Grade inflation is headline news again. Harvard’s decision to cap flat A’s has revived familiar arguments about weakened standards, distorted course choices and diminished incentives to excel. Those concerns are real, but the attention they receive can obscure a deeper social problem. When grades lose much of their power to distinguish students, inequality at the admissions gate travels farther into graduate education and employment.
College performance creates a new record through which students can distinguish themselves after admission. The diploma identifies the institution; the transcript should distinguish the student. When grades cluster near the top, that balance shifts toward institutional reputation. A solid but unexceptional graduate of a prestigious university retains the benefit of its name, while an exceptional graduate elsewhere loses one of the clearest ways to demonstrate superior achievement.
Grade inflation does not invent the college brand; it gives the brand less competition. The student graduates are credentialed and branded.
Beginning in fall 2027, Harvard College courses will limit flat A’s to 20 percent of enrollment plus four additional students; A-minuses will remain unrestricted. Faculty approved the cap by 458–201. More than 60 percent of undergraduate grades, according to Harvard data, were flat A’s in 2025, compared with about one-third in 2010.
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