Comment Re:feedstock (Score 1) 35
considering how hard it is to get into an Ivy league college why wouldn't most of their students get As ?
That's an argument for employers not to care what the grades were, if all Harvard grads are good enough, and I'm sure there are plenty of employers who will take any Harvard grad.
But for the employers who wish to be even more selective, hiring only the best of the best (and obviously offering appropriate compensation because they're competing with the other employers who want the best of the best), it's useful for them to be able to use GPA to discriminate between the mediocre Harvard grads (who would presumably be outstanding anywhere else) and the high-performing Harvard grads.
Harvard does the students a disservice by giving most of them A's. And the smartest students are going to realize it and look for an institution that is more discriminating, where they can prove their worth.
I'm surprised that cover letters were ever a very good signal, myself. Didn't students always get someone else to help them write the letters anyway?