Grading the Grades: All A’s Are Not Created Equal

When applicants to UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law submit their college transcripts, their grades are put into a computer and adjusted according to the table at right. The formula assigns each college a “rank number’ based on how its students perform on the standardized law board exam, the LSAT, and how common a certain grade point average, say a 3.6 GPA, is at that school. In effect, an A from one school means more than an A from another.

Under the Boalt formula, students from schools ranked 79 and above have points added to their GPAs. Those from schools ranked 72 to 78.9 get no adjustment. Those whose schools ranked 71.9 and below have their GPAs lowered a bit.

Is this fair? The grade adjustment formula is one point of contention in a complaint filed recently by civil rights groups and now being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education. Alleging that UC’s admissions policies are discriminatory, the groups complain that added weight is given to grades from elite Eastern colleges, such as top-ranked Swarthmore, but that grades from most Cal State campuses and from predominantly black schools, such as Howard University, are devalued.

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Amherst: 84.5

Arizona: 71.0

Arizona St.: 69.5

Barnard: 80.5

Bates: 85.5

Boston C: 77.0

Boston U: 74.5

Bowdoin: 83.5

Brandeis: 82.0

BYU: 73.0

Brown: 80.0

Bryn Mawr: 83.0

CS Chico: 68.5

CS Fresno: 62.5

CS Fullerton: 63.0

CS Hayward: 63.0

CS L. Beach: 63.0

CS L.A.: 58.5

CS Northridge: 67.0

CS Sacram.: 65.0

CS S. Diego: 69.5

CS S. Fran.: 66.0

CS San Jose: 63.0

Cal Poly SLO: 74.5

Carleton: 88.0

Catholic U: 69.5

Chicago: 87.0

CCNY: 59.0

Clrmt. McK.: 82.5

Colby: 81.5

Colgate: 88.0

Colorado: 75.0

Columbia: 80.5

Cornell: 86.0

Dartmouth: 87.0

Denver: 63.5

Duke: 88.5

Emory: 79.5

Florida: 76.5

Fordham: 70.5

Georgetown: 80.0

Geo. Wash.: 75.5

Hamilton: 83.0

Harvard: 86.5

Haverford: 85.0

Hawaii: 64.5

Hofstra: 69.0

Howard: 57.5

Illinois: 78.0

Indiana: 72.5

Iowa: 73.5

J. Hopkins: 87.5

Kansas: 70.0

Loyola Mary.: 71.0

Maryland: 71.0

Mass.: 74.0

Miami: 68.0

Michigan: 81.5

Michigan St.: 75.0

Middlebury: 86.0

Mills: 71.5

Minnesota: 73.0

MIT: 85.5

New Mexico: 68.0

NYU: 72.0

N. Carolina: 79.5

Nthwestern: 82.0

Notre Dame: 81.5

Oberlin: 83.0

Ohio State: 73.0

Oklahoma: 69.5

Oregon: 73.0

Pacific: 69.5

Pennsylvania: 83.0

Penn State: 74.0

Pepperdine: 67.0

Pomona: 85.0

Princeton: 86.0

Purdue: 73.5

Reed: 84.5

Rice: 83.0

Rochester: 79.0

St. Mary’s: 61.5

San Diego: 68.0

S. Francisco: 57.5

Santa Clara: 76.0

Smith: 80.0

SMU: 73.5

Stanford: 80.5

SUNY Albany: 73.5

SUNY Bing.: 78.0

SUNY Buff.: 72.0

SUNY Stony B: 72.0

Swarthmore: 89.5

Syracuse: 70.0

Texas: 78.0

Trinity U.: 77.5

Tufts: 83.5

UC Berkeley: 78.5

UC Davis: 75.5

UC Irvine: 73.0

UCLA: 75.5

UC Riverside: 68.5

UC S. Diego: 78.5

UC S. Barb.: 77.0

USC: 70.0

Utah: 68.5

Virginia: 85.0

Washington: 76.5

Wisconsin: 77.0

Vanderbilt: 84.5

Vassar: 83.5

Wash. U.: 81.0

Wellesley: 80.0

Wesleyan: 87.0

Whitman C.: 79.5

Wm & Mary: 84.5

Williams: 89.0

Yale: 82.5