Admins: Data suggest law, medical school admissions unaffected by deflation

So far, grade deflation has not adversely affected graduates’ chances of admission to the most selective professional schools. “We’re not seeing any wholesale changes,” Vice Provost for Institutional Research Jed Marsh explained at the meeting.

Because the Class of 2009 was only the second class to graduate from Princeton having experienced four years of the University’s grading policy, “it will be important to continue to track carefully the success of Princetonians on obtaining admission to the very best professional schools,” Marsh added. “It is still too early to make firm conclusions.”

The rate at which Princeton graduates have been admitted to law schools over the past five years, compared to that of other Ivy League graduates, has not been affected by the implementation of the University’s grading policy in 2004, Marsh explained.

Statistically, graduates from all Ivy League schools have seen a decrease in admission to law schools, partly because of the increasing number of applications submitted by the group of all prospective law school students, according to data provided by Marsh.

Thirty-two percent of all law school applications by Princeton students were accepted in 2009, compared to the national average of 16 percent, he said at the meeting.

For the Class of 2009, 93 percent of medical school applicants from Princeton were admitted to at least one medical school. In the past five years, the overall acceptance rate has ranged from 91 percent, in 2008, to 95 percent, in 2006.

Marsh also presented specific statistics comparing the Princeton acceptance rates at many top law and medical schools to overall acceptance rates.

At Yale Law School, 14 percent of Princeton applicants were admitted, compared to an overall acceptance rate of 8 percent. At Harvard Law School, 28 percent of applications by Princeton graduates were awarded admission, compared to Harvard Law School’s acceptance rate of 12 percent. At Stanford Law School, 28 percent of applications by Princeton graduates were granted admission, more than twice the overall average of 12 percent.

The University’s grading policy also does not appear to have had an effect on the rate at which Princeton graduates are accepted into top medical schools, Marsh said.

Among Princeton applicants to top-10 medical schools, 67 of 291 were granted admission in 2009. According to overall averages, only 5 percent of applications to the top 10 medical schools were awarded admission in 2009.

At the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Princeton graduates had a 21 percent acceptance rate, compared to 7 percent for all applicants. Seven percent of Princeton graduates’ applications to Harvard Medical School were awarded admission, slightly above the general acceptance rate of 4 percent.

At the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 10 percent of applications by Princeton graduates were granted admission, while 4 percent of all applications were accepted. Thirty-five percent of Princeton applicants were admitted to the Washington University School of Medicine, more than three times the overall acceptance rate of 11 percent.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel commended the faculty for breaking the barrier of 40 percent for distributing A grades. In the 2008-09 year, the total percent of undergraduate As was 39.7 percent.