I think all NPC have ideals that value scholarship, so it's not contrary in any way for them to value getting good grades, but I do really think that for some chapters, GPA is really emphasized more than at others. And I think once you are number one, it's really hard to face falling to three or four, so the really competitive chapters may be less interested in a girl who is a "grade risk" during recruitment and then they start self selecting for high grades maybe more than other chapters.
(Although all chapters want girls with good grades, I think, and to be honest, the whole process kind of self selects for the same type of good-grade making, involved on campus type of person.)
And NPCs typically are bigger, so one or two girls aren't going to pull their average down that much, absolutely.
But you know, it seems like we're almost accepting that NPC grades would be higher when we really don't have conclusive evidence of that. That's what I mean about it generally being interesting. If it were true, these might be the reasons.
It might turn out that all NPHC groups have higher average GPAs nationally than the NPC and NIC groups. And it would be equally interesting to speculate about why that would be true. Would smaller chapters inspire a person to work harder in class because he or she is one of the few representatives of the group? Is it that the legacy of perseverance and triumph that some of the groups have inspires at a deep level? It it that only the academic creme de la creme join NPHCs, so the average high school experience by race doesn't matter? Is it that by joining later, you'd be more serious?
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