Does Harvard have rampant grade inflation? Everybody else?

Excerpt below from today's Wall St Journal. I have done extensive research (wrote a one line prompt to ChatGPT) and have decide to tell people I have an undergraduate degree from Princeton. Seems like the most prudent choice given the data.

Harvard - 3.80 average GPA (2020-21 academic year)

About 80% of students receive A's

Approximately 20% of Class of 2024 had a 4.0 GPA

Yale - 3.74 average GPA (2022-23 academic year)

Roughly 80% of students receive A's

Mean GPA around 3.7

Brown - 3.71 average GPA

Known for the most inflated grades in the Ivy League

67% of grades were A's in 2020-21 (up from 39% in 1993)

Princeton - 3.56 average GPA (2022-23 academic year)

Up from 3.46 in 2018-19

Historically had grade deflation policies (2005-2014) which kept GPAs lower

Columbia - 3.60 average GPA (estimated)

Cornell - 3.49 average GPA

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—The last time Jake Kamnikar remembers receiving anything other than an A on his transcript was in third-grade art class. He is now a freshman at Harvard.

That streak could end soon.

A recent internal report found that Harvard is dishing out too many A’s, and that the current undergrad system is “failing to perform the key functions of grading” and “damaging the academic culture of the College more generally.”

The report prompted uproar from some Harvard students who say they already study a lot, sleep very little and face immense stress to perform academically. Many feel they worked hard to get into Harvard, only for the school to contemplate moving the goal posts.

“You admitted these students because they have straight A’s, and now they’re getting a lot of A’s, and it’s, like, ‘This is a problem.’ And I’m thinking, how on earth is that a problem?” said Summer Tan, a Harvard senior.

Harvard’s report on its undergraduate college found that about 60% of grades were A’s during the 2024-25 school year, a jump from about 25% in 2005-06. The median GPA upon graduation is now 3.83, up from 3.29 in 1985.

The average time students spend studying outside class has barely changed, from 6.08 hours a week for each of their courses in fall 2006 to 6.3 hours this spring, according to the report by Amanda Claybaugh, Harvard’s dean of undergraduate education. New faculty reported surprise at how lenient grading is, and nearly all expressed “serious concern” about grade inflation.

“We’re not trying to make Harvard something that it’s not,” Claybaugh said in an interview. “We’re trying to bring it back to what it was when it was really at its best.”

The report includes recommendations to curb grade inflation and restore rigor. Harvard is considering introducing a limited number of A-plus grades, and displaying the median grade for every course on transcripts to provide more context to employers and admissions committees.

Students have bashed and bemoaned the report across campus. One told the student newspaper she was crying “the whole entire day.” Some cited the college’s increased selectivity in admissions as justification for higher grades.

One challenge in addressing grade inflation, particularly for professors, is the fear that cracking down could send enrollment plummeting. Claybaugh plans to host a dinner with faculty to discuss grading plans, and has encouraged them to revert to how they graded 10 years ago.

Steven Pinker, a professor who teaches an introductory psychology course, said he has felt compelled to inflate grades at a similar rate to the collegewide data, even though he believes student performance has sunk.