colleges that don't grade...

I know they exist! Does anyone have a list or something? The whole grading system kinda bothers me, and I really want to look into them.

I'm currently at Simon's Rock College of Bard, which people on this board should really know about.. It's a tiny (350 hippies..) liberal arts college in the Berkshires. Most of us were bored high school sophomores and juniors who dropped out at 16 or 17 and came here instead, which they encourage. The vast majority of our work is essay-based, and we get detailed written assessments, but also grades. Which is kind of annoying, because grades go against everything else the school preaches.

 

I've never heard of any school's that don't give grades--but that would be cool! Good luck in your search!

 

Evergreen College in Olympia, WA, doesn't give grades.

~Nova

 

if you dont want grades, why dont you try learning independantly
whats the point of having someone help you learn if you dont want them to keep track of your progress?

 

Careful. Coming from a "there are no grades" place like that - you could end up like Barbara Walters.

 

making stupid amounts of money for making rich\famous people cry and getting free travel?

 

Why are you in college? I mean, if you don't want to get a degree that anyone will take seriously, why waste your time? You may as well just buy your degree online...

 

I was considering going to Simon's Rock. What do you think of it? My mum is a bit skeptical. She doesn't believe anyone will take the degree seriously. I was considering going for a year and then transfering to a more conventional college. It's so small and thus so limited.

I've always loved grades. They help me to evaluate my progress.

 

there are colleges that don't grade that are quite respected. there is still evaluation, just much more personalized, rather than in a letter grade system. from what i understand, professors at those schools give detailed reports of the student's work and progress. that seems a lot more helpful as far as keeping track of progress and figuring out how to improve.

MarryMeEdward:
I absolutely love Simon's Rock. Within about 3 weeks, it felt more like home than.. well.. home. Simon's Rock is well respected by the vast majority of colleges, including most ivy-leagues. Any degree that you may get here counts just as much as a degree from anywhere else. Your credits can be transferred to other colleges, and when transferring, having been at Simon's Rock will count in your favor, as it shows that you are smart and had the initiative to get out of an educational environment that was not stimulating to you and into one that would allow you to follow your passions. It may be tiny, but we have a lot of interesting courses and amazing professors who are willing to go to all lengths to help you follow what you're interested in. Basically, if there's a course you want to take that's not offered, you can find a professor who is willing to either teach a tutorial on it or study it with you, and you can get credits for that. Most people get an AA in 2 years and then transfer. If possible, you should visit the campus. There are "discovery days" that you can sign up for. It's free. You get a tour of the campus, take a sample class, meet some students, etc. You can also just come on any normal day and sit in on some classes to see what you think. Let me know if you want/need more information.

 

exactly. You could work part-time and still devote a lot of your day to studying and learning knew nifty things. Grades let me know how well or how poorly I'm doing. Ie, I suck at finance but stats II is my kind of thing

 

there are a lot of profs at schools all over the country who post course work on line as well as syllabi.....


hunt those down

I've been doing the coursework for a crypto class at some school in california that I've never even seen and learning a lot and it was all there for the downloading....


I love the internet

 

Two of the colleges I'm applying to don't give grades, and the other just doesn't tell you them.

Look at Evergreen State College, Hampshire College, and Reed College.

THey pretty much kick ass.

 

I don't think Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH gives grades

 

New College in southwest florida doesn't give grades. i thought about transferring there after my first winter in college in fridgid-bitch minnesota.

 

bah! of course you can get a degree where the school doesn't give grades that people will take seriously. depending on what you want to do, i might suggest prescott college in prescott, arizona (www.prescott.edu). they are a small environmental-and-experiential (hands-on learning) based college (800 undergrades + masters and doctorate programs) that doesn't use grades. instead, they write detailed assessments. however, if for some reason you need grades (you specific grad school wants them, i.e.), you can specifically request that they include a letter grade on your transcript.

i personally like the idea of no grades. why be motivated by a little letter than could mean one thing in one instance and another thing in another instance?

 

free of charge?

 

What good'll that do? The point of getting grades is knowing where you stand in the subject. If they don't tell you them, you might as well not get them.

 

The evaluations tell you where you stand on the subject. It's not like it's a free for all where you can do nothing and still get a degree.

 

LOL, it's not like they don't evaluate you.

 

Brown University in RI gives a mark of pass/fail, no real grades. Just two extremes.