Credits per semester and GPA distribution

[martin_blckrs]

I have two questions:
1. What is the average number of credits one takes per semester in Grad school in the US? To be more precise: how many courses does one usually take per semester and how many hours of lectures/tutorials does it correspond to weekly?

2. What is the distribution of grades in graduate school? I mean, how many percent of students get an A, how many get a B,...

I'm mostly interested how this looks like in top schools (and theoretical physics if it has any significance).
Thanks

 

[diazona]

My grad school is not quite "top" but for what it's worth, here's what I know: for the first two years, 3-4 classes at a time at 3 hours/week per class. After that, you spend most of your time doing research, and only taking an occasional class when an interesting one comes up. As for grade distribution... maybe 30-50% A's, and the rest B's, though that's just my rough impression as a student. I've often been told that the specific grades you get aren't a big deal, though, since people don't often look at a graduate transcript in too much detail.

 

[Animastryfe]

I've often been told that the specific grades you get aren't a big deal, though, since people don't often look at a graduate transcript in too much detail.

I've also heard on this forum that grade distributions in grad school are clumped together; that is, most student will get A's and B's, because the C students would have dropped out before.