JOKE ISSUE: Wharton establishes minimum GPA

If you thought Wharton was competitive before, think again.

Starting next semester, Wharton will hold all students to a minimum grade point threshold of 3.0, Wharton Dean Geoffrey Garrett announced on Tuesday. Beginning with the Class of 2017, Wharton students with a cumulative GPA below the 3.0 standard at the end of the fall semester will be automatically transferred to the College, where they will have to choose a new major.

Depending on the new major that Wharton students must choose, not all credits will transfer. This may make it more difficult for students who choose a new major that has no cross-disciplinary connections to the Wharton core, such as English or history.

Wharton sophomore Mervyn van Arnoldson is angered by the new changes and worries that it will disrupt the future studies of many current Wharton students.

“I can’t believe they would create something like this,” van Arnoldson said. “It’s unfair and is going to hurt a lot of underclassmen in their business studies.”

Many Whartonites, however, are not concerned for the fate of fellow classmates, but the idea that the class averages will now become much higher, creating a more competitive environment than currently exists.

“I’m already stressed enough as it is about finding a job this summer,” Wharton junior Blane Kennedy Hayworth said. “But at least this will make my application look a lot stronger.”

One Wharton professor agrees that this will change the environment in many Wharton classes, yet he feels that it is important for students to experience this type of academic pressure.

“We are planning to create more difficult tests to push those at the top of the class even more,” said Finance professor Scott Pocketson, who already bases his grading system on a tournament style reminiscent of “The Hunger Games.” “This way we will prepare them for the cutthroat business world that they are entering in the future.”

To choose a new major once in the College, displaced Wharton students will be given a new College advisor who will help guide them in deciding the right major, whether it be economics or English. Grades received from Wharton will still appear on their transcripts, and students still interested in business will be encouraged to pursue the Consumer Psychology minor.

College students are not too thrilled either, as an influx of Wharton students will disrupt their current class averages and environments as well.

“It’s going to be weird having a bunch of Wharton students in my classes,” sophomore Annie Herbert said. “But I guess we will have to get used to it.”

While this decision is causing an uproar among students, the administration is unwilling to negotiate with those who have protested the decision. They feel as though this will increase the number of outstanding students that graduate from Wharton and will generate a higher level of prestige than it already holds.

“We already have an amazing group of students enrolled in Wharton,” said the Dean of External Affairs for Wharton Frank Pillow. “But this will create a new crop of students who will dominate the business world — and maybe someday, the entire world.”

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