Harvard faculty votes to make it more difficult for undergrads to earn A's
Harvard University has decided to implement stricter grading policies for undergraduates, making it more challenging to earn A grades. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to limit A grades to no more than 20% of students in a class, starting in fall 2027. This move aims to address concerns over grade inflation and ensure that high grades reflect true academic achievement.
- ▪Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to limit A grades awarded to undergraduates.
- ▪Beginning in fall 2027, instructors will be allowed to award A grades to no more than 20% of students in a class.
- ▪The decision is part of an effort to combat grade inflation, which has seen over 60% of grades awarded in the A range in recent years.
5 outlets in our directory ran this story, first to last over 14 hours. Coverage spans 2 points on the political spectrum — 2 lean left, 1 right.
- ▪ Harvard University is making it more difficult for undergrads to earn A’s — New York Post
- ▪ Harvard faculty votes to make it more difficult for undergrads to earn A’s - AP News — Google News
- ▪ Harvard faculty votes to limit number of A's awarded — CBS News — Top
- ▪ Harvard faculty votes to make it more difficult for undergrads to earn A's — ABC News — US
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| Original publisher | CNN |
| Canonical URL | https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/20/us/harvard-undergrad-grades-faculty-vote |
| Publication time | Thu, 21 May 2026 05:09:35 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-21T05:35:03.513Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-21T05:35:03.513Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | bDgte0rjQsag · 5 stories |
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| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
window.CNN.contentModel.leadingMediaType = 'image'; window.CNN.contentModel.isVideoCollection = false; People walk through Harvard Yard on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachussetts, on April 15, 2025. Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads Link Copied! AP — At Harvard University, earning straight A’s is about to get harder. Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday that it would limit the number of A grades awarded to undergraduates, adopting one of the most ambitious efforts by a major university to curb grade inflation. The decision was made by faculty vote earlier this month. The move comes after top grades became so common that some Harvard faculty argued they no longer reliably distinguished exceptional work.
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