I will never forgot the summer before freshman year of college for a lot of reasons. One tiny one is the letter that the Math Department sent me which convinced me to take Math 18 (Honors Multi-Variable Calculus) my freshman fall. The letter told me that the course was difficult and fast-paced, but because it was an honors course, the grades were high. The letter specifically stated that no one in two years had gotten below a "B-" in the course. After getting that "B-," I had a different take on the course.
But the real problem with the course was that the median grade was a "B+." Well, a high median grade is to be expected in an honors course, as the students are the most talented ones in that field. Thanks to the Administration's policy, however, my transcript will show that I was below the median in that course. Was I? Well, yes, I was below the median in Math 18, but would I have been in the regular course, Math 17? Is it fair to be constantly judged against your peers, even when you are all bright honors students? Am I truly below the average student in terms of math skills at Dartmouth? I don't think so.
To cite another example, freshman fall I took Humanities 1 with Peter Saccio. That was the best course I've ever taken at Dartmouth, and I worked very hard in it. I also did rather well, an "A-," which coincidentally was the median in the course. Just like Math 18, the median was a very high grade. However, both courses were extremely difficult and had the best and brightest students. So, my transcript shows me as a below-average student, when I was in fact doing above average work in more difficult courses.
The placement of median grades for honors level courses on our (Classes of '98 and later) transcripts is ridiculous. In fact, the Administration, when originally considering placing median grades on transcripts, planned on making honors courses exempt. Somewhere, under some assistant dean's redtape-filled desk, this idea was lost. And the student body got screwed again.
I understand the idea of placing the median grade of a course on a student's transcript to show the difference between an easy course and a difficult one. As an economics minor, I have been grateful for the median grade, to show that the course was not only difficult, but graded difficulty. However, honors level courses need to be treated differently. Up front, the course will be filled with students who will do well because they are talented, not because the course is a "gut." However, your transcript does not come with a note explaining that.
If the entire idea of placing the median grade on your transcript was to improve the accuracy of transcript reporting, why don't we start by lengthening the explanation of what each course is about? There are many different ways that Dartmouth could improve our transcript reporting method. The placement of median grades, especially in intro level courses such as Chemistry 5, Economics 1, English 5, can be done fairly and justly. However, the placement of such grades on upper-level and honors level courses is not only stupid and ridiculous but will hurt Dartmouth students and the school itself in the long run.
Honors level courses are not the only ones filled with brighter students; upper-level courses are as well. Sometimes the median grade is an "A" because the class was filled with bright and motivated students, not because it was a gut. However, the current policy not only refuses to differentiate between the two, it gives the course the appearance of being a gut.
But worse than just pissing off the student body, this policy will hurt both us and the College. By distorting the truth, the College will give graduate school administrators the wrong impression of its graduates. In such a competitive field as graduate school, these little differences really matter.
By simply reporting median grades and then saying, "This student was below the median in X classes," the College will be misinforming graduate schools as to the student's work. The College is basically trying this new policy and refusing to see that it is flawed. What's worse is that no one seems to care enough to make an issue out of it. So congrats to the Dean's Office, which has once again stuck it to the student body, this time to the best and brightest of us.
