When Syracuse University students returned for the spring semester in early January, they had to adjust to bitterly cold temperatures, early morning alarm clocks and daily classwork.

But for students in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, they also had to adjust to a new grading policy.

The new grading system essentially puts class grades on a curve. No more than 33 percent of students in a particular class will receive A’s, and class averages should be around a B or B-plus, said Amanda Nicholson, the associate dean for undergraduate programs at Whitman. The policy applies to all undergraduate courses taught in Whitman, but excludes honors classes and internships taken for credit.

Nicholson said the policy was designed to do a few things in particular, the first of which was to increase the rigor of courses.

“Everyone is on a curve in the real world,” she said. “The world isn’t made up of all A or A-minus people.”

Nicholson added that the other motivating factor for the new grading policy was to make classes fairer.

When multiple sections of the same course are running simultaneously, the new policy prevents one of the sections from being labeled easier than the others since only up to one third of students in that section can receive an A, Nicholson said.

She added that depending on who was teaching a certain section, grades would be much higher than a different section being taught by a different professor.

“It’s the same material being taught in each section, so this way no section gets labeled as ‘the easy section,’” Nicholson said.

The process for creating the new grading system first came up during the summer of 2013, Nicholson said. It was discussed in the fall and then voted on unanimously by the faculty to be implemented.

She said while they were discussing the idea, they looked specifically at Princeton University, which employed a similar curved grading system in their business school.

“I don’t think emulating a school with the rigor and reputation of Princeton is a bad thing,” Nicholson said. “If Princeton thinks there should be a curve, SU should probably think there’s a curve too.”

She added that students who participate on advisory committees knew about the impending change in the fall, so word quickly spread amongst Whitman students.

Sisi Qiu, a sophomore accounting major, said one of her concerns is that if more than one third of the class is getting an A, it’s difficult to know where a student stands in the grading spectrum. However, she said there are some students in Whitman who don’t mind the change because they tend to have high enough grades that they won’t be affected.

Tony Lai, a junior supply chain management major, said one of his initial concerns was centered around limiting the number of A’s given out in a class. He said he wasn’t sure how the system would work if more than one third of the class was getting consistently high scores.

“If there’s an exam and half of the people in the class get 100 on it, how do you figure out which 30 percent get A’s?” Lai said.

However, Nicholson said if that type of situation occurs, it means something else may need to change within classes.

“If everyone does well, it means we’re probably not making students work hard enough,” she said.

Beyond the immediate effects the grading policy has in the classroom, some students have thought about what bearing it will have on their career opportunities.

But Nicholson said that potential issue has already been addressed. She said Whitman has been informing recruiters about the new grading method, saying she thinks potential employers will appreciate the school making classes more rigorous.

She added that recruiters generally look for a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and she doesn’t believe the new policy will have much of an effect on students who are already well above or below that number.

Nicholson said for all the discussion about the new policy, she thinks everyone will be used to it by the end of the semester.

And while she understands that students are wary of the change right now, she said she hopes it will ultimately motivate them.

Said Nicholson: “I’m hoping people will step up to the plate, and if it makes them try a little harder I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Published on February 4, 2014 at 12:16 am

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27