Published February 20, 2003, in issue #0207 of the Hook

BY MAXEY HACKWORTH

Norfolk's Virginian-Pilot made eyes pop all over the state with its special report last week on grade inflation at Virginia universities. An analysis of grading at four schools reveals that William and Mary leads the pack-- A's and A-minuses made up 43 percent of all undergraduate grades there last year. UVA follows closely with 41 percent; Old Dominion, 33 percent; and Norfolk State, 26 percent.

Such glowing report cards raise the question: Are professors dishing out grades that students don't deserve?

"The reason that commerce students get so many A's is that the commerce school has harder admissions requirements in the first place," claims fourth year com student Tim Oeljeschlager.

"I think we should take a look at some of the Ivy League schools before criticizing UVA," he says of charges of general grade inflation at UVA. "Unless there's a nationwide effort to end grade inflation, UVA shouldn't go out of its way to change things here. Otherwise, it will make it much harder for us to compete for grad schools."

Fourth year UVA medical student Andrew Matisoff sees it differently. "If grade inflation continues," he says, "graduate schools will be forced to look only at test scores."

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