UNC has raised the bar for making the Dean’s List.
Starting with the incoming freshman class, the University will require full-time students to get a semester grade point average of 3.5, regardless of how many hours they take, to qualify for the honor.
This is a bump up from the current standard, which only requires a GPA of 3.2 for students taking 15 or more hours of graded credit.
The change, implemented by the Dean’s Council, will likely drop the percentage of undergraduate students who qualify for the Dean’s List from about 40 percent to about 25 percent. It will only affect incoming students, and current students will be judged by the old metric.
The change is a recognition by administrators that GPAs have increased and something might have to be done to address the trend, a contentious issue that has held the faculty’s attention for more than 10 years.
“This takes seriously that the Dean’s List is slipping into meaninglessness,” said sociology professor Andrew Perrin, chairman of the educational policy committee, a faculty group that evaluates grading.
The list, which 6,370 students qualified for in spring 2009, is a recognition of high-achieving students. But some students and faculty members question its relevance.
“I’m interested in the Dean’s List so far as where it gets me in the future,” said Piya Kerdlap, a freshman environmental science major. Kerdlap said he’s interested in making a good GPA but is more concerned with skills, which he said would benefit him more in the long run.
The Dean’s Council will re-examine the standards in five years to see if it needs to make changes.
The standards were last adjusted in 1995, when UNC also raised the requirement to limit the list to about 25 percent of students.
“This is an old, venerated tradition that a lot of people, including alumni, parents and students, care about,” Perrin said at a committee meeting in March. “But it’s neither fair nor valid as a current measure.”
The change, administrators recognize, will do nothing to address rising GPAs and departmental disparities. GPAs nationally are rising at a rate of about 0.1 every 10 years. At UNC, they rose from 2.992 in fall 1995 to 3.213 in fall 2008.
It does not address how the list affects departments differently and punishes students in those less likely to give out high grades. It is likely to contain a higher percentage of students in the education school, where the average GPA is about a 3.7, than the math department, where the average GPA is about 2.6.
Administrators say addressing those issues will require larger changes, but they felt the Dean’s List was not the place for that.
“We wanted to keep it simple but still have it be meaningful,” said Bruce Carney, interim executive vice chancellor and provost, who will assume the job permanently with the Board of Trustee’s approval.
The educational policy committee will bring a proposal to the Faculty Council on April 23 to address grading practices. This proposal likely will be an increase in the amount of information reported with grades, Perrin said. This could include distributions on transcripts and greater information-sharing among departments, professors and the UNC community.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
How to Make the Dean's List
Old Policy:
(1) A 3.2 semester GPA with no grade lower than a C if enrolled in at least 15 hours of letter-grade credit.
(2) A 3.5 GPA with no grade lower than a C if enrolled in at least 12 but fewer than 15 hours of letter-grade credit.
New Policy:
Full-time students with at least 12 hours of letter-grade credit with a 3.5 GPA and no grade lower than a C.
Dean’s List at Other Schools:
University of Virginia:
Earn a 3.4 semester GPA or better with an approved course load of 12 or more graded credits. Failing grades make students ineligible for the list.
University of Michigan:
Complete at least 12 semester hours of work during the fall or spring semester for letter grades and have a grade point average of at least 3.5 for the semester
