Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
One of the nation’s most selective institutions is sounding the alarm about grade inflation. According to a new report, A’s account for about 60 percent of all grades awarded in 2025 at Harvard College, which houses the university’s undergraduate program. That’s a big jump from 2005, when less than a quarter of grades were A’s. The report has provoked a frenzied response, validating for critics the notion that “elite” colleges aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, and that Gen Z students are delicate snowflakes who can’t handle tough grading. The truth, of course, is more complicated. But the report provides a fascinating portrait of how Harvard views its own role as a sorter of talent, and it shines a light on universal debates over grading that extend far beyond Cambridge, Mass.
Related Reading
What’s Up With Grade Inflation? (chronicle.com/podcast/college-matters-from-the-chronicle/whats-up-with-grade-inflation) (College Matters podcast)
The Great Campus Charade: Students Are Learning and Studying Less — Yet Grades Go Up (chronicle.com/article/the-great-campus-charade) (The Review)
Why Does the Trump Compact Talk About Grading? (chronicle.com/article/why-does-the-trump-compact-talk-about-grading) (The Chronicle)
Guest
Beth McMurtrie (chronicle.com/author/beth-mcmurtrie) , senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education
For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters (chronicle.com/collegematters) . We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.
One of the nation’s most selective institutions is sounding the alarm about grade inflation. According to a new report, A’s account for about 60 percent of all grades awarded in 2025 at Harvard College, which houses the university’s undergraduate program. That’s a big jump from 2005, when less than a quarter of grades were A’s. The report has provoked a frenzied response, validating for critics the notion that “elite” colleges aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, and that Gen Z students are delicate snowflakes who can’t handle tough grading. The truth, of course, is more complicated. But the report provides a fascinating portrait of how Harvard views its own role as a sorter of talent, and it shines a light on universal debates over grading that extend far beyond Cambridge, Mass.
Related Reading
What’s Up With Grade Inflation? (chronicle.com/podcast/college-matters-from-the-chronicle/whats-up-with-grade-inflation) (College Matters podcast)
The Great Campus Charade: Students Are Learning and Studying Less — Yet Grades Go Up (chronicle.com/article/the-great-campus-charade) (The Review)
Why Does the Trump Compact Talk About Grading? (chronicle.com/article/why-does-the-trump-compact-talk-about-grading) (The Chronicle)
Guest
Beth McMurtrie (chronicle.com/author/beth-mcmurtrie) , senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education
For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters (chronicle.com/collegematters) . We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.
