Having completed two MSes and one PhD, I would humbly submit that a large part of the disconnect here is that fahimaz did a PhD, whereas you did an MS. Taking classes is not a major goal of a PhD program; in fact, the PI will want you to spend as little time in the classroom as possible because whenever you're in class, you ain't working in the lab! So classes are more tolerated as a necessary evil for a PhD. In contrast, for MS programs, especially if they're Plan B (non-thesis) degrees, classes are a significant part of the curriculum. Even if they're thesis MSes (which one of mine was and one wasn't), the focus on coursework in an MS program is still a lot heavier than it is for a PhD program.
Yes, I absolutely agree with this. I can easily see how the Ph.D program would be heavily weighted with research credits, especially since their coursework requirements typically aren't that much more than those of the MS students, if at all, thereby leaving them practically three years for resesarch alone.
Also, regardless of the difficulty of the grad school class itself, I think we all agree that the *grading* of grad school classes is easier. Again, you can't get through grad school with a "gentleman's C", and the profs know that. So if you do the bare minimum, you'll slide by with straight Bs and never fall below a 3.0. Finally, I agree with fahimaz that since grad GPAs tend to be inflated because of the grading policies, someone with a grad degree is expected to have a higher grad GPA, and nearly everyone does.
Ok, I see your point in terms of an admissions comparison. However, in terms of just raw difficulty of the class, I found it easier to get a B in undergrad than grad school in terms of hours put in. Those students that are doing the bare minimum in grad school to get that B are still working pretty hard and had they worked that hard in undergrad they would have at least ended up with the same B. Would you agree with this or is this just unique to my program?
Edit: On further reflection, I will agree that the B grades might be a little easier to obtain in grad school, since the curves at the bottom are pretty large, but the A- or A grades are just as hard, if not harder, in terms of raw time put in.
Getting back on topic, again, the biggest problem we have as an adcom when it comes to evaluating grad school grades is not even that different grad school programs have different coursework policies or course difficulties. It's that most applicants do not have a grad degree, because graduate coursework is not a prereq for medical school. So how do I compare you with a kid who's applying straight out of college? The only objective stats you both have in common are your MCAT scores and your UG GPAs, and *that* is why we look primarily at UG grades.
Yes, I am not contesting this at all. I realize that not only is there is a lot of variance in terms of grading, but when added to the fact that most students have not even gone to grad school, it makes it difficult to use as a tool from an admissions perspective, I completely get this. My earlier posts were just stating that although I see the logic in why most schools do not use grad gpa's in terms of admissions considerations, I have been recently surprised to find out that several schools do value them and even weigh them in just as heavily as the undergrad GPA. Now, although I know that those schools are in the minority in regards to this policy, I still think it would be useful to try and determine the few schools that do have this policy.