Even if it were true that everyone is smarter today, it’s not helpful. GPAs are used to compare students if similar cohorts, no one is seriously picking between

Even if it were true that everyone is smarter today, it’s not helpful. GPAs are used to compare students if similar cohorts, no one is seriously picking between a 21 year old and a 70 year old based on GPA. There’s no value in reflecting increased cohort ability. Theoretically Roughly you just want a distribution via which good students can be differentiated. In reality Harvard just wants to pretend all it’s students are extraordinarily good so that they can apply for a job with a GPA that looks better than Yale. And Yale returns the favour.