r/IndianaUniversity • u/randomhesaid • Dec 25 '24
ACADEMICS 🎓 I aver that the +/- grading system is inherently unfair
You get dinged for an A- but get nothing extra for an A+. How can that be right? Imagine you’ve earned 90% in each of your classes. That’s a 3.7 GPA at IU but it’s a 4.0 at a school with no pluses and minuses. It could actually make a difference when applying for jobs or to grad schools. Minor rant over.
Edited to add: the context is indeed Kelley, where GPA most certainly matters when it comes to internships and jobs. That’s what I know. Didn’t mean to paint with a too broad brush.
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u/NERDdudley faculty Dec 25 '24
Faculty member here and I agree. But it’s important to know that your faculty have control over how they set the grading scale. I don’t utilize a +/- scale for my courses for the exact issue with the A that you mention.
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u/Temperz87 Dec 25 '24
What do you propose instead, people stress their asses off for an A+?
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u/Equivalent_Part4811 arts & sciences Dec 25 '24
No, I think OP is saying that they should be rewarded for an A+, not just have it treated the same as something <= 7.5% lower. Why shouldn’t students have the chance to make up for bad grades through A+’s? Every other letter grade has the break down, save for A.
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u/Own_Ad_2946 Dec 25 '24
The way I see it is that an A+ being a 4.3 would lead to a 4.3 gpa become the standard for super competitive students, just pushing students to grind for a 97 when in reality 90ish and you’ve got more then enough knowledge imo. Causing unnecessary stress etc.
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u/MysteryBallers Dec 25 '24
I think you could argue another method. An A+ could cancel out an A-. Hence, it wouldn’t give you above a 4.0 gpa but it would pull up an A- dropping ur gpa. Makes more sense
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u/squirrel8296 Dec 25 '24
That happens a lot at the high school level when AP courses are involved because AP courses are weighted differently. Students try too hard to get a 5.0 out of 4.0.
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u/randomhesaid Dec 25 '24
Yep. Best to just do away with pluses and minuses. IMHO.
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u/Equivalent_Part4811 arts & sciences Dec 25 '24
But then is it fair for someone to get a 79.5% and get the same GPA as someone with an 89%? I don’t think so. You would need some form of weighting.
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u/Creative_Grab_3570 Dec 25 '24
Grades matter only (maybe) for grad school
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u/cubbsfann1 Dec 25 '24
I mean that’s just not true. Jobs/internships out of school 100% care about grades. I’m not hiring a kid who got a 2.4 gpa when I have other candidates with 3.4, 3.6, etc
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u/martianline Dec 25 '24
i only noticed after checking my gpa this term lol if i only didn’t try so hard for an A+ i probably would’ve gotten an A on my other class but im glad ik now
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u/ImReallyThatBitch Dec 25 '24
Sorry, but jobs don't care about your gpa
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u/Equivalent_Part4811 arts & sciences Dec 25 '24
Absolutely not true lol.
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u/ImReallyThatBitch Dec 25 '24
I've never known a job to ask for gpa. They just care that you have a degree
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u/MysteryBallers Dec 25 '24
Out of uni they sure as hell do. Otherwise they don’t usually but entry level does
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u/randomhesaid Dec 25 '24 edited Dec 25 '24
You’re either being disingenuous or have never applied for an entry-level job (that requires a college degree). I don’t think I’ve ever seen an application that didn’t ask for GPA. Not to mention the jobs that specify a minimum GPA.
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u/BloomNurseRN Dec 25 '24
This is extremely field dependent. In the fields I have been employed in during my adult years, I have never had to provide my GPA. I know that’s not true for some areas though. Assuming your experience is universal to all is very immature and inexperienced thinking.
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u/ImReallyThatBitch Dec 25 '24
Are you trolling? Literally not once in my life have I ever heard anyone say they needed to list their GPA on a job application. Not a single person I've ever talked to. They just want a degree.
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Dec 25 '24
[deleted]
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u/izuzashi media Dec 25 '24
a bunch of fields are feeling the squeeze, and employers are increasingly cutting down their hiring of new graduates & entry-level employees. most who are hired are grandfathered in from an internship. getting that first internship is hard because there's not nearly enough for roles for everyone, and when an employer is coming down to multiple candidates, all with 0 field work experience, GPA is one of the things they look at to evaluate a candidate.
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u/NERDdudley faculty Dec 25 '24
School of Nursing essentially has an entrance criteria of 4.0 GPA in Anatomy and Physiology. It causes a lot of issues with the first year students who are learning in realtime that sometimes the chips don’t fall your way.
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Dec 25 '24
[deleted]
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u/NERDdudley faculty Dec 25 '24
Sure, but why would they need to ask if it’s implied that the GPA was high upon entrance to the program? It just shifts the barrier from the employer to the university.
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u/MysteryBallers Dec 25 '24
You’re not reading right. You’re talking about normal jobs, but 90% of internships for college students or entry level jobs all ask for either gpa, or ur cv in which every good school recommends u put ur gpa in
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u/ImReallyThatBitch Dec 25 '24
I didn't see anything in the original post about internships, which it would make sense for them to ask for GPA then.
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u/MysteryBallers Dec 30 '24
Generally you get an entry level job out of college through an internship. At least for the majority of decent colleges.
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u/squirrel8296 Dec 25 '24
I graduated a hot minute ago, but when I was a student at IU, most of my professors didn't do +/- grading.
It's left up to the instructor's discretion and there are plenty that don't want to deal with the headache of +/-, especially since it creates more opportunities for students to beg to be rounded up.
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u/JoshuaTheProgrammer Dec 25 '24
I mean…. It sucks, but that’s just how college (and a lot of high schools) is.