Harvard Caps A Grades at 20 Percent From Fall 2027

Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences has voted to impose a strict cap on the number of A grades awarded to undergraduates, a major policy shift designed to combat decades of grade inflation. The new rules, which will take effect in the fall of 2027, represent one of the most ambitious efforts by a major U.S. university to restore meaning to top academic marks.

Under the policy, instructors in letter-graded courses will be permitted to award A grades to no more than 20 percent of the students in a class, with an allowance for four additional A grades. Grades of A-minus or lower are not subject to a limit. The faculty approved the measure by a vote of 458 to 201. In a separate vote, faculty also approved using a student’s average percentile rank—their performance relative to peers—instead of grade-point average for determining internal honors, prizes, and awards.

The decision follows a university report last fall that found more than 60 percent of all grades awarded to Harvard undergraduates in recent years were in the A range, a sharp increase from roughly a quarter of grades two decades ago. University officials and faculty members argued that the proliferation of...