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After scanning through some of the threads in this forum, I just learned that some colleges are famous for their grade point inflation, like Harvard, Stanford; some others are infamous for their difficulty, like MIT, georgia tech, Caltech, etc etc.. which I assume would be true. So that means that a certain amount of effort put into study would yield a much higher GPA in Stanford than, say, MIT, right? But if an undergrad applies to some graduate school, one of his/her most important credentials would be GPA, wouldn't it? So what's the point of attending MIT for someone who wants to study engineering and also intends to get in postgraduate study when there is Stanford which I think is as prestigious as MIT?

By Welshie (Welshie) on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 08:39 pm: Edit

A guess, and this is soley a guess, is that the grad school's have a competent understanding of how a 3.0 at MIT compares to a 3.0 at Stanford (ie. they understand the MIT 3.0 was a much harder earned 3.0).

-jesse

By Anthony (Anthony) on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 05:47 am: Edit

Depends on the program.

Will engineering programs take it into account? Definitely.

Law schools, however, will NOT take into account the GPA difference. A 3.3 from grade-inflated Stanford will trump a 3.0 from MIT, LSAT and race held equal.

By Zergling (Zergling) on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 06:20 pm: Edit

Thanks for the info, Anthony.
But how about arts, science, and medicine?

By Anthony (Anthony) on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 11:06 pm: Edit

If by science you mean biology/chemistry/physics/etc. then they probably will, since those departments are as grade-deflated as engineering departments.

As for arts, it'll vary by school and within schools also vary by department. Most likely they'll care about your GPA in that field, ie. if you're an engineering major applying for a masters in sociology they'll probably care more about your GPA in sociology classes than your cumulative GPA.

I have no clue about medicine.

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 11:16 pm: Edit

I believe that a lot of med schools are straight GPA driven, with particular emphasis on grades in organic chem, general chem, bio, and physics. Another factor to consider is that even top schools will "weed out" most of their pre-meds... so unless you are the cream of the crop at that school, you might not even make it. Realize that many courses are graded on a strict curve, where half the class will get Cs or below (and this is after 1/3 of the class drops out).