Re: grade inflation, etc.

[David Ward <dward@BUSTER.UU.EDU>]

>  * I'm sad to hear that your students are applying to employers who are so
> clueless that they can't tell the difference between a B in an advanced
> course and an A in a "safe" course.  Similarly I'm sad that the students
> and their advisors don't realize that some employers *can* tell the
> difference.

Sometimes even graduate admission committees don't concern themselves with
"safe" versus
more challenging courses. At my institution we have the usual two tracks of
physics:
a 4 sem hr noncalc course and a 5 sem hr calc-based course. Our calc-based
course is
much more challenging. When a medical school admissions fellow visited our
pre-meds,
I asked him if the med school had any interest in the level of physics
taken- the calc-based
versus the non-calc. I expected a resounding, "Yes! The course level is
closely considered!"
Instead, I heard, "Naw- all we care about is that there's 8 hours of
physics on the transcript."
(He said this in front of students!)Incidentally, this fellow was from a
med school on
the current top ten list. Sigh.

David
Dr. David Ward
Dept. of Chemistry & Physics
UNU#3160
Union University
1050 Union University Dr.
Jackson, TN 38305
ph. 901-661-5241
email- dward@uu.edu