Drawbacks of median  

(i) Median may not be representative of a series in many cases. This is specially so when there are wide variations between the values of different items. For example, if the marks obtained by eleven students are respectively 15, 16, 16, 18, 18, 2Q, 54, 60, 60, 60and 72 the median marks would be 20. Clearly the average is not representative of the series.           

(ii) It is not suitable for further algebraic treatment. For example we cannot find out the total values of the items if we know their number and median.                 

(iii) When median has to be calculated in continuous series it requires interpolation. The assumption of the interpolation, that all the frequencies of the class-interval are uniformly spread over the values in the class interval, may not be actually true. In most cases it will not be true.           

(iv) If big or small items in a series are to receive greater importance median would be an unsuitable average. Median ignores the values of extreme items.           

(v) Median is more likely to be affected by the fluctuations of sampling than the arithmetic average.      

(vi) The arrangement of items in ascending order is sometimes very tedious.