How Honest Are Students About Their Major GPA?

[mathwonk]

i do not know anything about gauge theory but there are some experts in my department, like gordana matic. if i had to guess, i would say it involves the donaldson theory of moduli spaces of bundles on algebraic surfaces, but maybe not. ill check it out.

 

[JasonRox]

i do not know anything about gauge theory but there are some experts in my department, like gordana matic. if i had to guess, i would say it involves the donaldson theory of moduli spaces of bundles on algebraic surfaces, but maybe not. ill check it out.

Yeah, it does involve moduli spaces of bundles.

I'll keep looking into it.

I personally think Algebraic Topology seems the most interesting for me. I read into Algebraic K-Theory, and it seems like a great topic.

 

[mathwonk]

It seems a difficult topic to make progress in as well, but so what? you are young and strong.

 

[JSBeckton]

Does anyone have a reference on a national poll or survey of this type?

 

[mathwonk]

a gpa survey?

 

[JSBeckton]

a gpa survey?

Yes, or a statistical study of some sort.

 

[mr_coffee]

Speaking of grade inflation,

My calc III, you can get an 85% and get an A. You can get a 55% and get a C. I wish there were more professors like this guy!

 

[mathwonk]

the only survey figures i recall on gpa's are from my alma mater harvard. a few years ago the harvard alumni magazine reported that the average grade at harvard in the 1960's was about a B-/C+, and in the 1990's was about an A-. In that same period the average SAT score of harvard students had gone down.

 

[JSBeckton]

I am not worried about grades changing so much over time, even thought that's prettty drastic and should be looked into. But I am not in competition for jobs with people with years of experience.

I think that the bigger problem is that the average grade at one school could be much lower than the average grade at another and when students are first comming out of school an employer will have no way of of knowing who was more successful in school (if that is a criteria that they choose to use). I think that the average grade should eb public knowledge, that way an employer could have a way to make a better comparison an an already sketchy grading system.

I know that grades don't count for much but when you work very hard and get good grades at a tough school you should at least be able to distinguish yourself from those with easier grading systems.

Just my opinion.

 

[mathwonk]

that was apparently the justification for raising grades at harvard. the rationale was that harvard is a harder school, so grades should be higher.

but i think that people understood that harvard was a harder school and inflating the grades only lowred the respect people had for harvard.

 

[JSBeckton]

Thought I'd give this a bump since the subject has come up again.

 

[Juche]

My current CGPA is 3.23 and I am doing my last semester for BS biochemistry at IU. I have never really cared about my grades and figured if/when I go to grad school I'll have several years of work experience under my belt, letters of recommendation and 2 years of research as an undergrad in cancer research (we submitted an abstract to the ACS for publication, no idea what happened to it) and it won't matter what my GPA was, so long as it was over 3.0. Why work my ass off memorizing every minute detail and study all night, when I can just do the minimum to not fail? Gradewise I'd consider IU a moderate to moderately easy school. In quantum chemistry I got about a 56% and got a B in the class. I have gotten several Cs in college. Physics 2 & Calc 2 - C. Calc 3 - D+, analytical lecture, lab and thermodynamics lecture - C+.

I found out before this semseter that if I get a 3.3 CGPA I graduate with honors (or distinction) something like that. So so far this semester I have a B+ in 2 of my classes, A- in two others and a bad grade in a third (maybe a B-). Ah well. That plus 9 hours of undergrad research (that I should get 9 credit hours of an A in) may put me over the top. At least I actually care about my grades this semseter.

I do not deserve an honors degree, no matter what happens. I'm actually disappointed in how crappy the work ethic of myself and the other students I work with is. I don't believe in failing 50-80% of students out of college, but something should be done. We are so lazy where I am. Only a tiny fraction of the people I know strike me as truly dedicated and knowing what they are doing. The rest of us are either winging it or just trying to get the highest grade possible so we can get into grad school and forget everything we learned as an undergrad.

 

[Llama77]

to me all GPA means is you can read a book better than the next guy. I know plenty of people who have much much higher gpa's compared to me and they are all dopes.

 

[EP]

I have heard this before, maybe the GPA's were lower in the 60's because of Veitnam. Maybe its just a conspiracy theory but I've heard that colleges back then made it harder to stay in college due to the draft.

 

[colin.mcenroe]

Well, think about this, who is going to be attracted to a school that fails a bunch of people? It looks good on national reports to have high completion/gpa/whatever other indicators. It might not be great for integrity, but business is business.

 

[leright]

to me all GPA means is you can read a book better than the next guy. I know plenty of people who have much much higher gpa's compared to me and they are all dopes.

well, reading and comprehending scientific literature is an important skill for a scientist to have...

But I agree that there are a lot of people with really high GPAs that haven't got a clue. GPA is meaningless a lot of the time, but you still need a decent GPA.

 

[eaboujaoudeh]

all of u are 3.9-4.00 students ! i thought the curve always bulges in the middle not at the 4.00 level ! GOD
anyway I'm a very smart intelligent student...so were the teachers telling me while they are putting C- as grades for me. guess they wanted to see me in class more often..

 

[eaboujaoudeh]

well, reading and comprehending scientific literature is an important skill for a scientist to have...

But I agree that there are a lot of people with really high GPAs that haven't got a clue. GPA is meaningless a lot of the time, but you still need a decent GPA.

i used to teach students with a GPA less than mine ! but teachers are such freaks when it comes to attendances. why should i get a C when my grades a lot higher than the class average, so what i didn't get the book or come to class what does it matter !

 

[Cyrus]

to me all GPA means is you can read a book better than the next guy. I know plenty of people who have much much higher gpa's compared to me and they are all dopes.

Then why don't you raise your GPA?

 

[Corneo]

I would like to just say that I got offered a job with very good starting salary. They contacted me because I had a good strong GPA. That got my foot in the door.

 

[Benny]

to me all GPA means is you can read a book better than the next guy. I know plenty of people who have much much higher gpa's compared to me and they are all dopes.

To me, such a statement is indicative of a self proclaimed genius with a very poor work ethic. Simply saying that you're very capable is one thing. But having the discipline to put in the hard yards required to enable you to demonstrate your ability is on an entirely different level.