Graphic by Chelsea Bellomy

Students have long complained about perceived grade deflation at Wake Forest. An “A” in a class has seemed impossible for many.

After the Fall 2014 semester, for the first time, a grade distribution memo was shared with students, providing a breakdown of exactly how many of each letter grade was assigned.

According to the statistics, 32.2 percent of final course grades in Fall 2014 were a grade of “A.” Most classes assign an “A” to a grade that is a 93 or 94 percent and above. An additional 18.2 percent were a grade of “A-,” typically between a 90 and 93 percent.

The data spread includes 24,363 total undergraduate grades. If the percentage of “A”s seemed high to some students, though, that is because it includes more than the standard 3 or 4 credit classes: it takes into account all .5 and 1 credit classes. 60.5 percent of the “A”s earned last semester were from classes that were .5 or 1 credit, while only 26.7 percent of “A”s were earned in 3 credit classes.

Ultimately, then, only 8.4 percent of grades given in 3 credit classes were “A’s.”

The Fall 2013 semester was the first time such a report was shared with faculty members.

“We discovered that each individual faculty member had not received this view of final grades in the recent past,” said Assistant Provost for Academic Administration and University Registrar Harold Pace. “They asked for more detailed information, which I presented to the college faculty last academic year.

The University Registrar is planning to continue sharing these reports.

“It is important that the faculty have an accurate view of such academic matters since they develop academic policy,” said Pace. “Department chairs now receive detailed grade statistics for their individual academic department and we will continue to send each faculty member the total grade distribution after each Fall and Spring term.”

Institutions across the country have been dealing with accusations of grade inflation or deflation for years. At Yale University, 62 percent of undergraduate grades were in the “A” range, whereas at Wake, 50.4 percent of grades last semester were in the “A” to “A-” range.

A new policy at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill is adding a “context” to transcripts by listing the median grade for the class and the percentile that the student’s grade falls in alongside each grade.

Many schools have seen an increase in “A” grades over the past few years due to the perception that grade deflation has affected students’ ability to get into graduate programs. In response, Wake Forest has seen its percentage of “A” grades increase by eight percent in the past five years, from 24.2 percent in Fall 2009 to 32.2 percent in Fall 2014.

Despite this increase, many students believe that professors make a conscious efforts to deflate grades.

“The numbers don’t shock me. I’ve had professors explain how departments make their grades and how they are assigned on a low scale,” sophomore Bobby Shaw said.

Other students were surprised by the seemingly high amount of “A’s” given.

“I was expecting a much lower percentage [of ‘A’s’ in the grade distribution], but I remember that it also takes into account the Wake study abroad programs, where most students receive ‘A’s,’” said junior Sam Larsen, who just returned from a semester abroad in Venice.

“But I do think grade deflation at Wake Forest is a thing. Professors assign us much more work and grade tougher than what my friends their professors’ do at other academic institutions, ranging from Harvard to the U.S. Naval Academy to Boston University.”

What the Wake Forest faculty and administration will do with this information remains to be seen, Pace said.

“The report is simply a mirror reflecting facts and is intended to promote transparency in such matters. The quality of Wake Forest education remains strong and we know that [students] continue to be challenged in the classroom to become critical thinkers,” he said.

“Our faculty often compliment the academic quality of our undergraduates and certainly believe their assignment of final grades to be fair and accurate.”