Re: [Phys-l] Smart Students

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

Quist, Oren wrote:

> in this morning's paper is an article stating that 40% of all
> grades for all courses at the U. of Minnesota this year is an "A".
>
> This institution goes on to explain that this is about right as compared
> to other major universities.

It probably is.  It might even be a bit on the low side.

A couple of years ago Princeton decided to take the initiative and
restrict the number of A-range grades (including A+, A, and A-) to
35% for ordinary coursework.  For some Princeton departments, this
was little or no change from recent practice, but for others, it
involved large and stressful changes.

  http://web.princeton.edu/sites/career/data/Grading_Policies.pdf

Princeton students complain that this policy puts them at a disadvantage
in the battle of the transcripts against students from schools with a
more generous grading policy.

  (My reaction is that if an employer is so stupid as to hire people
  based on GPA, you don't want the job anyway.)