Do good colleges and BS/MD's care about upward trends?

[ComputerGuy365]

What if person A had a 4.0 gpa freshman year but went down to 3.75 by Junior year?
Person B had a 3.5 gpa freshman year but the upward trend brought it up to like a 3.7.

Assuming they all had the same EC's, awards etc what would colleges likely choose?

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[DrHart]

No ECs are ever exactly the same. Nor are essays/personal statements.

 

[ComputerGuy365]

No ECs are ever exactly the same. Nor are essays/personal statements.

Let's say they both went to the same school, and took the same clubs/EC's. Say Student B had an amazing Essay, and Student A had an above average one.

 

[DrHart]

Let's say they both went to the same school, and took the same clubs/EC's. Say Student B had an amazing Essay, and Student A had an above average one.

Background, SES, test scores, courses taken.... the list goes on and on

 

[ComputerGuy365]

Background, SES, test scores, courses taken.... the list goes on and on

I give up xD

 

[efle]

@DrHart ceteris paribus is a legit grounds. You must be a ton of fun in phil classes, pointing out how thought experiments won't really occur instead of actually examining their implications

@ComputerGuy365 Surely you already know the answer. Ceteris paribus, of course an upward trend is better than a downward one. But for many BS/MD programs they expect a constant near-4.0 throughout high school, plus top 1-2%ile test scores and a lot of exposure to medicine.

Truthfully, GPA matters very little in college admissions, and it is just there to show that you do your homework and get it turned in on time. Since high schools have such a massive range of rigor it's your test scores that will be 80% of their impression of your academic abilities.

 

[DrHart]

@DrHart ceteris paribus is a legit grounds. You must be a ton of fun in phil classes, pointing out how thought experiments won't really occur instead of actually examining their implications

@ComputerGuy365 Surely you already know the answer. Ceteris paribus, of course an upward trend is better than a downward one. But for many BS/MD programs they expect a constant near-4.0 throughout high school, plus top 1-2%ile test scores and a lot of exposure to medicine.

Truthfully, GPA matters very little in college admissions, and it is just there to show that you do your homework and get it turned in on time. Since high schools have such a massive range of rigor it's your test scores that will be 80% of their impression of your academic abilities.

Implications of high school GPA trend aren't worth examining... like you said, they matter little. I also wouldn't generalize BS/MD programs because they vary widely. The bottom line is that there are such a wide variety of factors that go into college admissions because there are so few standardizing opportunities (ACT and SAT are pretty much it).

For example in my school, kids from the top 20% of the class got accepted to BS/MD programs. No where near perfect grades, little exposure to medicine, ACT scores below the 90th percentile. If the question is as simple as "does an upward trend look good," then the answer is yes (of course it looks good). But you can't give practical advice from a "ceteris paribus thought experiment" because all things are never equal.

 

[ComputerGuy365]

I see. Thanks

 

[efle]

Implications of high school GPA trend aren't worth examining... like you said, they matter little. I also wouldn't generalize BS/MD programs because they vary widely. The bottom line is that there are such a wide variety of factors that go into college admissions because there are so few standardizing opportunities (ACT and SAT are pretty much it).

For example in my school, kids from the top 20% of the class got accepted to BS/MD programs. No where near perfect grades, little exposure to medicine, ACT scores below the 90th percentile. If the question is as simple as "does an upward trend look good," then the answer is yes (of course it looks good). But you can't give practical advice from a "ceteris paribus thought experiment" because all things are never equal.

You've done it again. Agreed, things are never identical. That doesn't make it impossible to answer "is an upward trend better than a downward one".

 

[ComputerGuy365]

You've done it again. Agreed, things are never identical. That doesn't make it impossible to answer "is an upward trend better than a downward one".

Yeah efle, but I think Hart meant that since things aren't identical, you can't properly judge because the admissions to a BS/MD program are also based on other things than your GPA.

And, the question was about which person has a higher chance of admission, because an upward trend looks obviously good.

 

[justadream]

Instead of thinking about "upward trends", you should be thinking about having a steady trend of all A's.

Steady trend of A's is always greater than an upward trend.

 

[efle]

Instead of thinking about "upward trends", you should be thinking about having a steady trend of all A's.

Steady trend of A's is always greater than an upward trend.

Hah, arguable at prestigious places that reward "reinvention" like Columbia. A rough semester would help you talk about struggling and perseverance too...may not be a net negative to get rough grades freshman year and excel thereafter.

 

[Dreamstoo]

At top schools it can be an issue applying with a downward trend.