A Harvard College senior filed a formal grade appeal last week contesting an A minus received in a spring semester seminar, arguing that under Harvard’s own grading distribution, an A minus places a student in the bottom quintile of their peers and should therefore be treated as the functional equivalent of a failing grade.
The appeal, submitted to the Administrative Board in a 14-page brief titled On the Statistical Incoherence of the A Minus as a Meaningful Academic Distinction at an Institution Where 79 Percent of Grades Are A’s, argues that the A minus has been rendered meaningless by decades of grade inflation and that awarding one without contextual disclosure constitutes a form of academic misrepresentation.
“At an institution where the median grade is an A,” the brief states, “an A minus is not a near-perfect score. It is a below-average score. It is, by any defensible statistical measure, a C. I have received a C. I am appealing the C.”
Harvard has not disputed the math.
The student’s argument proceeds in three parts. First, that Harvard’s own data establishes an A as the expected baseline outcome for any given course. Second, that any grade below this baseline represents underperformance relative to the peer group. Third, that the transcript does not disclose this context, leaving graduate schools, employers, and the student’s parents with the impression that an A minus represents strong academic performance when it in fact represents the opposite.
The brief concludes by requesting one of three remedies: that the grade be raised to an A; that all future transcripts include a statistical footnote contextualizing the A minus within Harvard’s broader grading distribution; or that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences acknowledge in writing that an A minus is, in the context of Harvard’s grading history, a below-average grade and should be understood as such by all parties receiving the transcript.
Harvard has not disputed the math.
The Administrative Board acknowledged receipt of the appeal and noted that it would be reviewed in accordance with standard procedures. Standard procedures involve a preliminary review, a secondary review of the preliminary review, and a meeting of a subcommittee empowered to recommend whether a full hearing is warranted. The subcommittee has not met.
The course instructor, reached for comment, said she had given the student an A minus because the student’s work was “very good but not exceptional.” She was then read the statistical argument. She said she would need to think about it. She has not responded since.
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is currently considering a proposal to cap A grades at 20 percent of students per course. Under this proposal, the student’s A minus would represent not the bottom quintile but a respectable performance in the second tier of a reformed system. The student has noted that this reform does not apply retroactively. The Faculty has not disputed this either.
The appeal remains under review. The student has begun work on a supplementary brief addressing the A minus received in a different course last fall. That brief is 22 pages. The student describes it as a first draft.