What have we done to protect the interests of Princeton students in the job market and in admission to graduate and professional schools?
Before the faculty adopted the grading policy, we had numerous conversations and extensive correspondence with employers, admission deans, and administrators of national fellowship competitions to find out how they would respond to our plans. They encouraged us to take the steps we have since taken. They said that if we made plain what the new grading policy entails, they would recalibrate to take account of changes in our grading practices. In other words, they would evaluate Princeton students in the context of Princeton’s grading policy. They said, too, that the fact that Princeton grades would be seen as real grades, in contrast to the inflated grades of our peer institutions, would be likely to redound to the benefit of Princeton students. In the winter of 2004–05, as the new policy was first being implemented, we sent more than 3,000 letters to graduate and professional schools and to employers to explain the new grading policy. With advice from students, we drafted a statement a
