[2006alum]

I think Smith got a big bump for her on-court accomplishments and her off-court, outside the classroom activities (like organizing the Human Trafficking Awareness day). Smith's GPA (3.47), while extremely admirable for an athlete of her caliber at a school like Stanford, is significantly lower than most of the other top academic All-Americans. (Pivec really is a stud - she's also carrying a 3.93 in biohealth sciences! One of the few admitted who have turned us down.)

Having taught undergrads at both a top public university and an Ivy, I will say, as a matter of probabilities, it's much, much *much* easier to get an A at the Stanfords/Ivies of the world than the public universities of the world, and much harder to get much lower than a B, at least for any class with a paper assignment. I about 10-15% of my students got A's at the public (as the curve dictated), while the percentage, on average, was roughly double (or more) at Stanford and Ivies.

So the only question is the degree to which the overall class composition is sufficiently stronger at Stanford/Ivies such that the same student turning in the same work would get a higher grade at the public university. At the one I taught at, the differential from Stanford isn't brobdingnagian, but I would guess OSU and WSU type schools are very different student bodies.

[2006alum]

I think Smith got a big bump for her on-court accomplishments and her off-court, outside the classroom activities (like organizing the Human Trafficking Awareness day). Smith's GPA (3.47), while extremely admirable for an athlete of her caliber at a school like Stanford, is significantly lower than most of the other top academic All-Americans. (Pivec really is a stud - she's also carrying a 3.93 in biohealth sciences! One of the few admitted who have turned us down.)

Having taught undergrads at both a top public university and an Ivy, I will say, as a matter of probabilities, it's much, much *much* easier to get an A at the Stanfords/Ivies of the world than the public universities of the world, and much harder to get much lower than a B, at least for any class with a paper assignment. I about 10-15% of my students got A's at the public (as the curve dictated), while the percentage, on average, was roughly double (or more) at Stanford and Ivies.

So the only question is the degree to which the overall class composition is sufficiently stronger at Stanford/Ivies such that the same student turning in the same work would get a higher grade at the public university. At the one I taught at, the differential from Stanford isn't brobdingnagian, but I would guess OSU and WSU type schools are very different student bodies.