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Do any of the podiatry schools curve test grades?
krabmas said:Do any of the podiatry schools curve test grades?
dpmgrad said:Amongst all of the Podiatry schools, only DMU and Temple utilizes a grading system based on 100% scale. All of the remaining school utilizes the standard 4.0 GPA system (A, B, C, etc...). Sometimes, I feel that Temple and DMU grading system causes the students to be more competitive in class because there is a difference between an 81 and 89 in a course. Whereas, in schools with the A, B, C, etc.. grading system, both 81 and 89 would have resulted a B in the course. I am curious about the opinions of the other students on this subject matter.
dpmgrad said:Amongst all of the Podiatry schools, only DMU and Temple utilizes a grading system based on 100% scale. All of the remaining school utilizes the standard 4.0 GPA system (A, B, C, etc...). Sometimes, I feel that Temple and DMU grading system causes the students to be more competitive in class because there is a difference between an 81 and 89 in a course. Whereas, in schools with the A, B, C, etc.. grading system, both 81 and 89 would have resulted a B in the course. I am curious about the opinions of the other students on this subject matter.
whiskers said:"I am not talking about student's other methods of "studying"."
Unfortunately, from my observations, these methods of studying are not an alternative, but rather a primary method of study?
I guess it doesn't help when Q's from old exams are recycled word-for-word.
I compare it to athletics and steroids.
We can all agree that athletes that use steroids to enhance their abilities are hacks and cheats.... They aren't tolerated.
But "medical" students that memorize old test Q's that ARE recycled are "resourceful and seeminly rewarded with "high yield, low effort" points.
Curving across the board is one thing with all other factors are equal, but when you have students that have literally hundreds of pages of old anatomy/physio etc pages of test Q's..... While other students DON'T.... The curve is already set in my opinion and the cards are considerably stacked in favor of the student(s) with the most "resources."
It is down right SHAMEFUL in my personal opinion and the schools should recognize and correct it.
It is no wonder to me why our education is seen as inferior to many MD/DO medical students....
I'm not here to bash the profession; instead I am here to share my personal experiences as a podiatry student and a reality that I am very ASHAMED of.
whiskers said:It is down right SHAMEFUL in my personal opinion and the schools should recognize and correct it.
It is no wonder to me why our education is seen as inferior to many MD/DO medical students....
I'm not here to bash the profession; instead I am here to share my personal experiences as a podiatry student and a reality that I am very ASHAMED of.
whiskers said:Just because the dental school down the street hands out packages to EVERY student doesn't invalidate my point...
I honestly have to wonder about any profession that allows some of their trainees to blow past the "grading scale weeder-outer" with A's by studying old tests.
scpod said:You don't live in Utopia; you live in the real world. In the real world, that's the way things work. It's not just in professional schools, rather it's in every single institution of learning in the world. In nearly every clas I've ever had, at any level, there are people with copies of old tests. The only time that doesn't happen is if it is a new professors first class, or those few professors who don't let students keep their tests.
When you talk about "any profession", you are actually talking about every single profession on the face of the Earth. You are talking about every school and every learning experience. Why are you so worried about what everyone else is doing? Study hard, get A grades the "right" way and be proud of what you accomplished, instead of whining about everyone else. If you make all A's in pod school, knock out your boards, and impress the hell out of the people you meet during your residency, what difference does it make what other people do? You can be the one to change everyone's mindset about podiatrists by being a leading example. That's a hell of a lot better thing to do than sit around and whine about what everybody else is doing. What are you accomplishing when you do that?
whiskers said:Actually, in the real world, most people are busting their rears at under-paid jobs and if they don't perform, they get canned.... In the real world most people don't have the opportunity to become doctors of anything. But I can understand where you are coming from....
The institutions can't force morality on anyone, but they can police their own standards.
Willcott said:In a small, safari utopia (aka the zoo), snow white Siberian tigers are revered for their roar, and marveled at for their majesty; but, in the "real-world," they're getting poached and skinned. In the "real-world," felis domestica is so successful that they get virtually their own aisle in the grocery store. Maybe the ability to "purr" at humans is a social evolutionary adaptation that has meant their survival. If you try rubbing your whiskers on a couple of legs, rather than biting the neck of your handler, you just might be the resourceful cat that those residency directors are looking for.
krabmas said:DMU grades on a B-, B, B+ system (what do these convert to in the 4.0 scale?) and without curves.
NYCPM grades on a B-(2.7), B(3.0), B+(3.3) system without curves.
Barry does straight grades 80-89 = B (no pluses no minuses), and I am guessing a 4.0 = A, 3.0 = B... which would make for very large jumps in GPAs?
krabmas said:Wow, I can't believe that my simple little questioned turned into such a hot topic.
I think this is a great discussion we are having, but I am still really curious about which schools use bell curves and which do not and what grading scale is used for letter grade conversions and 4.0 grading.
So far it seems that:
DMU grades on a B-, B, B+ system (what do these convert to in the 4.0 scale?) and without curves.
NYCPM grades on a B-(2.7), B(3.0), B+(3.3) system without curves.
Barry does straight grades 80-89 = B (no pluses no minuses), and I am guessing a 4.0 = A, 3.0 = B... which would make for very large jumps in GPAs?
I think that is all we have for now.
If you go to Scholl, OCPM, Cali, Temple, or Arizona please let me know what they do. Thanks.
There is a reason I am looking for all this info. Let me know what you think... Would it be better if all the pod schools used the same grading system?
dpmgrad said:As mentioned in an earlier post in this thread, Temple and DMU DO NOT use letter grading systems. Both schools use a numerical scale for grades (based on 100% scale). For example, if the average of the course was 83, you get an 83 listed on your transcript. It does not get translated to any letters. Since the course grade is based on the actual average of test scores, etc..., course grades at Temple and DMU CAN NOT be based on a bell curve. I know that the remaining schools, except for Arizona uses a letter grading system (whether it uses a plus or minus depends on the school). This is based on the transcripts that my residency program gets for the residency applicants from the various schools. Since Arizona has not graduated any students or have any students started externships yet, I have not seen their transcripts.
krabmas said:So then do DMU or Temple convert to a 4.0 scale?
krabmas said:So then do DMU or Temple convert to a 4.0 scale?
scpod said:I was told that at DMU you have to have 70% or better in didactic courses to pass-- that's all, no letter grades. Clinical rotations are pass/fail. I haven't heard about Temple, but would assume they are the same way based on the previous post. Of course, someone who actually goes there might be able to give you better information.
dpmgrad said:As a Temple grad, I can tell you that Temple is similar to DMU in that you need to have 70% or better to pass the didactic courses. Similar to DMU, clinical rotations are pass/fail system. To my knowledge, Temple has not changed their grading system based on the transcripts that we get from Temple students for residency and externship process.
krabmas said:Since you see residency applications....
There are some programs that require minimum GPAs on a 4.0 scale - do those programs convert the Temple and DMU grades?
dpmgrad said:I can not speak for other programs, but for my program, we do set a minimum average that would correlate to the corresponding minimum GPA on a 4.0 scale. Since my program is in Philadelphia, most programs in the Philadelphia are used to the average out of a 100% scale due to large amount of Temple students applying to the local area program.
krabmas said:would an 88% be a 3.3 or a 3.5?
you're welcomekrabmas said:thanks for all the answers!