Marst

Such as simply covering a proof of some theorem that might otherwise have been skipped or skimmed over. If this is your way of having a conversation, I will call it a day. I am trying to learn something here, and this is not helping. Thank you for the reply that did contain more than a syllable, and have a good day.

Something else being STEM, yes. The consensus here is more that if the average is an A, the class has been too easy, regardless of the quality of the work or the effort of the students. It is probably more natural in STEM than it is in the humanties to adapt the level of difficulty of a course, simply by covering more material (or in more depth) in the same amount of time.

I genuinely want to know. My program grades harsher than most colleges, and it works quite well (for me, at least). An A is on track for a distinction, B is quite alright, and C is a sign you might want to put a bit more effort in. The average depends on the class. For instance, there was one class in which not a single student ever got an A on the problem sheets. My question is: what is the point of a system where you give a vast majority of students an A and consider anything below that a subpar performance? IMO the point of grades is to get some feedback as to how well you are doing. EDIT: It is worth pointing out that a minority ends up with a distinction, and transfer from masters to PhD is not unconditional. You have to apply for readmission and get a distinction in your masters. So, grades do matter here.

What is the point of getting grades if they don't tell you how well you are doing? They might as well switch to a pass/fail system if they give out As to everyone who shows up.

For undergrad I got a letter with all my final grades, saying that I had satisfied all the requirements and that the degree ceremony would be at date X. However for masters, I will not get my results until after I have started. And in fact, my PhD place is conditional on achieving a certain mark in my masters dissertation. I will have to find out how that works some time soon.

I would recommend an MS if you are not all that interested in research and not looking for independent studies. Are you willing to leave the US? What subfields in maths and/or computer science are you interested in?

That's why a GPA is always considered in the context of your institution and with your class rank. I understand why you don't think grading on a curve is fair, but how does explicitly rewarding effort change that? I would say it only adds to the unfairness. For instance,how would you avoid punishing people for being competent (and thus getting As without much effort)? Person A going beyond the syllabus may very well have put less effort in than person B just ticking off the requirements. So, what exactly does this have to do with effort? I agree that (undergrad) courses should have ceilings and only grade that what is in the syllabus, but that simply means that for the sake of evaluation person A and B have produced work of the same standard. Still, there is no reason to consider anything else but the result.

I agree with most you are saying, although probably not in the way you intend it. Indeed, brains is not all that constitutes achievement/results, on the contrary. Therefore, rewarding achievement with a good grades does not equal rewarding someone's brains or innate intelligence or something. Because of the correlation between effort and achievement, rewarding achievement implicitly rewards effort as well. The same goes for consistency, filling out a journal entry, and all these things that show in the final result. It is even true that there is a correlation between attendance and grades. Thus, even attendance shows in the final results and there is no need to include this in a grading policy. Therefore, I argue that "effort" (that cannot be measured objectively anyway, and is therefore often reduced to attendance) should not be singled out and rewarded again. Of course, effort should be encouraged, because it helps people along in many aspects of their lives. I even think that effort should be rewarded in a natural way, which is at the same level as someone being polite, or considerate, or someone showing interest outside of the syllabus: as a TA I would be all the happier and patient to work with them. Yet, effort does not belong in a grading policy.

Fortunately, this sense of entitlement because of effort is not instilled in children in the culture I grew up in. IMO grades should be given out based on the quality of produced work only. Take person A working at home and person B showing up to every lecture/class/tutorial/office hour. If A and B submit work of similar quality, giving them different grades is not justified. At all. Effort or hard work should only be rewarded by cutting people some slack if it comes to that, i.e. allowing someone to resubmit something, or partially revise his/her submission. But then again, I am allergic to coddling (smothering) and even dropped a major because of it.

Sorry, misread a post.

No, I did not consider it at all, even though I could have gotten a stipend triple the amount I receive now. My current stipend is 22k (half of that goes to rent and utilities, but I will probably move to slightly cheaper accommodation in a year). Mind you that 22k is a fixed amount here. It is all everyone gets. Given what I have spent this year, it is plenty to live off for a single student enjoying himself but not being wasteful. I would like to save a couple of grant or go on exotic holidays, but I am not getting my hopes up.

Wow, it's great to have such a specific scholarship available. They don't happen to have those for every state, do they? Many congrats on your scholarship!

Don't you have a language institute associated to your university? Ours offers a variety of (fast paced) language courses for people who need to master a language for their research or just for fun, either for free or for a small fee.

Unfortunately for you, in terms of admission (especially to European universities) it is often better to come first in your class in a lower ranked university than it is to be mediocre at a higher ranked university. Where does your GPA place you, class rank wise?

A couple of questions: - Why the US? - Are you from a country where a 9.8 GPA is exceptionally high? - Why a masters? Few people in the US go for terminal masters. Are you interested in a PhD? Usually, a PhD gives you a masters along the way, unlike in Europe where you need a masters to apply for a PhD (which are then full-time research, unlike in the US). Therefore, it would be quite possible to apply for a PhD out of undergrad, and you might not need Fulbright if you can secure funding.