I see and hear a lot of people referring to how difficult it is to get a "first," how in some schools B-marks are still considered laudable and competitive, and how curves and mark deflation occur to suppress the number of students coming out of the school with A's.

I'm currently considering transferring to an undergraduate institution which suffers from severe mark deflation and I question how this will (or will not) influence my competitiveness in obtaining an LLM.

I have, unfortunately frequently heard that when two students face admissions committees with similar GPAs (say, one has a 3.7 and the other a 3.3 due to mark deflation) and the latter student goes to a comparatively more difficult school, the student with the higher GPA is more likely to be admitted. GPA is considered most important.

So what should we be aiming for? The highest GPA in the school that doesn't suffer from mark deflation, or a "better" school that gives out lower marks?

How do you handle it? Do you include information in your personal statement, rely on school rankings, kill yourself trying to get A's? I'd love to hear your thoughts.