Harvard Plans Changes In Computing Rank List

Harvard is considering a plan to include letter grade pluses and minuses in computation of rank list groups. If the change is approved, 40 to 60 per cent of Harvard undergraduates will find themselves in a new rank list.

The new plan would apply the 12-point system now used to determine rank in class for the Selective Service System to group ranks.

Under the 12-point system, students are ranked by converting grades to number values. An A equals 12 points, an A-minus 11 points, a B-plus 10 points, down to a D-minus, which is worth two points.

Group IV students with three B-pluses and one C-plus receive 37 grade points, while those in Group II with one and a half A-minuses and two and a half B-minueses receive only 36 and a half points, and thus rank lower in their class.

It is estimated that students would rise or drop two Rank Groups under the new system. Many of those now in Group I would drop to Group II. Group IV would be redistributed among Groups II-VI

Rank in class for Selective Service has reflected the unfairness of Harvard's Group Lists," Monro saidd. "Some students in Group V had better grade averages than those in Group III. "The enormous Group III includes students from the top and bottom quarters of each class," he said.

Rising grades are another pressure to change the Rank List system. Last year, 52 per cent of the College made Dean's List, compared with 45 per cent three years ago, and 60 per cent graduated with honors.

Other Systems

Dean Monro said yesterday that the Administrative Board and the Committee on Educational Policy have asked the Office of Tests to study the feasibility of various other systems besides the 12-point scale. Final action will probably come before semester grades are issued in February.