poor grades?

[Scott Kominkiewicz \'84]

(I know of no one at Cornell during my time there that had a GPA below 3.0 for their whole four years.) C's are outliers, D's and F's virtually impossible to get without some effort.

That was definitely not the situation during my time at Cornell.  Remember though, there were more fraternities.
 ::nut::

[Section A]

I'm pre-med, and Adam (who I guess is too?) hit the nail right on the head there. They make it quite difficult for us.

[melissa]

Right on Adam.

My transcript has many grades resulting from that damn dev below the mean - yes assorted C's ... and even 2 D's. Luckily I took some language classes (where I'd estimate that at least 80% of the class got some sort of A) to help balance it out (but not quite). I know many bio, chem, math, engineering or physics people with GPA's below 3.0 ... and not for lack of trying.

[gwm3]

Well, first of all, you made a statement about the University as a whole which you have now limited to a small range of classes.  Yes, large introductory science and math classes tend to be graded to a lower median.  But once you get past those, into smaller upper-level classes, medians tend to rise (often there is no forced curve at all in those classes).  If you look at Chris's stats above, 40% of grades across the University are now in the A range.

And since people like data, I just looked up the breakdown of Cornell GPAs (courtesy of the Law School Admissions Council).  76% are at 3.0 or above.

I think there is little question that Cornell, like most schools, has experienced grade inflation.  Fortunately, at Cornell, unlike Harvard, this inflation is primarily nominal.  Our grades are higher across the board, but we don't pretend that higher numerical grades mean we are all now honors students.  40% of people get A's, but an A doesn't mean what it used to.

[Beeeej]

[q]And since people like data, I just looked up the breakdown of Cornell GPAs (courtesy of the Law School Admissions Council). 76% are at 3.0 or above.[/q]

Is that the breakdown of Cornell GPAs, or the breakdown of Cornell GPAs among law school applicants?  'cause there's gonna be a serious difference.

Beeeej

[Adam \'04]

So, are 24% of Cornell GPAs above a 3.7?

[DeltaOne81]

Let's just say I know from rankings that 25% of ECE's GPAs are above a 3.6... personally, I'd rather have a life  ::yark::

[gwm3]

Adam, when you said "A" I assumed you were pulling in A minuses too.  And remember that GPA's above a C+ would go all the way down to 2.3.

Beeeej, I think you are right, that 76% figure might just be for law school applicants.  In that case, we can still stand on Chris's figure of 40% A's.  I can't imagine that there would be more than 40% in the C, D, and F range (in fact, I know that there aren't -- that would make the curve some kind of weird bimodal distribution)

[Adam \'04]

Honestly, Graham, do you really think that 40% of the grades are A's? If that is true then there must be majors at this school that are complete jokes to make up for the ones that are not. Let me know how it is possible for 40% of the grades to be A's and still have only 76% above a 3.00. Also if you are assuming that the pool of applicants to law school has a lower GPA than the average Cornelian, you are speaking volumes about your peers and profession.:-D

[Beeeej]

Where on earth do you get the idea that he thinks that the figure for law school applicants is lower than for other Cornellians?

Beeeej

[Greg Berge]

The article Chris cited above:

http://www.cornelldailysun.com/articles/5320/

jibes very well with the experiences of my friends in academia.  Consider that professors can buy insurance against being sued by failed students over their "lost career opportunities."

This is one of the very few "gee whiz the world's going to hell these days" whines that's actually real.

[Adam \'04]

I before b, except when its supposed to be a v.:-D

[Josh '99]

Melissa wrote:

I know many bio, chem, math, engineering or physics people with GPA's below 3.0 ... and not for lack of trying.

*raises hand*

[gwm3]

Thanks, Beeeej.  Obviously GPA's for law school applicants will be higher, on average, than other students.  And yes, I do honestly believe that at least 40% of grades across all undergraduate classes are in the A range (A+, A, A-).  

Right now you are making an argument about science classes (particularly large science classes).  This has almost no bearing on the original topic here--athletes' grades--since the vast majority of our players are business majors in Ag.

[Josh '99]

Jeffrey "Beeeej" Anbinder '94 wrote:

Where on earth do you get the idea that he thinks that the figure for law school applicants is lower than for other Cornellians?

Well, between YOUR undergrad grades...  and MY undergrad grades...   ::nut:: :-D