Nearly 85% of Harvard Undergraduates Oppose Proposed Cap on A Grades, HUA Survey Finds

Nearly 85 percent of Harvard undergraduates who responded to a Harvard Undergraduate Association survey opposed a proposed cap on A grades, signaling widespread student resistance to major changes in grading.

The survey, which drew responses from nearly 800 students, also found strong opposition to a plan to introduce an internal ranking system based on students’ average percentile performance across courses. More than 72 percent of respondents said they “definitely” or “probably” opposed the ranking proposal, while just under 15 percent expressed support.

The results come as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences considers a sweeping overhaul of Harvard College grading aimed at curbing grade inflation and restoring distinctions among top-performing students. Under the proposal, released last week, A grades would be capped at 20 percent per course, with no more than four additional As permitted per class, beginning in the 2026-27 academic year.

The plan would also eliminate GPA as the basis for awarding honors, replacing it with an internal “average percentile rank” metric that would not appear on transcripts but would be used to determine academic distinctions.

Student opposition to the proposed changes was pronounced. On the internal ranking question alone, 442 respondents selected "definitely not,” compared with 31 who said they “definitely” agreed. Another 126 students said they “probably” opposed the change.

Opposition to the A-grade cap was similarly lopsided: 84.9 percent of respondents said they “definitely” disagreed with limiting A grades, while fewer than one in ten expressed support.

A FAS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The optional, College-wide survey was conducted by the HUA’s Academic Life team and distributed to undergraduates by email over the weekend. According to Hyunsoo Lee ’28, HUA’s Academic Life Officer, the survey received more than 500 responses within roughly three hours of its release.

“I think it will be really helpful to share the data,” he said. “If we have actual data, if you actually have, here’s what the students think, here’s the data, here’s what we got, I think we can advocate much more strongly, and they’ll actually listen to us.”

Lee said the HUA plans to compile the results into a one-page summary to share with faculty and administrators and that he has been in contact with Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh to raise student concerns.

Lee — who sits on the Committee on Undergraduate Education, which Claybaugh chairs — said he had not been informed of the grading proposal before its release Friday.

“This is for all students, so it should be about all students,” Lee said. “No matter what policy it is, I think both faculty, administration, and the students should have a voice in what actually gets to happen.”

Abdullah Shahid Sial ’27, co-president of the HUA, said he would have preferred student representation on the committee that introduced the proposal, but hoped the survey will help fill that gap.

Sial said the HUA had not been consulted before the proposal’s release.

“Grading directly affects us, and we do feel it’s our responsibility to make sure that our decision, our opinion, is taken into account when these decisions are being made,” he said.

Sial acknowledged that opponents were more likely to respond to the survey but said he believed any sampling bias would be minimal.

“I doubt the number would change,” he said. “Our job is to make sure that side is communicated with the administration prior to the faculty vote.”

Lee also urged students to advocate directly with faculty.

“If every student knows about the data, every student hears about the proposal, and they go to their professor’s office hours, if they stay after class to talk about it — I think that’s the stuff that can hopefully, and maybe, change the professors’ minds a little bit,” he said.

Voting on the survey remains open.

—Staff writer Theresa F. Bartelme can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at theresabartelme.15. Follow her on X @theresabartelme.

—Staff writer Alma T. Barak can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at almabk.54. Follow her on X @almabk_.