Straight A’s
Yale parents must have been particularly proud of their degree-chasing darlings, with a remarkable 79% of grades given to students being an A or A- in the 2022/23 academic year, according to a new study from an econ professor at the college, first published in the student newspaper.
The proportion of Yale students taking home the top grade has risen from ~40% in the 2010 academic year to ~58% just 12 years later, leaving some to question whether “grade inflation” is cheapening the academic achievement. But it’s not just Yalies who have become used to getting straight A's.
Indeed, letter-grade inflation has been haunting the hallowed halls of Harvard almost since the institution introduced the system in the late 19th century, with one college committee worrying that “grades A and B are sometimes given too readily” all the way back in 1894. Indeed, Harvard students’ average GPAs rose to a peak of 3.8 in 2022, causing college staff and students alike to worry about “grade compression”.
The problem colleges face now is how to manage expectations. Giving fewer A's is easy… dealing with a horde of angry students who are entering the workforce with worse grades than they were expecting… that’s a bit trickier.
