Harvard College will limit the number of students who can receive A grades

Harvard faculty has voted to impose a roughly 20% cap on A grades in an effort to curb decades of grade inflation that, the faculty argues, degrades the value of top-tier academic achievement at the college. The mandatory cap on top grades at one of America’s most prestigious colleges will go into effect in the fall of 2027. Under an agreed “20 plus four” formula, the number of A grades awarded to a class of 100 undergraduates will be limited to 24 students. The move comes after an October 2025 report sent to faculty and Harvard College students warned that the college’s evaluation system was “failing to perform the key functions of grading”. The 25-page report found that more than 60% of grades awarded to Harvard undergraduates are A’s, compared with only a quarter of grades two decades ago, and concluded that the grading system is “damaging the academic culture of the College”. Amanda Claybaugh, dean of undergraduate education, said that A grade inflation necessitated reforms to “restore the integrity of our grading and return the academic culture of the College to what it was in the recent past”. Harvard’s faculty voted 458 to 201 to pass for the first of three proposals limiting top grades, and a second to use average percentile rankings, rather than GPA, or grade point average, to assign internal awards and honors. …