Posted by caraher on July 14, 2006, at 12:06:13
In reply to Re: Something individual came out in marriage session, posted by annierose on July 14, 2006, at 6:44:30
I just want to back up what annierose said. I teach at a private university and have taken classes at a community college, a "second tier" state university and a prestigious state university, and there's essentially no significant difference among them in terms of what a grade means or how hard it is to earn a good one in lower-level (first and second year) courses. I see bigger differences between courses at a given school than between types of institutions.
Of course, community colleges don't (generally?) have upper-level courses. It's at the advanced undergraduate and graduate level where institutional differences really come into play.
Getting an "A" means you more than met all the challenges that course offered you. If you'd taken a "harder" course instead you might still have met all the challenges. You just can't tell.
And as annierose mentioned, you often get better teaching at schools where the faculty are less research-driven. So you may well have learned more than some "A" students in an equivalent class in a high-powered university!
poster:caraher
thread:666938
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060703/msgs/667050.html