Grade nondisclosure policy

Question

Is the good idea to mention school's grade nondisclosure policy as one of the reason for applying to that school? I was thinking something on these lines ' XXX's grade nondisclosure policy helps foster cooperation rather than competition.' Does this do any good to application?

thanks

thanks

jb32 · Answer

I wouldn't mention it. You probably want to stay away from saying anything about not wanting competition. May make you seem lazy and not willing to work hard. Of course it may not, but why take the chance? I certainly won't help you make a case for admittance.

ko · Answer

Personally, I would probably stay away from this. While it might be true, I don't think you want to open the door to let the school possibly think you're overly nervous about grades. And at some schools, grade non-disclosure policies are periodically reviewed and voted on by the students, so it might not necessarily be in force in coming years. But that's just my opinion.

RVD · Answer

if you're talking about Wharton, i wouldn't recommend mentioning it. the professors and administrators don't seem to necessarily like the policy that much.

RVD.

isa · Answer

I would stay away - even at the Chicago GSB reception i went to, opinion was divided about this policy. I'm sure there are other more compelling reasons you want to go to that school

kidderek · Answer

I think the majority of bschools practice GND; so you're probably better off not mentioning it.

rhyme · Answer

Really?

Last year I think THREE people voted to overturn it.

jallenmorris · Answer

You can talk about how much you like the team aspect of a school and the way it values teamwork and the ability to work together without mentioning the GND and certainly without mentioning anything about competition.

These are the types of things that get very qualified people dinged each year.

These are the types of things that get very qualified people dinged each year.

riverripper · Answer

GSB students pimped their GND policy as being a big reason its not highly competitve there. Ironically, they do seem to have that reputation with people who don't attend the school. An adcom even stated that during an event I went to.

isa · Answer

Yea I was suprised too - 2 of 4 current students I spoke with said they loved the policy, how it allowed them to be adventurous in taking classes, etc. 1 said that he didn't like how he couldn't show his grades b/c he'd done so well. 1 said that he thought it was a cop-out for some of the students and didn't like it.

solaris1 · Answer

I don't know what the big deal is, almost everyone gets a "High Pass" in schools with no GND anyway. Only the real gunners go after the "Honors." Everyone I've spoken to at CBS (one of the schools with no GND), has insisted that mostly "High Passes" with a couple of "Passes" and one odd "Low Pass" thrown in is no big deal for 90% of recruiters.

No one ever fails unless they make a conscious decision to reject every form of help the school offers. Virtually everyone (with the "right" attitude) in their second year goes for the easy classes anyway. :wink:

I personally feel GND takes away a bit of the academic discipline that I would expect in a graduate student. A collaborative community does not get built on grades or their lack thereof.

Rubashov1 · Answer

I agree. While there was grade disclosure at my undergrad business school, I feel that the experience would have been better if my peers were more focused on classes and learning than on getting good jobs. I think, but I'm not sure, that GND can more easily lead students to blow off their academics and use the program as just a recruiting tool.

kidderek · Answer

Hmmmm . . .

RVD · Answer

GND isn't necessarily a bad thing. As many mentioned here, it's great for collaboration and experimentation. You can take classes that you are very weak in without worry that a C will hurt you, etc.

But as most things in life, it can be abused. Some students skip a lot of classes, don't put much of an effort into studying, etc...because "I just have to pass"...

At Wharton, one of the responses to GNP is the LT (lowest 10%) policy. The bottom 10% of every class (except classes that are too small (e.g. under 25 or something like that)) is reported and if you get too many LTs, you're out of the program. But as other posters have said, it's still pretty hard to completely fail out of school. I think generally those students have other factors in their lives that are contributing to these problems (divorce, death in the family, etc.) In the first year you typically take around 13 classes and if you LT 5 of them you are out. If you LT 8 total over the 2 years, you are out.

I think in general, most students like the policy and most professors don't like the policy. There are also many opinions in the middle. It's safest to just stay away from talking about it.

RVD.

Audio · Answer

You think?? :-D

To be perfectly honest though, I'm much more interested in the people you meet, the speakers that come to school and the events than in the academics; I've studied most of this stuff in uni or in the CFA anyway. Hush hush.

RVD · Answer

I (and most students) believe that the networking opportunities are just as important as learning the material.

In the microeconomics class that we just took in the EMBA program, there hadn't been a student who was an econ major in college get an A in the class. Last year that run was broken by one student.

Accounting is different...the students with CPA/CFA type experience (if you have the certification you generally waive out of accounting) seem to do pretty well.

The point is that I think the classes sometimes tend to be a little different at Wharton from the way the same topics were taught in the past.

RVD.

pelihu · Answer

I actually look at this as the best reason for grade non-disclosure. Some people are way ahead and will naturally get better grades because of their backgrounds. The obvious examples are CPAs, consultants, bankers and people with undergraduate business degrees. If you're in an accounting class graded on a hard curve and there are a bunch of accountants with CPAs in the class, it's going to be exceedingly hard to get a high grade. In this example, someone will already be credited for their CPA and work experience in recruiting, but will essentially be getting double credit for also getting a high grade in accounting. Then consider that, at most schools, students will have schedules jam-packed with activities, recruiting events, guest speakers and other things that increase the value of the experience; so there's not necessarily an opportunity to just catch up by putting in more time and effort. Someone with an undergrad business major has a huge advantage over a liberal arts major in first-year subjects like accounting, finance, statistical analysis, marketing and more.

I think schools with grade non-disclosure want to make sure that people who were not business majors and don't have feeder-type experiences have a chance to acclimate to business school live and still have a legitimate chance with recruiting. It's not only a chance for people to branch out and take challenging classes, it's also an opportunity for people to consider other career tracks. Otherwise, people might find it too risky to compete for certain jobs if they don't have favored backgrounds.

The flip side, of course, is that the true slackers will not be punished for slacking off; they'll be allowed to hang around and compete for jobs. Honestly, I think few people in business school really slack off. However, I think I would be a little sick to my stomach if someone slacked off (or couldn't keep up) in class big time and had the opportunity to compete for a job I really wanted.

Grade nondisclosure policy

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