THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070419
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Many college students think a B is a pretty good grade, but at the College of William and Mary it's just average.
For undergraduates at the college, the average grade point average last year was 2.97 - just a hair under a B - according to a registrar's report. The average has virtually stayed constant since 1990-91, when it was 2.93.
Universities across the country have been studying grade distributions as criticism has mounted that colleges are giving out too many A's and B's.
William and Mary's average is higher than the averages cited in both a national study of colleges last year and an internal report compiled by Old Dominion University. In both instances, the average GPA was roughly a 2.6, or about a B-minus.
Students and professors at the College of William and Mary say their average reflects the top caliber of the student body, not grade inflation.
``With the high quality of students we enroll, our GPA is going to reflect that,'' said David Brown, a senior majoring in anthropology from Poquoson. But he stressed: ``At William and Mary, it's very difficult to get an A.''
A state study last year found that of all Virginia's public colleges, William and Mary had the highest SAT average for freshmen - 1230 - and the highest high school grade averages - 3.89.
Junior Jennifer Dulin, an economics major from Kentucky, agreed with Brown. ``Professors expect a lot of you,'' she said. At some colleges, ``exams just require regurgitation. That's not true at William and Mary. Here, we have to be able to interpret it and manipulate it.''
Plus, she said, W&M undergraduates are more serious about their studies: ``Students here have ambition and drive; we're not here to party all the time.''
Compared with the nation's top colleges, ``our grades are relatively low,'' said John J. McGlennon, chairman of the government department. For instance, Harvard University's average is a B-plus, and Princeton has reported that 80 percent of all grades are A's and B's. ``The complaint we get from students is: Are they being disadvantaged by relatively low GPAs?'' McGlennon said.
He also said it was a good sign that the college's averages had barely changed in the past five years. ``In an institution where we have highly qualified students and where those students work pretty hard, the fact that this GPA has not changed in recent years suggests we continue to have rigorous standards,'' McGlennon said.
Gillian T. Cell, the provost of the college, agreed that the numbers reflect a strong student body and tough faculty. ``I think this faculty has held on to good standards; we know we have good students coming in, and we know they have good credentials when they get out,'' she said. The registrar's report is compiled annually and is printed on the back of students' transcripts.
Grade breakdowns at William and Mary have also held steady since 1990, though the percentage of A's has risen slightly, from 25 percent to 27 percent. The percentage of F's has stayed at about 2 percent. by CNB