MIT Grades & Transcript
Other_2_Mit_grades.doc,    other_2_mit_grades.html
Last Updated May 22, 2020

MIT used a 5 point grade system.[A=5, B=4, C=3, D=2, F=1]. The cumulative average grade for any period was computed by weighting each course grade with the total number of credited hours for that course. The first course in the transcript below was 5.01, General Chemistry and the total credited hours was 11 (4+2+5).

I created an Excel spreadsheet to compute my “Cum” (cumulative average) for each semester, and for cumulatively for all semesters through the current semester.

The results were:

I then Googled “mit average grade 1961” and got this link:

http://1961.alumclass.mit.edu/s/1314/images/gid52/editor_documents/tech_1959_part2.pdf?gid=52&pgid=61&sessionid=b0933635-9cf5-4bcf-8beb-a940c06e66b7&cc=1

Which turned out to be a copy of the March 18, 1960 MIT newspaper, “The Tech” which had an article on “First Term Grades…”[copy of article at end of this document ]

The article said that the “all-men’s average had dropped from the “customary 3.5” to “3.3334”.

Take away:  I had thought that my grades were “slightly above average” for MIT.  The data above shows my cumulative average at the end of my senior year was 3.6 – so maybe that’s true.  However, I note that prior to my senior year my cumulative average through the end of each semester was never above 3.5

I could overthink this whole area with self doubts and other considerations.  However, I will note that my grades in Calculus through 5 semesters were : B,C,B,B,C – so in one of the critical core areas of MIT (in my mind), I was slightly above average. I will stick with  that!