Just to clarify, as I've seen a few people ask, here's VUSM's grading stance:
Grading Policy for Vanderbilt University School of Medicine The Vanderbilt University School of Medicine has established a series of learning objectives for its educational program that can be clustered into the following categories: (1) knowledge, (2) skills in accessing information, (3) skills for the diagnosis and management of patient problems, (4) clinical reasoning skills, (5) skills in communication and interpersonal relations, (6) professional development and (7) professional values. The achievement of these educational objectives defines the successful development of the physician-in-training and occurs during the course of a student's progress in medical school.
All Years
Students will be evaluated on both acquisition of knowledge and skills as well as professional development and values. Appropriate professional values are expected of medical students throughout all stages of professional training. In the category of professional values, students will be evaluated in each course as meeting standards, cause for some concern, or cause for major concern. Any student causing any level of concern should be promptly identified and brought to the attention of the Associate Dean for Students so that counseling can be initiated. A student for whom major concern persists will be given a failing grade (F) for the course without regard to performance in other categories. Such students are subject to dismissal. If some concern is noted in more than one course and persists after counseling, this student will be automatically reviewed by the promotions committee and will be subject to dismissal.
A grade of Incomplete is to be used only to reflect that work has not been completed and should not be used when work has been completed, but at an unsatisfactory level and requiring remediation.
VMS 1 Final grades for all courses in VMS1 will be Pass (P), Pass* (P*), or Fail (F). A P grade is to be given to students for performance that is completely satisfactory in all aspects of course work. A grade of P* will be given to students whose performance is marginal because of important deficiencies in some aspects of course work. A student with two or more P* grades will receive special review by the Promotion Committee, which may recommend that the student undertake remedial activities. The P* grade may be applicable for academic credit in an individual course only after approval by the student's Promotion Committee and endorsement by the Executive Faculty as reviewed in light of the student's complete record for the year. Upon receiving such approval, the P* grade will be recorded on the official transcript as a P. In the absence of such approval, the P* grade will be recorded on the official transcript as an F. An F grade is given for unsatisfactory work resulting in failure. A student with one or more F grades will receive special review by the Promotion Committee. Such a student will be required to undertake remedial activities or be subject to dismissal. An F grade will remain on the student's official transcript along with the grade achieved in remediation.
VMS 2 Final grades for all courses in VMS2 will be Honors (H), Pass (P), Pass* (P*), or Fail (F). An H grade for a course is to be given to students for superior performance in all aspects of the course. A student must meet standards in all categories of professional values to be given an H grade. Honors grades will be awarded according to criteria established by individual course directors, such that approximately 25% of a class would receive an honors grade.Other grades are defined as for VMS1.
VMS 3 & 4
Faculty and House Staff Assessments of Students. Faculty and house staff providing primary evaluations of students will not recommend letter grades. The evaluation provided by faculty and house staff will provide (1) assessments of the frequency with which each student demonstrates behavior in the various categories subject to evaluation, (2) narrative comments, and (3) an evaluation of suitability for appointment to residency on the service.
Determining Clerkship Grades. Students will receive a grade for each category of learning objectives and a final course grade. For the categories other than Values, discussed above, and for the final grade, each student will be graded Honors (H), High Pass (HP), Pass (P), Pass* (P*), or Fail (F).
Determining Grades for Categories: An H grade will be given to students demonstrating superior achievement in a category. A HP grade will be given to students demonstrating better than average, but not superior achievement in a category. A P grade will be given to students demonstrating completely satisfactory performance in a category. A grade of P* will be given to students whose achievement in a category is marginal. An F grade will be given for unsatisfactory achievement in a category. A student receiving an F in any category must receive an F for the clerkship.
Determining Clerkship Grades:
An H grade will be given to students for superior or outstanding achievement in all of the categories. Ordinarily, honors grades will be given to no more than 25% of a class. A HP grade will be given to students with superior achievement in several, but not all categories. A P grade will be given to students who demonstrate satisfactory achievement in all categories.A grade of P* will be given to students whose performance is marginal because of important deficiencies in some aspects of course work. The P* grade may be applicable for academic credit in an individual course only after approval by the student's Promotion Committee and endorsement by the Executive Faculty as reviewed in light of the student's complete record for the year. Upon receiving such approval, the P* grade will be recorded on the official transcript as a P. In the absence of such approval, the P* grade will be recorded on the official transcript as an F. An F grade is given for unsatisfactory work resulting in failure. A student receiving an F in any individual category must receive an F for the clerkship. Similarly, a student with concerns in the area of Professional Values is subject to receiving an F grade based on the criteria defined above.
Requirements for Satisfactory Progress in the Clinical Years. Promotion in the clinical years requires not only satisfactory performance in each clerkship, but also satisfactory achievement in each of the six categories of learning objectives and in the area of professional values. An F or P* grade in a course will lead to special review by the Promotions Committee. A P* grade in the same category in more than two courses will also lead to special review by the Promotions Committee. Promotion Committees may require students with F or P* grades in categories or courses to undertake special remedial activities. Students with an F in one clerkship, P* s in two clerkships, or P* s in the same category in three clerkships are subject to dismissal after review by the Promotion Committee. The criteria for professional values described above are also applicable in the clinical years.
Nice! You're much closer than I am. Is Vandy driving distance for you?
. I can give a tour of the ugrad campus when you come interview if you like. GL guys 
