Is grade inflation at target schools really a thing?
So I'm a senior at a relatively good public university that is a non-target for anything finance-related and I was looking into average GPAs per department and at my school the Economics department curves to a 2.7 (B-). I was talking to my other buddies who go to target schools and they tell me their business/finance/economics related classes generally curve anywhere between a 3.0 - 3.5 on average (B to A- range).
If this is the case, does that make people who go to schools that curve lower even worse off (generally non-target schools)? Never have I seen anywhere on an application where I can input the average curve or anything so this is generally not even taken into account.
I guess a counter-argument is that since these top target schools have so many smart kids, the curve is higher too to match that and the harder classes in general. I don't know too much about this but I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts!
Target schools are harder tho, so it makes sense
non-target speaking
to some extent, yes, but over 90% of Harvard's 2004 class graduated with honors, which can presumably be meant as 3.5+ and that's an actual joke
Facts. Lower tier university grades are inflated because the classes are not as rigorous and there is less competition
Definitely inflation, but like what you said, all your peers are incredibly intelligent so your competition is on another level
Yes and no; the better GPA does help people in undergraduate business schools (especially targets), but most recruiters know that the average GPAs in those programs should be higher as well. From my semitarget, you'll need around a 3.9 to be competitive in recruiting.
If you are doing econ at a HYP etc. or even a non-target that doesn't have a business program, you can get away with a lower GPA, but even here, higher is still better.
I think it is more dynamic than the target vs. nontarget debate, it really depends on what you're trying to do. If you're an econ major, they won't hold you to the same GPA standards that they hold a business major just because of how hard the programs are.
That said, you will need a higher GPA from a nontarget because you have to be at the top of your class, because the school is inevitably worse than the target.
Hey guys, incoming freshman at a top target this fall (think H/S/W/Kelley)! Excited to suck the toes of the IBW director and hope he gives me a good recommendation. Kids do that at every school to get into banking...right?
Been to both types of schools. Tbh both might be still ‘hard’ (material wise) but if you switched the populations and both took either ones classes a class with 5-10% A’s would turn to like 70-80 for a target school and those top 5-10% A’s would turn to like 1-2% would get an A in the target school version of the class (this means out of 100 kid lecture, 1 person would be able to get an A in the target school class. Someone who might have attended this university on scholarship but competitive for target schools; however, still questionable).
Additionally, you have curves in both schools still lol. And the tests will quiz with a much higher capacity in target schools e.g. stupid questions that pull from one sentence in one slide vs doing their best to make the test straightforward at a nontarget (but still the subject might be tough, so it’s hard to judge unless you’ve sat in both environments).
TLDR not only are tests way easier the kids literally are in a different planet when it comes to work ethic, school smarts and habits, intelligence, etc. There is just such a small tangent of similarity. Also consider there are 10x the amount of students in non targets vs. small targets. This is if you control for major and class e.g. calculus at the community college vs MIT. But yeah even for those super tough majors like EE or CS it’s tough anywhere usually, and a kid from target school would have to still study and learn but the expectations are just so much lower.
Tldr as long as your original post
People really think FSU classes are hard? Well, maybe they actually are for FSU students