NYU instructor William Miller says the curve makes for a more competitive classroom.

By Dan Fitzgerald

Smaller class sizes at NYU in Prague this semester mean fewer available As for business students.

All courses in the Leonard N. Stern School of Business grade according to guidelines known as the Stern Curve: Only about 25% of students will receive As, 40% will receive Bs, the rest will receive Cs or lower.

Students have mixed feelings about the situation. “If you are talking about learning stuff, advantage. If you are talking about grades, disadvantage,” says Shawn Barrenechea, a sophomore studying finance and international business.

At Stern courses in New York, larger classes mean more students fall into these percentage brackets. In Prague, Stern students enjoy a more intimate learning setting but must duke it out, academically.

In sophomore Max Schnaper’s Management and Organizational Analysis course, eight students compete with the same intensity as the 60 students enrolled in the same course in Manhattan.

William Miller, who teaches Management and Organizational Analysis in Prague, says the curve is difficult to apply in small classes. Miller says instructors must create assignments that justify distributing grades across the curve. “[The Stern Curve] forces you to keep the assignments challenging for students and require a high degree of effort and focus,” he says.

The Stern Curve can create an unhealthy competitive atmosphere, Miller says. He promotes group work and collaboration to fight the resulting individualism.

“However, if a class is exceptionally strong in the quality of work,” he says, “I can adjust the curve to reflect that quality and even give grades outside the curve if I feel I can justify it.”