It's funny to compare attitudes towards curve grading and stack ranking. If only 16% of a class is good enough for an A, shouldn't only 16% of employees be good enough for a raise?
Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?
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Re: Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?
#42I wish there was more data and more context.
E.g. we see data from one university – what about the others? Perhaps this grade inflation brings the grade distribution to the levels observed at other places. Or perhaps other universities are going through similar changes and Yale is no exception.
Also, the peak and a major spike happened at 2020-2021; are the pandemic, remote courses, or changes in teaching styles a factor?
Etc.
Re: Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?
#43What a load of BS.
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Re: Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
For most of the professional schools (medical, law, and dental school) it is by far the most important metric. Business school is a close second and might have a little more leeway but it is still the biggest blocker of attendance for most applicants. Sure you can get into some business or law school, but after a certain point the ranking of the institution does matter for most people unfortunately. Even for grad sch…
I would not say grades are by far the most important metric for law school admissions. They are important, but LSAT is right up there as well. And of course, the undergraduate institution matters as well. You won’t get into HLS with a 4.0 from a no-name school, unless you’ve got a 175 (out of 180) on the LSAT. But the power of the LSAT may wane, as they are removing the logic games, which was a big differentiator.
Sure, I'll concede that the LSAT is equally as important as your gpa. In my experience adcoms (just slightly) prefer high gpa's over high test score, in the case of applicants known as splitters, as the gpa can be a stronger signal of how consistently hardworking a candidate is. But my point still stands in response to the parent comment that they're extremely important
Re: Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?
#45It's funny to compare attitudes towards curve grading and stack ranking. If only 16% of a class is good enough for an A, shouldn't only 16% of employees be good enough for a raise?
Maybe the professors could take the bottom 6% of students and come up with a plan to improve their performance. If performance doesn't improve, the students would have to leave the university.
This would help prepare students for their careers.
Re: Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?
#46Re: Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?
#47I saw this earlier via Paul Graham's Twitter, when I was foolishly venturing into the algorithmic feed. He'd gone with the same takeaway, specifically pointing out gender studies. Bit of an odd choice given that it clearly shows History of Science and History of Medicine as slightly "worse" in this regard and with higher enrollment.
I mean, that kind of makes sense, since those are likely just required humanities courses for the "more difficult" science majors. Assuming those students are used to working harder for their A's, they'd have a competitive advantage in the more lenient humanities grading.
> since those are likely just required humanities courses for the "more difficult" science majors
This is not how curricula work at any university I'm aware of.
Re: Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?
#48Re: Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?
#49Re: Who is responsible for grade inflation at Yale?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
why would anyone bundle STEM and econ?
Mech.E + Econ here. As I recall after Intro to Micro and Macro, it was all calculus and statistical modeling.
How does that make it STEM? If I study social science and use math does that make social science stem? Or does it mean you used a lot of modelling in a non stem subject?