Do IV League Schools Make You Earn a Passing Grade?

[jeff_b]

A Chinese coworker and I were shopping for colleges for our daughters. My family was looking at state schools, his was looking at IV League schools. He told me the state school curriculum is nearly identical to most of the private institutions, and the costs comparable. The most fucked up thing he said was "...the IV League schools, like Brown and Cornell, are not so concerned with grades, and don't require you to achieve a passing grade in order to progress to graduation."

What the fuck? Any of you smart fuckers out there care to weigh in on this, or can we assume this is all/part true?

[ldsbeaker]

hehe. IV schools...
Ivy league?

[jeff_b]

hehe. IV schools...
Ivy league?

I guess you're not one of the smart fuckers I was asking....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League

[mrsleeve]

hehe. IV schools...
Ivy league?

heheheheheheh

Was thinking the same thing, we can tell that Jeff went to a state school.


N/O jeff just giving you a little shit.


BUT YES I would bet a years salary that they have to earn a passing grade to just stay in, let alone graduate. Unless your some kind of long time Legacy kid.

I have no room to comment on such things all I have is tons of vocational training, industry relevant class time.

[kronus]

Every school requires you to have a minimum GPA and minimum credit quantity to graduate. This is mandated by the accreditation boards that enable schools to give people diplomas, and is in no way flexible. (although the actual numbers may be different)

However, the phenomenon your coworker probably was talking about is grade inflation, which is a problem common to many Ivy League schools, as well as others. Grade inflation happens frequently to make the school look better, although it often does the opposite. Some state schools have up to 40% of graduates get a 4.0 GPA due to grade inflation... conversely, at schools without grade inflation getting a 4.0 is extremely difficult.

[BillBrasky]

Do IV League Schools Make You Earn a Passing Grade?

I'll ask my buddy, he used to be a president.

[Desaevious]

Like hell it does. I have two friends that go to Yale. They work their asses off at that place. Reading and writing more than any of my state school friends. If anything they work harder to get the same GPA a state school kid would....your friend isn't right.

[Ryan Stewart]

It depends on the program for one thing.

But apples to apples you will be working your ass of an paying through the nose to go to an "IV" league school.

Now, if a kid is on scholarship and learning a practical science (especially in grad school) they may focus more on achievements than grades.

[FredK]

Every school requires you to have a minimum GPA and minimum credit quantity to graduate. This is mandated by the accreditation boards that enable schools to give people diplomas, and is in no way flexible. (although the actual numbers may be different)

However, the phenomenon your coworker probably was talking about is grade inflation, which is a problem common to many Ivy League schools, as well as others. Grade inflation happens frequently to make the school look better, although it often does the opposite. Some state schools have up to 40% of graduates get a 4.0 GPA due to grade inflation... conversely, at schools without grade inflation getting a 4.0 is extremely difficult.

This is completely true.

Jeff, my suggestion is, if your daughter has a reasonable shot at going to an Ivy League school, and likes the atmosphere, there's no reason not to apply.

The financial aid packages are often pretty generous to middle class incomes, and are often better than less well-endowed private schools. My friend left Brown with around a quarter of the loan burden that his girlfriend did, who went to Northeastern.

[Stephen]

Sometimes i wish my school inflated grades.

[ldsbeaker]

I guess you're not one of the smart fuckers I was asking....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League

Yes, I know what it meant, tough-guy. I've just never heard of someone referring to the "Ivy League" schools as "IV". It seems, ummm, beneath those type of individuals.
If you did that to poke fun at the kind of people that attend those type of schools, then I totally missed it.
... p.s. there are plenty of people that are "smart fuckers" that don't have degrees. I think we can all agree that, just like the US dollar, the worth of a college degree is quickly depreciating...
ah, fuck it. nevermind.

[browntown]

I went to cornell. It was the hardest B average I've ever earned. Lots of suicides, considered one of the most academically competitive schools out there.

I was accepted to the college of engineering in 1995 with 1200 other smart kids. Sophomore year there were 400.

Now, within the ivy league plenty of people point the finger at Princeton and Yale as having rampant grade inflation. This criticism is probably based on a little bit of jealousy and that their acceptance is partially based on ability to pay. In Cornell's favor (and the only way I could have ever gotten into an ivy), is that they are need blind. This insures that regardless of your ability to pay, only the best and brightest get in.

Even then, I have fraternity brothers who were pretty open about how their parents paper clipped a donation to their applications.

Btw, I'm still paying for that education, over 10 years later.

[Emre]

The phenomenon of grade inflation is hardly unique to Ivy League schools. Some of the worst offenders are non-Ivy League (Stanford comes to mind).

I think some of the sh1t that you hear about grade inflation among Ivy League schools comes from their graduate/professional programs. Many of the top medical schools, for example, don't even have grades (though they do have class rankings). In other words, they're tough to get in...but once you get in, it's not that tough to get through.

My experience with Harvard Medical School is that the students were coddled like you wouldn't believe.

[pbr87]

Your friend is wrong.

They do require you to pass your classes.

Some have grade inflation problems (i.e. Harvard), others don't.

[equate975]

Every school requires you to have a minimum GPA and minimum credit quantity to graduate. This is mandated by the accreditation boards that enable schools to give people diplomas, and is in no way flexible. (although the actual numbers may be different)

This is probably very different, but I went to a private HS. Obviously this is nothing like state vs. Ivy college, but I am thinking more along the lines of public vs private. Basically, I paid for my fucking grades. Having someone not graduate was unheard of at my school. Finals for example, I know a few classes, where someone would turn a final in, the teacher would correct it, they would fail, and the teacher would hand it back and say try again. I had a lot of friends in public school, and they did WAY more work then I ever did. It pretty much came down to if someone cut a check, you would at the very least get a passing GPA regardless of how bad you did. The only way I have ever seen someone not graduate is missing like an entire semester (I know people that missed so much class they were legally truant and still passed), get kicked out for drugs, or get arrested. It's not the fact that you don't "make" the GPA, its just the teachers will do anything to get you into a passing GPA. I would imagine it's similar in college as it was for me. One would probably get a fuck ton more second chances until they made the cut.