them, maybe you should stop crediting the university for student's achievements. And comparing Berkeley's grade inflation to Brown's is a joke at best i hope. Everyone knows berkeleys undergrad is a joke compared to their graduate school. Which none of the undergrads get to use. Theres a reason why Brown is ranked as the Happiest college in the United States. Happy students produce results.
A Berkeley student's parent
Definite grade inflation at the Ivies. Berkeley's A's are real A's and constitute much much less than 50% of class. Many people who walk into Berkeley are not even wait-listed at Brown or others. The high percentage of A's in Brown and others are strategies to maintain their self-fulfiiling prophencies.I wonder if most grad school professors take this into account in accepting grad students??
Conspiracy?
This isn't some type of university wide conspiracy to improve reputation. Grades are calculated on a per class basis by the professor, not the administration. One major factor Influencing these high grades is the fact that all classes at Brown can be taken pass/fail. This means that the majority of people who would be getting Cs are getting 'passes' instead which are not factored in to the 'actual' grades.
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