Want a higher GPA? Go to a private university.

[AOII Angel]

http://finance.yahoo.com/college-edu...du-collegeprep

hmmmm...so that's why there were so many private school grads in my med school class!

[starang21]

LOL, this doesn't surprise me.

[thetygerlily]

I can see that, but here's another hypothesis...

Students at private schools may have more financial pressure due to the extra tuition, so they need to have better grades to keep scholarships and graduate on time. Staying an extra semester or year at a school that charges $40k/year is more of a financial burden than one that charges $10k.

Of course I could also see the argument that stereotypically rich kids are more likely to go to private schools and thus don't have the financial burden, and those with less liquid assets go public because that's what they can afford. But that's the Libra in me The data nerd in me, however, thinks we need more factors than just GPA vs. public/private.

[PeppyGPhiB]

I suspect it may vary from college to college. For instance, I hear that if you can get into Harvard or Stanford, the rest is cake. On the other hand, I can tell you that I worked my tail off for a B in several of my (private school) classes.

[BrandNewAdvisor]

Originally Posted by thetygerlily

Students at private schools may have more financial pressure due to the extra tuition, so they need to have better grades to keep scholarships and graduate on time.

I agree. Private schools can have more money to give in terms of financial aid, that can be more attractive to high achievers. I was a poor kid at a private school and went there because it was cheaper and I wasn't alone in that. Achievement is a habit.

" Admissions officers are fooled by private school students' especially inflated grades."

Really? A bunch of professors are so simple that they can't take differences between grading between college? The same argument can be made for undergraduate admissions since all high schools aren't created equal.

"Relatively lower grades in the sciences discourage American students from studying such disciplines, the authors argue."

Differences in GPA is a pretty big leap to make for Americans not wanting to study the sciences.

ETA: NY Times Article: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/20...college&st=cse

The study http://www.gradeinflation.com/tcr2010grading.pdf

[AOII Angel]

One of the things that no one has noticed in the article, however, is that they took into account SAT scores. They compared equivalent students from public and private schools by SAT scores. These students had statistically significant differences in their GPAs between public and private universities. Individual students may vary, but when you compare cohorts, this adds a lot of weight to this evidence.

[Little32]

Grade inflation is real and it doesn't start in college. Also there is pressure at private institutions to give certain grades, whether the pressure comes in the subtle form of making sure your grade distribution aligns with that of your colleagues or the overt form of being told to change your grades because they are too low (both from personal experience).

Of course, the students love it. Either they don't recognize or they don't care that it does this does them the greatest disservice, because they are the ones that ultimately do not have the knowledge that their grades indicate that they should possess.

When I was in college, I always appreciated most those professors that made me feel like I was working and pushing myself to new heights to earn the grades I received--whatever those grades ended up being. There was no satisfaction for me in getting an A that I didn't feel like I earned.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by Little32

Grade inflation is real and it doesn't start in college. Also there is pressure at private institutions to give certain grades, whether the pressure comes in the subtle form of making sure your grade distribution aligns with that of your colleagues or the overt form of being told to change your grades because they are too low (both from personal experience).

Of course, the students love it. Either they don't recognize or they don't care that it does this does them the greatest disservice, because they are the ones that ultimately do not have the knowledge that their grades indicate that they should possess.

When I was in college, I always appreciated most those professors that made me feel like I was working and pushing myself to new heights to earn the grades I received--whatever those grades ended up being. There was no satisfaction for me in getting an A that I didn't feel like I earned.

That's why I always appreciated my science coarses more than my humanities coarses.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

That's why I always appreciated my science coarses more than my humanities coarses.

Why's that? Are you claiming that humanities courses suffer from grade-inflation more than science courses do?

[agzg]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

One of the things that no one has noticed in the article, however, is that they took into account SAT scores. They compared equivalent students from public and private schools by SAT scores. These students had statistically significant differences in their GPAs between public and private universities. Individual students may vary, but when you compare cohorts, this adds a lot of weight to this evidence.

I don't think so. Anecdotally, I think everyone knows that slacker who had really great SAT scores but just didn't care enough to do the work required for good grades in college. Or that student that didn't do so great on the SAT but aced the ACT, or didn't do great on either but worked their tail off for the grades they recieved.

I'm not saying grade inflation doesn't occur at both, but I had similar grades at both my private college undergraduate and public college grad school, and I busted my butt for all of them. There was a mixed bag between people that had undergrad from private and public schools and we all seemed to be pretty equal among us. Of course, I don't know what their grades were in undergrad.

Also, if you don't do well on the entrance testing for many grad and post-grad schools, you're still not going to get in, especially in highly specialized professional situations like Law School or Med School. The GRE and MCAT and LSAT aren't just there to look pretty.

[baci]

Adding my 2 cents here -

FWIW, I attended both a public and private university back in the day. ( I majored in the sciences. ) What I can share is the workload was less at the public university and not nearly as challenging. I do not feel I received a solid education while at the public university. At the private university you had to hustle.

With less people in your courses you had much more of a demand on your performance on all levels. The professor was literally on top of you each and every time you were in his/her class. You definitely had to work harder to receive that A in comparison to the A at the public universiversity. It was quite intense.

I found that people studied harder and spent more time on their work at the private university for numerous reasons. (keeping scholarships, juggling part time jobs, intensity of the subject at hand)

[SydneyK]

I think there's way more involved than a simple public vs private debate. Some public schools are extremely intense and require significant work from its students. Some public universities are just high schools relocated onto a college campus. Some private schools are extremely intense and require significant work from its students. Some private universities are just high schools relocated onto a college campus.

It totally depends on the specific schools, not just whether they're private or public.

[Little32]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

That's why I always appreciated my science coarses more than my humanities coarses.

And for me, those were my humanities courses. Math and science always came easy to me, I was generally setting the curve in those courses. It was the method of humanistic inquiry that really challenged me to think in ways that were different from what was familiar.

And, to be fair, my evidence is anecdotal too. However, grade inflation has long been a topic of discussion in the academy and conventional wisdom says that some of the elite institutions are the worst offenders (spawning a subsequent trickle down effect). Having taught at an insititution that is in that group, I can say that my experiences provide more anecdotal evidence that the problem does exist.

[baci]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

I think there's way more involved than a simple public vs private debate. Some public schools are extremely intense and require significant work from its students. Some public universities are just high schools relocated onto a college campus. Some private schools are extremely intense and require significant work from its students. Some private universities are just high schools relocated onto a college campus.

It totally depends on the specific schools, not just whether they're private or public.

This is so very true!

[agzg]

This is just a statistical weakness - basically, you would need students that got the exact same range of scores on the SAT, from the exact same socioeconomic background, half at a private school, half at a public school, taking the exact same courses, taught exactly the same way, and only graded differently.

Studies are nice and can offer some insight, but there are too many variables and not enough constants for anything like this to be a definitive answer as to whether or not private schools inflate grades more than public schools.

I would also like to see data on how many students "work their way" through college at both private and public universities, contrasted with with number of students that did it back in the fifties. Logically, it would seem that if a student did not have a job during school, their grades would be higher, because they had one less commitment pulling them away from others.