The Majority of YU Undergraduates Hold a 3.6 GPA or Higher. That Figure Has Only Been Growing.

Over the last three years, the percentage of YU students with a GPA above a 3.6 increased by 11%, according to the Office of Institutional Research. Last year, it was 65% of the student body between Stern College for Women (SCW), Yeshiva College (YC) and Sy Syms School of Business (SSSB). As per the Office of the Registrar, the minimum requirement to make Dean’s List is a 3.5.

In the 2018-19 academic year 54% of the student body earned a GPA above 3.6. That figure increased to 62% the following year and then to 65% in the 2020-21 academic year. 

Remarkably, the percentage of students with GPAs above 3.7, 3.8 or 3.9 also saw increases over the last three years with a 4-7% increase in all three ranges from the 2018-19 academic year to the 2019-20 academic year, and a 3-4% increase in all three GPA categories from the 2019-20 academic year to the 2020-21 academic year. 

Interestingly, there is little difference in the overall trends between the Wilf and Beren campuses — both have seen increases in their GPA statistics. However, the Beren campus has consistently had more students receiving GPAs over a 3.6. To break it down, in the 2018-2019 academic year the Beren campus had 1,033 students, 612 (59%) of whom possessed GPAs above 3.6. By contrast, Wilf had 554 of their 1,113 students earning GPAs above 3.6 (50%). Although Beren has had more students with GPAs above a 3.6, both have seen an identical 8% increase in the 2019-20 academic year with 67% of students earning GPAs above a 3.6 on Beren campus and 58% on Wilf campus. This statistic grew similarly between the two campuses in the 2020-21 academic years with a 5% increase to 72% on the Beren campus and a 1% increase to 59% on the Wilf campus.

What about differences between YC and SSSB for men and between SCW and SSSB for women? 

In the 2018-19 academic year, 59% of students in YC had GPAs above a 3.6 while only 42% of students in the SSSB for Men attained the same GPA. 60% of students at SCW earned GPAs above 3.6 in contrast to 54% of Sy SSSB for Women. 

Interestingly, SSSB for Men had a higher jump in this statistic the following year with 52% of the students receiving GPAs of 3.6 and above and 65% of YC earning a GPA above a 3.6. SCW had a higher increase in this number as compared to SSSB for Women with 69% of SCW students attaining GPAs above 3.6 and 61% of SSSB for Women possessing GPAs above 3.6. 

Shockingly, SSSB for Men had 50% of its students attaining GPAs above a 3.6 in 2020-2021— the only decrease in GPA statistics over the last three years. YC had 69% of students in this GPA category, SCW had a staggering 74% of students and SSSB for Women had 63% of its students earning GPAs above 3.6.Given that over 50% of YU students consistently earned GPAs above 3.6 over the last three years, it is important to question whether students at YU have strong academic capabilities or if classes are simply too easy — or perhaps a mix of both. For comparison, Indiana University, which also ranked number 68 in U.S. News and Report’s 2022 rankings, had only 9% of its students attaining a GPA above 3.7 in the Spring 2021 semester. By contrast, Yeshiva University had a staggering 55% of its students earn above 3.7 in the 2020-2021 academic year. This clear skew could potentially prove that YU students are more academically gifted, but could also show that classes at YU are easier than at other universities, a tendency which would need to be reexamined by the university.

—

Photo Caption: Office of the Registrar on Wilf Campus

Photo Credit: The Commentator