Harvard faculty are debating a controversial plan to overhaul the school's grading system. The goal: make "A"s meaningful again.
For years, Harvard has been known for handing out a lot of them. In the 2024-2025 school year, more than half of all grades awarded to undergraduates were "A"s, according to a university report, up from just a quarter two decades before. Not even an "A-minus" — just pure "A"s.
Tenured government professor Steven Levitsky says "A"s have practically become an expectation on campus. As a result, he's often swayed to give higher grades for borderline cases.
"I can give an 'A-minus' and almost inevitably face a bitching, whining, complaining, entitled student in my office," he said. "Or I can give an 'A' and not have to bother, and I can get back to my work."
Levitsky and other supporters of reforming Harvard's grading system say they want fewer "A"s so that transcripts accurately set high-performing students apart. In May, faculty will vote on whether the school should cap the number of "A"s per course.
But students worry that could hurt prospects after college, when they're up against alumni from other schools that also dole out high grades. Other universities have run into the same pushback when trying to tamp down grade inflation.
The proposed limit on "A"s would amount to 20% of a course's enrolled students plus four. That means an instructor could award no more than eight "A"s in a class of 20 students, or 20 "A"s in a class of 80. There would not be limits placed on any other grades, including the number of "A-minus"es.
A separate proposal would allow instructors to petition for their courses to opt out of letter grades and instead mark students' work as "unsatisfactory," "satisfactory" or "satisfactory-plus" for exceptional performance.
If approved by faculty, the changes would be implemented in fall 2027.
Inside Harvard Yard on a recent spring afternoon, students were skeptical.
"If you do well enough to reach a certain threshold, I don't think you should be curved down because other people also do well," said sophomore Nayan Das, a physics major from Lexington.
"This might sound egotistic, but I think everybody I know here works extremely hard," said Alexandria Westray, a senior government major from Pittsburgh.
Both students acknowledge that grade inflation at Harvard is real. But they worry limiting "A"s could hurt them after graduation, when GPA differences might matter in competitive job searches or graduate school applications.
"You're being compared to these students from other schools," Das said.
"It's a farce to say that there's nothing distinguishing Harvard students just because we all have 'A's," Westray added, dismissing the idea that a Harvard degree doesn't signal much anymore.
For decades, grade inflation has been creeping up at colleges across the country. Economist Jeff Denning at the University of Texas Austin said this trend may give students "weaker incentives to study" and actually learn the material. At Harvard, administrators and professors say that's translated into students focusing more on extracurriculars than classwork.
Beyond the immediate effects, Denning's research suggests inflated grades can undermine future career outcomes.
"We find students who experienced more grade-inflating teachers, they have lower earnings later in life," Denning said.
The Harvard debate comes at a time when students nationwide are reading less and increasingly relying on artificial intelligence for assistance. Some schools, like Brandeis University, are placing more attention on students' competencies to better prepare them for the workforce, adding a second transcript that goes beyond courses and grades.
Several other colleges have tried to directly address grade inflation, including Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Amherst. Wellesley attempted to rein in grades more than two decades ago.
"Unlike Harvard, there was no quota on the number of straight 'A's or any kind of letter grade," recalled Akila Weerapana, who chairs Wellesley's economics department.
Beginning in 2004, the college strongly encouraged — but did not require — professors to aim for an average grade of "B-plus."
Weerapana later studied the policy's effects and found that grades fell significantly in the humanities and social sciences. Enrollment in majors like English, history and philosophy also declined, and student ratings of professors dropped.
"It became called the grade 'de-flation' policy, which immediately suggests, 'I'm getting a grade lower than what I deserve,'" Weerapana said.
As Wellesley's sticker price soared more and more students and families complained, demanding a return on their investment, and the women's college eventually backtracked and ended the practice.
At Harvard, Levitsky hopes the faculty will push back against a widespread culture where students have come to expect that top grade.
"All I aspire to here with this reform is getting kids used to getting 'A-minus'es," he said. "The status quo is unacceptable. Even if there are some pitfalls, even if there are problems initially, we have to try to experiment."
For Levitsky and other professors, limiting "A"s is just one way to remind students that perfection isn't the default outcome.
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