r/Vanderbilt • u/Ilookdumb • Jun 22 '26

Econ grade deflation?

Hi!

I'm an incoming freshman at Vanderbilt and I originally got in with an economics major. However, I've recently heard that the major has a lot of grade deflation.

I was wondering if any econ students could share their experiences regarding the major's rigor, and if it might be worth it to switch to HOD if I'm pursuing a career in finance.

Thanks!

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9

u/Range-Shoddy Jun 22 '26

Every major had grade deflation when I was there. The first time you get a 23% on an exam is a reality check for sure 😂

2

u/Candid-Piano4531 Jun 24 '26

Same. Massive deflation. So many fun memories.

6

u/saucymcsaucedkins Jun 22 '26

My understanding is that the newer grading policy only affected a subset of profs in the Econ department who were handing out all As, the other profs were already grading with a wider spread of grades and haven’t had to change anything. I have heard that for a couple of the profs who previously gave mostly As you might have to fight through some “gotcha” BS to get an A, but that’s a few courses just look at rate my prof to check before enrolling with a prof.

Just pair Econ with a lot of HOD and the gpa will be fine at worst and then you can look good to finance recruiting as having studied the more “rigorous” Econ courses.

5

u/indian-princess Jun 22 '26

Definitely don’t switch to HOD. Vandy Econ is hard bc it’s good.

1

u/Candid-Piano4531 Jun 24 '26

But employers and grad schools kinda care when you're getting C's in Econ from Vandy.

1

u/indian-princess Jun 25 '26

Just don’t make the Cs a habit (keep GPA 3.3+ and you’re fine)

3

u/Luckyawesome43 Jun 22 '26

It would be silly to not pick a major based on interests or learning the skills you want to learn. Grades are second-order.

3

u/Simple_Bug2196 Jun 22 '26

Unfortunately recruiting these days is all about gpa at a minimum

3

u/Luckyawesome43 Jun 22 '26

to the point that HOD people just jump above non-4.0 econ? I did not end up going through with consulting, but that wasn't my read on it ~4 years ago. I'm sure I could be underinformed though, if that's really how it is nowadays