[81alum]

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 of immense proportions, but I would guess OSU and WSU type schools are very different student bodies.

I remember some time ago learning that the average GPA upon graduation from Stanford was about a 3.7.  Average. 

The average GPA where I teach (a CSU campus) is about 2.7.

But what does that prove?  Is the average GPA at Stanford higher because the grades are more inflated there, or because the academic performance of students is higher there?  Probably more the latter.

But not all elites follow that pattern.  Harvard and Yale and Stanford are infamous for giving high grades.  U Chicago grades are about a full point lower.  And they are dealing with approximately the same elite students.  Of course they are Div III but I imagine one can find Div I schools with similar differences.

All this is a way of saying that GPA is a really lousy way of allocating academic awards across universities.  It can be useful within a single university.

[81alum]

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 of immense proportions, but I would guess OSU and WSU type schools are very different student bodies.

I remember some time ago learning that the average GPA upon graduation from Stanford was about a 3.7.  Average. 

The average GPA where I teach (a CSU campus) is about 2.7.

But what does that prove?  Is the average GPA at Stanford higher because the grades are more inflated there, or because the academic performance of students is higher there?  Probably more the latter.

But not all elites follow that pattern.  Harvard and Yale and Stanford are infamous for giving high grades.  U Chicago grades are about a full point lower.  And they are dealing with approximately the same elite students.  Of course they are Div III but I imagine one can find Div I schools with similar differences.

All this is a way of saying that GPA is a really lousy way of allocating academic awards across universities.  It can be useful within a single university.