Here is a wild statistic to ruin your morning: in the 2024-25 academic year, 84% of Harvard undergraduates earned an A or A-minus. Not a handful of overachievers. Not even a slim majority. Eighty-four percent. At this point the grading scale is basically just vibes with a letter attached.
Now, according to a report from Fast Company, Harvard faculty are officially weighing a proposal to cap A grades at no more than 20% of any given class, plus four students. That is not a typo. From 84% down to roughly 20%. Someone on the faculty committee clearly woke up and chose chaos.
The "outstanding" problem
The student handbook apparently defines an A as "outstanding" work. Which is a fun little detail when you realize that, statistically speaking, outstanding is just... what most Harvard students do on a Tuesday. When nearly everyone gets the top grade, the word "outstanding" loses all meaning faster than a participation trophy at a kindergarten sports day.
Grade inflation has been a slow-moving crisis at elite universities for decades, but these numbers from Harvard are something else entirely. It raises a fair question: if two-thirds of your class is getting straight A's, are you measuring excellence, or are you just measuring who showed up and handed things in?
The crackdown nobody asked for
The proposed fix - capping A grades at 20% plus four students per class - would be a seismic shift. Suddenly Harvard students, who are already among the most high-achieving people on the planet just by virtue of getting in, would be competing against each other for a dramatically smaller slice of the top grade. It turns every seminar into a zero-sum game. Very relaxing. Very good for mental health, surely.
To be fair, there is a real argument here. If employers, grad schools, and fellowship committees can no longer use Harvard grades as a meaningful signal, the transcript becomes decorative. A reform, however brutal, at least restores some signal to the noise.
So what happens now?
Nothing is finalized yet - this is still a proposal being debated by faculty. But the fact that it is being seriously discussed at all suggests even Harvard has quietly admitted that something has gone very wrong with how it rewards academic performance.
For current students, the timing is impeccable. You picked the exact right moment to be at a school where the A might be on the endangered species list. Godspeed, everyone.
