In article . com,
Fred Goodwin, CMA wrote:
Herman Rubin wrote:

Furthermore, I see nothing wrong with signing up for a
course and then deciding it is not worth completing. I
see nothing wrong with collecting a lot of D's and F's;
the straight-A student tends to be weak and shallow in
the important things.

Would such a student be accepted at, say, Purdue, to major in, say,
statistics?

We do have statistics major, but I would not recommend
someone with ability to do so, unless it was a joint
major with mathematics.

The admissions department probably would look on such
a record with disfavor; however, if the SATs, in
particular the math one, were good, direct communication
to the department might get results.

Many high schools will not reveal grades or GPAs or
class ranks to universities, including most of the
good ones in Indiana. In that case, the admissions
department, of whatever school, would not know about
those poor grades.

What we really need for university admission, and even
for high school graduation, is a comprehensive examination
of sufficient length, with no multiple choice questions,
and examining understanding.


--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558