Does Princeton have grade deflation? Is the atmosphere cutthroat?
The administration has instituted a policy under which A’s and A-‘s are supposed to account for no more than 35% of all grades given in undergraduate courses. Office of the Registar – Announcement This does not mean that in every class, only the top 35% get A’s. It means that across all classes, only top 35% are supposed to get A’s. Some classes, generally the smaller ones, will grant more A’s, while others, generally the large lectures, will grant fewer. For example, let’s say that the politics department offer three courses: a large introductory course on foreign affairs which has 100 students and two small seminars, one on nation building and the other on socialism, which both have 15 students. If 30% of the students in the foreign affairs class get A’s, then 50% of the students in each of the seminars can get A’s. Remember that 35% is something the University is working towards. Some of the departments are there already, and some are not. The humanities departments still lag behind
