As the last day to drop classes approaches, students may ditch because they're uninterested or overloaded - or maybe because they don't see an A in the forecast.
Over the last few decades, students have developed an increasing focus on grades over educational value, which puts pressure on professors to hand out top marks, educators say.
Associate Dean and director of academic affairs Kent Peterman said he is noticing increased consciousness and strategizing about grades.
"I hear students say, 'if I'm going to get a B in the class, I'm going to drop it,'" he said. "I never heard that attitude 20 years ago."
And some educators say that attitude - which can wear professors out - is one factor driving grade inflation.
History undergraduate chair Ann Moyer said frustrated professors may give out high grades in order to avoid whining students.
"They'll have to deal with complaints if they give B+'s, so they don't," she said. "The cynical response is to give everyone an A."
Fifty to 54 percent of undergraduates in the School of Arts and Sciences courses have had A averages for the past few years, Peterman said. In the early 1990s, 40 percent did.
Across the country, former Duke University professor and researcher Stuart Rojstaczer found that the average national GPA increased by 0.6 percent since the 1960s.
He said the trend reflects a change in why students attend college. In the 1960s - when the average GPA was a half to a full grade lower, he said - people went to college primarily for intellectual enrichment. Now, they want degrees.
College Confidential counselor Sally Rubenstone said today's students are more focused on post-college paths, such as graduate school, and want transcripts that won't undermine their plans.
"From the start of freshman year, they're already feeling those grade-grubbing, competitive vibes," she wrote in an e-mail.
Rojstaczer said that this emerging "consumer-based culture" puts pressure on schools to satisfy students and parents.
He said deans and department heads may suggest that professors grade less harshly if they receive negative feedback from the people who sign the tuition check.
Professors don't want to be known as the toughest grader in their department, which may bring low course enrollment and poor evaluations, he added.
Moyer said students develop expectations for high grades when they consult sources like Penn Course Review and can feel slighted when grades turn out to be lower.
Peterman said students should focus on quality of work, not comparing numbers.
But he added that to progress, students must understand the feedback.
"If you're just getting these A's and don't know quite what they mean, ultimately you're being done a disservice," he said.
"You have to redefine the meaning of college by convincing all stakeholders that those four years are truly for intellectual discovery," Rojstaczer said.
