Boalt Hall's secret recipe on grade inflation- t120 schools Forum

[violinst]

http://web.archive.org/web/200008290949 ... adeadj.htm

Just a random find. It's a bit old, but still quite revealing.

(edit: My LAC is doing well!)
(edit: Boalt is no longer using this formula. Consider it as an educated assessment of grade inflation/"GPA" prestige.)

[2ofspades]

This sheds more than a little light on Berkeley's LSN graph.

[Kswizzie]

Arg...my school was right on the cusp of the little bonus

[2014]

Hey hopefully it's true given that I'm coming from a red school and have a low GPA for Boalt haha

[094320]

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[4102011]

Oh snap, I'm right at 72.0. I'm not applying there but mehhhh. They should at least look at the individual schools within universities...

[odoylerules]

really interesting. i wonder if other schools use a similar formula.
also, the article leaves it really vague about how many points are added/subtracted... i cant imagine it being more than .2 a GPA point at most

[2ofspades]

Cool! I get a bonus! Interestingly--all the Ivies get a bonus despite our notorious grade inflation. Interesting.

The article says the boost/penalty is a function not only of grade inflation but also of schools' LSAT histories.

[ShuckingNotJiving]

Hm. I really thought most ppl knew this. And that other schools do it as well. It's too bad that don't mention how many points are added / subtracted, exactly.

[2014]

really interesting. i wonder if other schools use a similar formula.
also, the article leaves it really vague about how many points are added/subtracted... i cant imagine it being more than .2 a GPA point at most

That would get me above their 25th, which certainly wouldn't hurt!

[094320]

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[violinst]

Cool! I get a bonus! Interestingly--all the Ivies get a bonus despite our notorious grade inflation. Interesting.

But comparing to their LAC peers, some (Brown at 80, Columbia at 80.5, and Yale at 82.5, v. Oberlin at 83, Middlebury at 86, and Swarthmore at 99.5!) are not doing as well.

[cowgirl_bebop]

Oh this is some crap! Of course I would go to the school that is tied for the lowest ranking (Howard). As a splitter (one who is NOT applying the Berkley BTW), this is bad news if many other schools use this system,and Im sure they do.

And no, I obviously dont think it's fair. I feel like it punishes people because of how poorly other people have done at their school. I dont understand why the LSAT scores of other people should affect how a school views me and mine. Meh...

[FlanAl]

Think I'm a little confused. The date at the top says 1997. Is that when this info is from?

[094320]

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[violinst]

Think I'm a little confused. The date at the top says 1997. Is that when this info is from?

Yes, as I said, "a bit old".

But nonetheless revealing, IMO.

[2ofspades]

Cool! I get a bonus! Interestingly--all the Ivies get a bonus despite our notorious grade inflation. Interesting.

The article says the boost/penalty is a function not only of grade inflation but also of schools' LSAT histories.

Yes, but that aspect is one that is often dismissed in arguments on this board (which I don't want to get into again) over whether grades at the Ivies deserve a boost, so it was interesting to see which side of the argument that Boalt came down on. I'm curious as to what other schools do.

Ah, yes. I don't want to open the argument either. I do think some other schools pay attention to UG institution and grade inflation, more so than we give those schools credit for, but I don't think others do so as comprehensively or to the degree that Boalt apparently does.

[FlanAl]

well if its from 97 I would assume that the list has changed a bit. Maybe the Ivies weren't as notorious for grade inflation back then. It seems like from the research that that guy at Duke does http://www.gradeinflation.com/ the list might be a lot different now. It is super informative to know that they admit to doing this and actually published how they did it. It would be great to find that same chart but for 09

[Knock]

Yes. My gpa doesn't get devalued!

Although I've heard otherwise anecdotally. I guess we'll see.

[FlanAl]

Also definitely not trying to start up a what undergrad is harder or whatever argument. just think it would be interesting to see how much its changes in the past 13 years.

[09042014]

well if its from 97 I would assume that the list has changed a bit. Maybe the Ivies weren't as notorious for grade inflation back then. It seems like from the research that that guy at Duke does http://www.gradeinflation.com/ the list might be a lot different now. It is super informative to know that they admit to doing this and actually published how they did it. It would be great to find that same chart but for 09

They may not still be doing it. Especially since complains were filled because of it.


I think doing this is fair, esp at a school that overvalues the GPA like Boalt does. Their minimum gpa wall is very high. If they didn't correct they'd be penalizing people for going to good schools.

[hijodehombre]

well if its from 97 I would assume that the list has changed a bit. Maybe the Ivies weren't as notorious for grade inflation back then. It seems like from the research that that guy at Duke does http://www.gradeinflation.com/ the list might be a lot different now. It is super informative to know that they admit to doing this and actually published how they did it. It would be great to find that same chart but for 09

I think the point was to show that UG degrees were, at least at some point, treated differently (that a 3.5 at Cal State X was given less weight than a 3.5 at UCX, for example), not to provide definite, current data. The question isn't what exactly are the current weights given across UGs, but rather, whether this is pervasive and if so, to what degree.

[094320]

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[Hannibal]

My institution doesn't exist. Maybe because it doesn't release its grades? I know they don't release a class rank.

[firemed]

Great to note that the GPA from my undergrad institution is further devalued... I wonder if I go down into the 2.8-2.9 range because of this....

Whatever. LSAT trumps GPA.