At 3:56 yesterday, 4 minutes before their office closed, the Dean’s Office released Comprehensive Exam results. There wasn’t any definitive announcement about what day they would be released, only that it would be this week. However, rumors were flying from the Registrar that they’d be released that day. I had a 3:10 Latin class with a few other seniors, but it was with Dr. Kubiak, so we weren’t going to risk checking our phones. As soon as we got out, we starting refreshing our phones.
I got Distinction, so that’s nice. Distinction is the highest grade you can get for Comps, followed by High Pass, Pass, and fail. Each grade reflects a numerical score out of 100, which is given by each department on the basis of the written and oral testing. The written grading is done blindly, so none of the professors know who they’re giving the grades. I’m not sure how oral grading works into the process, but the professors don’t know the identity of who gets Distinction, High Pass, etc, until after they’ve been assigned.
I think there were about 15-20 students who got Distinction. Congrats to my fellow Classics major Alex Gilham for getting distinction (double distinction with Philosophy, actually) and pledge brother Rob Dyer for distinction in Economics.
Getting Distinction is one half of Wabash’s requirement for graduation honors. The other is accumulative GPA. Thus, I should graduate with highest honors, summa cum laude.
