Want a Higher G.P.A.? Go to a Private College
source: http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/109339/want-a-higher-gpa-go-to-a-private-...
"Over the last 50 years, college grade-point averages have risen about 0.1 points per decade, with private schools fueling the most grade inflation, a recent study finds.
The study, by Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy, uses historical data from 80 four-year colleges and universities. It finds that G.P.A.'s have risen from a national average of 2.52 in the 1950s to about 3.11 by the middle of the last decade.
For the first half of the 20th century, grading at private schools and public schools rose more or less in tandem. But starting in the 1950s, grading at public and private schools began to diverge. Students at private schools started receiving significantly higher grades than those received by their equally-qualified peers -- based on SAT scores and other measures -- at public schools.
In other words, both categories of schools inflated their grades, but private schools inflated their grades more.
Based on contemporary grading data the authors collected from 160 schools, the average G.P.A. at private colleges and universities today is 3.3. At public schools, it is 3.0.
The authors suggest that these laxer grading standards may help explain why private school students are over-represented in top medical, business and law schools and certain Ph.D. programs: Admissions officers are fooled by private school students' especially inflated grades."
Read the full article in the link below:
http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/109339/want-a-higher-gpa-go-t...
The study, by Stuart Rojstaczer and Christopher Healy, uses historical data from 80 four-year colleges and universities. It finds that G.P.A.'s have risen from a national average of 2.52 in the 1950s to about 3.11 by the middle of the last decade.
For the first half of the 20th century, grading at private schools and public schools rose more or less in tandem. But starting in the 1950s, grading at public and private schools began to diverge. Students at private schools started receiving significantly higher grades than those received by their equally-qualified peers -- based on SAT scores and other measures -- at public schools.
In other words, both categories of schools inflated their grades, but private schools inflated their grades more.
Based on contemporary grading data the authors collected from 160 schools, the average G.P.A. at private colleges and universities today is 3.3. At public schools, it is 3.0.
The authors suggest that these laxer grading standards may help explain why private school students are over-represented in top medical, business and law schools and certain Ph.D. programs: Admissions officers are fooled by private school students' especially inflated grades."
Read the full article in the link below:
http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/109339/want-a-higher-gpa-go-t...
