An F for the A-plus

For some students at Columbia, an A-plus grade is the holy grail of academics, a sign that you have achieved greatness. For others, the A-plus is more of an illusion, something that only the likes of valedictorians achieve. And for students in some classes, an A-plus is downright impossible. To make its GPA system fairer, Columbia College must take steps to resolve inconsistencies in the A-plus policies of its departments and classes.

The A-plus grade is not all that uncommon, but its distribution is not consistent across departments and disciplines within CC. Overall, during the 2007-2008 school year, 4 percent of grades given at Columbia College were A—plusses. In science courses specifically, though, the figure is 6.1 percent, whereas it is 2.8 percent in humanities courses and 1.3 percent in interdisciplinary departments. Some individual professors, departments, and programs choose to not offer A-plus grades at all. For example, the Chinese program in the East Asian languages and cultures department does not offer the A-plus grade for any of its courses.

A-plusses have also become more common in recent years. Over the past 13 years, there has been a 31 percent increase in the overall percentage of A-plus grades given in Columbia College. The biggest jump in the use of the A-plus has been in Core classes, where 4.1 percent of students received A-plus grades in the 2007-2008 academic year. In comparison, the average percentage of A-plusses for the prior 10 years in Core classes was 1.9 percent.

With the awarding of A-plusses on the rise, and discrepancies in their use in different departments persisting, it is important that Columbia College move to create a fairer, more consistent A-plus policy. Since grades are determined at the discretion of professors and departments, the administration cannot regulate the percentage of A-plus grades in courses or force departments and professors to consider offering A-plus if they do not want to. This means that the distribution of A-plusses will remain inconsistent without a policy change.

Fortunately, there are viable alternatives to the current A-plus situation. The administration could consider eliminating the A-plus grade across all departments. This is not an ideal choice, as some professors may wish to distinguish excellent students from those who are truly outstanding. Therefore, Columbia College could continue granting A-plus grades but should reduce the weighted value of those grades on student transcripts from a 4.33 to a 4.0 when calculating students’ grade point averages. This option allows professors to acknowledge truly outstanding achievement—and gives possible employers and graduate schools insight into those who exceed even the A grade—but it also eliminates the discrepancies in GPAs that inequitable grading across the school causes. To give all students fair footing, Columbia College should considering moving away from awarding 4.33s for A-plus grades.