Honors Statistics Show Ivies' Grade Inflation

By wpengine | October 23, 2001

Most Cornellians have heard the adage, “Cornell is the easiest Ivy school to get accepted into, but the hardest to graduate from.” Though often heard jokingly, this statement is hardly unfounded: on average in 2001, 43 percent of Ivy League seniors (not including University of Pennsylvania, which does not release honors information) graduated with honors as compared to only eight percent of Cornell students.

Harvard University led the pack, recognizing a school-record 91 percent of students graduating with honors. Columbia bestows only 25 percent of its seniors with honors distinction,

“As far as how I feel as a Harvard alum (of 40 years ago), it’s what any college professor would feel wherever they graduated from: it seems a little silly when 91 percent get honors,” said Isaac Kramnick, vice provost of undergraduate education and R.J. Schwartz professor of government.

At Cornell, the requirements for graduating with honors vary by college. The School of Hotel Administration only bestows honors distinction to a certain percentage of students in the graduating class. In the class of 2000, 23 out of 237 student graduated with honors, representing the top 10 percent of the class by grade point average (GPA).

Of the 398 graduates from the College of Human Ecology last year, the top 10 percent by GPA received degrees with distinction, while eight percent received honors. A bachelor of science degree with honors requires students to take research-related courses, attend honors seminars, complete a written thesis, and defend the thesis in an oral examination, according to the University’s Courses of Study.

In the College of Arts and Sciences, students may also graduate with honors and with distinction. Departmental honors — including summa cum laude, magna cum laude or cum laude — are offered to students who have demonstrated exceptional ability in the major and who have completed original independent research, according to Courses of Study. Of the 1,086 students who graduated last year, 16 percent received degrees with honors.

Students in Arts and Sciences will graduate with distinction if they fulfill certain requirements, such as belonging to the upper 30 percent of their class by GPA at the end of the seventh semester. Last year, these graduates earned grade point averages above 3.543.

Other universities, which have different policies on graduating with honors, do not necessarily calculate an official GPA or determine the official class rank.

“The University of Pennsylvania does not compute class rank and we do not report relative [honors] statistics because it could prejudice the applications of our graduates,” said Bernard Lentz, director of institutional research and analysis for the University of Pennsylvania.

Princeton University, where 45 percent of students graduated with honors in 2001, does not calculate official GPAs, though many departments still determine this all-important number.

“Each individual department may calculate grade point average, and the departments may individually determine which students graduate with honors,” said Jennifer Bronson, acting deputy registrar at Princeton.

The Operations Research and Financial Engineering department at Princeton, for example, determines GPA cutoffs for students graduating with honors depending on the strength of the class, according to an office representative. This resulted in recognizing just over 50 percent of 2001 graduates with honors.

By comparison, in English and molecular biology — typical pre-law or pre-med majors — 34 percent and 42 percent, respectively, graduated with honors at Princeton.

Students said believe that Cornell’s distinctive standards will prepare them for the future.

“Students compete to get into nursery school, primary school, high school and then Ivy schools, and each stage they have to present their credentials: grades and honors but honors cannot speak for itself anymore [where honors are given to a large percentage of students],” Kramnick said.

“Cornell’s difficulty motivates you to work harder, so that when you come out of here you have a stronger work ethic,” said Laura Troiola ’03. “Graduating with honors should be a distinction, not something given out to everyone.”

Archived article by Peter Lin

McCall Addresses Impact Of Sept 11. Events on N.Y.

By wpengine October 24, 2001

New York State Comptroller and Democratic gubernatorial candidate H. Carl McCall addressed approximately 75 students and members of the Cornell community yesterday in Kaufman Auditorium. McCall — introduced as the “next governor” by Josh Roth ’03, a member of the Cornell Democrats — addressed recent concerns facing New York and proposed how he would solve them if he is elected. McCall first discussed the effects that the Sept. 11 events will have on national policy. He said that the tragedy will “test our resolve” in two ways. Specifically, McCall said, “We have to make sure that people who wear turbans and beards are not castigated.” In addition, McCall warned of the dangers of restricting free speech, including unpopular comments criticizing the government and military actions. He also said that New York will face the challenge of rebuilding its financial center and of addressing the problems that existed before Sept. 11 which have since been exacerbated. McCall spoke specifically about New York’s budget problem, or as he stated, “the absence of a budget,” making reference to Gov. George E. Pataki’s refusal to negotiate with the legislature. He noted that the legislature’s “bare bones budget” has reinforced problems with education, specifically funding shortages in Buffalo, Syracuse and Yonkers, adding that: “We don’t have the leadership needed [to remedy these problems], and New York as a state is adrift.” This is where McCall hopes to come into the picture by running to be New York’s next governor. When asked by students Michael Alcavan ’05 and Chris Sasiadek ’05 how he would propose to remedy the financial and social problems he mentioned, McCall proposed attracting new businesses to western and upstate New York, increasing public awareness of the importance of a strong budget and making higher education a priority. Ryan Horn ’02, chair of the College Republicans, disagreed with McCall’s assessment of Pataki’s leadership. “Pataki will pull a better budget [in the long run], which will include lower taxes and a smaller government, [than any other candidate would],” he said. McCall also touched on issues pertaining to students. He talked, for instance, about the need to increase funding for the state-subsidized schools at Cornell, which he suggested the current governor “is not committed to.” He also endorsed Jamison Moore ’04 in his run for the Fourth Ward of the Common Council. McCall additionally emphasized the need for student involvement in politics, noting, “young people can be agents of change” as he recalled their involvement in the civil rights and anti-war movement. He concluded by thanking the audience for their “early commitment to politics” and “for their early willingness to make politics of a part of [their] lives.” Students from several campus organizations attended the speech. Adam Crouch ’03, president of the Cornell Civil Liberties Union, said after the event that he supports McCall’s opposition to the death penalty and New York’s Rockefeller crime laws. Mike Moschella ’02, former president of Cornell Democrats and chair of Students for McCall, said, “It will be an uphill battle, but McCall is used to uphill battles. I am optimistic of McCall’s chances.” “He’s a extremely strong candidate, but based on the political conditions in the wake of the 11th, it may be hard to unseat a two-term incumbent candidate. People do not want change now,” Mark Greenbaum noted. Henrik N. Dullea ’61, vice president for University relations, attended the event and exchanged jibes with the candidate from his seat in the back of the auditorium. “I am delighted to have candidates running for state offices at Cornell, I look forward to having other candidates come — [candidates] such as [Andrew] Cuomo [the other Democratic gubernatorial candidate] and maybe even Pataki,” Dullea later told The Sun. As of now, the group has yet to make arrangements to bring other candidates to campus, according to Alexandra Sanchez ’03, president of the Cornell Democrats. The College Republicans will begin to mobilize support for Pataki next semester, according to Horn.Archived article by Jamie Yonks
Princeton's New Policies Attract More Minorities

By wpengine October 24, 2001

Princeton University’s aggressive admissions and financial aid procedures have helped the school make significant improvement in attracting minority and low-income students, a recent study reports. A Sept. 17 press release from the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education outlined the success of Princeton’s program, which includes the abolition of all student loans in all financial aid packages for this year’s incoming class. The loans will be replaced with grant aid. According to the release, Princeton’s 112 African-American freshmen students represent 9.5 percent its 2005 graduating class, the highest percentage in 22 years. The number of black students who accepted offers of admission also rose from 47 to 66 percent this year. Cornell’s administration, however, is suggesting that the University will not follow Princeton’s lead. Thomas C. Keane, director of financial aid and student employment, has not seen the Journal’s report but does not expect a policy change at Cornell resulting from Princeton’s actions. “I don’t think that [Princeton’s policy] is [affecting Cornell],” he said. “We actually don’t have that many commonly admitted students between the two of us. In those cases, when students are admitted to Cornell and Princeton … they tend to go to Princeton.” He added: “Since we don’t have that much real competition from Princeton, I don’t think our aid policies will change in reaction to theirs. We constantly review our financial aid policies to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our students and helping to create the wealth of diversity on our campus.” Another factor in Cornell’s financial aid policies is its endowment, approximately $5 billion less than Princeton’s. “We don’t have a prayer in the world, financially, to compete with Princeton,” said Ronald G. Ehrenberg, the Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Economics, in a Feb. 8 Sun article which first reported on Princeton’s new financial aid policy. Keane also added that Princeton’s policy changes are not exclusive to minorities. “The changes are not limited to any particular group of students, so I would not characterize them as a ‘minority financial aid formula.’ Princeton has applied the policy change to all students,” he said. “In addition, the most recent changes they announced last spring semester [abolishing student loans] did not take effect until this fall and could not be the subject of any research report; they’re just too new.” Additionally, Princeton’s student body is composed differently than Cornell’s, resulting in different financial aid measures. “Princeton has described the reason for the policy change as needed to increase the numbers of students on their campus from low-income and minority student backgrounds, and I believe that,” Keane said. “The trend on their campus, until they made the changes, was toward a whiter and wealthier student body.” But Keane believes Cornell’s minority recruitment statistics are also successful. “A very quick review shows me that we have 2,465 students on our campus that come from a family income of less than $50,000,” he said. In addition, according to a Cornell report released Oct. 15, 29 percent of undergraduate U.S. citizens are minorities this year compared to 20 percent in fall 1988. African-Americans make up only 5.2 percent of the Class of 2005, the data also shows. Cornell’s report further stated, “We are not making progress with first-time freshmen enrollment of underrepresented students.” A key element of future plans is to “enhance the diversity of the undergraduate student population while maintaining access to a Cornell education.” The report does not attribute these measures to Princeton’s success. Doris Davis, minority recruitment officer, and Henrik N. Dullea ’61, vice-president for University relations, declined to comment on how the University will address these concerns. On campus, Marlon Daniels ’02, an African-American student who receives support from the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), is divided on Cornell’s minority and low-income recruitment efforts. “In a way, Cornell gives money out, too,” he said. “There’s an amount New York State residents get from TAP, and if [a needy student is] not a New York resident, Cornell substitutes TAP with grant money. But it doesn’t do enough for our yield at all.” Compared to New York state schools, he added, “This is nothing unique that Cornell is doing.” Another African-American student, who wished to be known only by her initials Y.A., believes that Cornell needs to improve its recruitment program for low-income students. “Despite [Cornell’s] Higher/Educational Opportunity Program and the Office of Minority Educational Affairs, I do not think Cornell specifically makes an effort to recruit lower-economic minorities on their campus,” she said. “A prime example of this is the college fair they have every fall semester in the surrounding cities of New York [in schools] where only a few lower-income students and minorities attend. In comparison to Princeton with their loan forgiveness program, Cornell cannot compete.” Mona Lucas, dean of financial aid, and Princeton’s dean of admissions could not be reached in time for publication. Archived article by Andy Guess