Earning an A takes hard work. But in some classes, you have to hope your classmates work less hard.
Student senators discussed potential downsides to the grading guidelines adapted by the Carroll School of Management (CSOM) at the UGBC Senate meeting on Tuesday night.
CSOM’s guidelines, which were implemented in 2018, suggest that no more than 35 percent of students receive an A or A-, and no more than 65 percent of students receive a B+ or higher. In addition, 5 to 15 percent of students would fall into the C range or below, according to syllabi reviewed by The Heights when the guidelines were initially implemented.
Because students feel like they are competing against their classmates, they are less likely to collaborate with their peers and share notes or resources outside of class, according to Delphine Gareau, academic affairs committee chair and MCAS ’26.
“It kind of disincentivizes collaboration and peer community building within some of these classes because you want to do well, and your doing well depends on other people not,” Gareau said.
Katie McCaffrey, student senator and MCAS ’25, pointed out that although grading on a curve may seem unfair, it is standard practice at peer institutions and helps prepare students for the workforce.
“A lot of top business schools do function on a curve, law schools function on a curve—this is just a part of life,” McCaffrey said. “Yes, it’s unfair, perhaps, but I think it can motivate students to work hard—the world’s a competitive place, business is a competitive place.”
Stoker added that she has loved her experience in CSOM and suggested that the Senate look into ways to mentor and support first-year business students as they adjust to the school’s grading system.
“I think making sure that we’re mentoring kids and asking ‘Hey, how is it actually going?’ would be really helpful,” Stoker said.
Will Rafti, student senator and MCAS ’27, said his financial accounting professor informed students of the class averages after each exam to inform them of how they were performing relative to their classmates—a practice he suggested other professors adapt to make the grading system easy to understand.
“I think if that was a general practice for all CSOM classes, that would be really transparent for all students,” Rafti said.
Student senators also shared updates from a recent BC Dining advisory board meeting.
Under BC Dining’s three-tier meal plan system—which was implemented last year—approximately 70 percent of students select the least expensive option, according to Grant Drinkwater, student senator and CSOM ’27.
Last week, multiple student senators said that they know many students who have a significant amount of meal plan money left at the end of the academic year, even though they chose the light meal plan option.
BC Dining is aware of these concerns, Drinkwater added, but because of fixed overhead costs, they are unable to offer a cheaper option.
“They can’t actually afford to lower the lowest plan because it covers the minimum amount of money that they need to get from the student to make sure that they’re not turning a huge loss,” Drinkwater said.
McCaffrey emphasized that repeated efforts from student senators to create a lower-cost meal plan option have been unsuccessful, so they should focus their efforts on advocating for a greater variety of menu options so that students will want to eat on campus.
“The best way to address this is to ask [BC Dining] to offer more options so that students are actually using their money and they’re excited to use their money,” McCaffrey said. “I think that’s the best solution because it’s just going to be a circle again and again, continuing to bend them to make it cheaper.”
Danny Wise, student life committee chair and MCAS ’25, shared that Scott Cann, technology director for supportive services, was supportive of student senators’ idea to purchase a printer for students in 2150 Commonwealth Ave. and that they are aiming to have the printer ready by Halloween.
“He really liked the idea and basically said that we can get a printer in 2150 very soon,” Wise said.
