Put the ‘B’ Back in B-School

Students own their grades. But the schools they attend own their reputations. These conflicting interests are playing out across the river, as the administration at Harvard Business School (HBS) is considering making it optional for HBS students to release their grades to employers. The current policy is that no grades are released. This policy, enacted in 1998, represents joint administrative and student agreement, as HBS’s administration could not enforce the no-release policy without the willing participation of students as well. After seven years, this policy deserves to be reversed in order to incentivize academic excellence.

The no-release policy was originally enacted to reduce competition among students and promote cooperation. The logic went that if students felt secure enough in their grades to work with each other, then HBS would have 51 teachers instead of 50 students and one teacher. With the policy, HBS prioritized a collegial environment and a safe classroom atmosphere ahead of possible repercussions to its image and to its academics.

Over the past seven years, many concerns have been raised about the policy. Anecdotal evidence from professors and administrators has supported the notion that students are simply taking academics less seriously. These anecdotes have been proven at other schools. At the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, another B-School that doesn’t allow grade release, undergrads taking cross-registered classes routinely outperform MBA candidates. Were the same perception about HBS to take hold among recruiters, HBS’s reputation (and the opportunities of its students) would be diminished.

A no-release policy that all students must follow also inhibits students’ ability to use the grades that they earned in order to land the jobs they want. In essence, for the last seven years students have not fully owned the grades they received at HBS. There is no incentive for students to work for a “I” (students at HBS are graded between I and IV) other than their own personal satisfaction and the possibility of being named a Baker Scholar. As HBS is a professional school, students should be able to use the fruits of their academic labors to succeed in the profession of their choice.

Students at HBS counter that making the release of grades to employers optional will effectively ruin the environment of the school. Employers will assume that students who refuse to release their grades are in fact in the lower part of the class. That will increase competition for top spots and undermine HBS’s ability to fulfill its unique mission as a business school.

In reality, students should not be so worried. The issue is not the release of the grades themselves, but exactly what the effects of the release will be. In HBS’ case, the grading scale that the school uses will effectively keep competition at a healthy level while simultaneously promoting accountability for academic performance. The forced grading scale for every class at HBS gives the top 15 to 20 percent of students a “I,” the next 70-or-so percent a “II,” and the remaining portion a “III” or “IV.” This scale ensures that nearly everyone at HBS receives II’s. The real fear amongst students is that employers will only look at candidates with the best grades. But since IIs are so common, there will be little measurable differentiation between the top 75 percent of every HBS class. For those lower down on the totem pole, the very signal that they got into HBS in the first place should carry sufficient weight.

HBS should make grade release optional to shore up its reputation with employers and ensure that students give the school’s academics more than lip-service. Students should be able to keep, and to advertise, what they earn. The dire consequences predicted by those who oppose the move will ultimately be offset by the fundamentals of HBS’s grading policy itself. After Jan. 18, when HBS has said it will make a decision, we hope to see a revitalized business school that sports a better balance between collegiality and academic rigor.