> The problem is that even a smart kid struggles to keep up when competing with the uber smart. As a result, the kid feels inadequate and drops the degree.
In the context of grade inflation, this sounds like Harvard is actually one of the better choices and that grade inflation is a desirable property of an elite university
It depends, but probably not as much as you would think.
With a grade curve that high, a B usually means one of the following:
1. Tough weeder course.
2. The person does not really understand the material, especially for upper division courses.
3. Something personal (illness, family issues, personal issues, etc.).
For folks who care about grades, like hiring officials or graduate admissions folks, they typically know about the grade inflation.
It might be a benefit in law school admissions that mostly use a strict formula with gpa as part of that formula.
Anyway, if someone is choosing Harvard over another school due to GPA inflation, then I have a feeling that they won’t gain that much at Harvard or the other school(s) that admitted them. That seems to be optimizing for something fairly minor in the scheme of things.
In the context of grade inflation, this sounds like Harvard is actually one of the better choices and that grade inflation is a desirable property of an elite university