Any graduate students out there applying? Do you think your grades are inflated?

[toomuch]

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I am currently working on a Masters in a Bio Eng program and hope to enter medical school next fall. My research is basically all biophysics and I mostly take courses that relate to membrane electrophysiology. I've taken the same physiology courses as the medical students at my school and these are considered my graduate courses. I thought my courses were hard, but I did well in them because I have extra incentive and am trying to balance off a lower undergrad gpa. I don't feel that my grades are inflated. Is there anyone else that has this opinion or our medical school classes easier than undergrad.

Also, if you are a graduate student, where are you in the process?

I took the August MCAT and sent out most of my secondaries,but no word yet because my recommendation letters were not sent out until last Friday.

tm

 

[meanderson]

Unfortunately, it's not really relevant whether or not people in master's programs think their grades are inflated. Adcom's tend to view them that way, or in some cases hardly consider them at all when considering gpa.

That's NOT to say that getting an MPH or master's degree in biomedical science is of no value however. It can add a lot to an application in some situations. But it adds a lot to an application in a different way than making high grades in a post-bacc would. If you have a 2.9 science ugrad gpa don't enroll in a master's program and expect to make things right as far as gpa goes. A person in that situation needs to enroll in a post-bacc and put up a 3.9 in undergrudate upper level classes.

Master's degrees are perfect for applicants who want to add something extra to their application.....not try to bolster a poor undergrad gpa.

 

[toomuch]

I'm lookin' for graduate students who are in the process or have gone through it.

 

[meanderson]

I know, but I'm still not aware of why it makes a difference if they are or are not grad students? Yes, Grad students are in a better position to comment on whether they thought their grad classes were graded/curved hard, but they are not in a better position to comment on how adcoms percieve grad gpas.

And if you look through the sdn archives, the overwhelming message is that while graduate degrees are often seen as a significant advantage when applying depending on the school, they play a limited role in bringing up low ugrad grades. For that problem ding well in a post-bacc is the answer.....

 

[pathdr2b]

I completed an MS in Chemistry at UNC-Chapel Hill and don't in ANY way feel my grades are inflated. Unfortunately, as someone mentioned, some adcoms/graduate schools do and Johns Hopkins is the school with which I have expereince in this regard. Other schools including Harvard, UPenn, UCSF, Duke and many others did not see my grades that way.

Originally posted by meanderson
Master's degrees are perfect for applicants who want to add something extra to their application.....not try to bolster a poor undergrad gpa.

With an undergraduate GPA BELOW 2.5, there's no doubt in my mind that a MS was somewhere in my future if I planned to get accepted to med school (which I did a few years back to a tier 3 MD/PhD program).
So, the bottom line is that an MS degree like most things, is what you make it. What people often forget is that MS degrees holders have a statistically higher acceptance rate to medical school and for engineers, the rate is even higher. Good Luck!!!

 

[meanderson]

alleria, I'm aware of that now and should have stated my response differently. I apologize to the OP.

I still believe it is obvious, however, that a 3.0 ugpa combined with 2 years of 3.9 pbacc work is far superior than a 3.0 ugpa combined with a masters degree 3.9 gpa........as fas as the academic standards side of admissions go.

 

[EvoDevo]

Umm, I know that the grades at MY school certainly aren't inflated. I'm finishing a MS in Genetics at a cancer research center/med school, and I worked harder for an A in these classes than I ever did for undergrad science courses.

That said, not all classes are equal. If you are doing hardcore science stuff, especially taking classes with med students (and at my school, you can take a LOT of med school classes as a graduate student), then I believe it might make a difference to adcoms.

As far as MPH classes and the like, it really depends. I think that the "softer" the degree, the more likely that the standards are to be a little looser.

Of course, that's complete speculation on my part, so take it with a grain of salt.

Evo

 

[meanderson]

I think it all just depends on the school. As someone else posted in another thread, the average garduate gpa of all applicants applying is a 3.6+. For matriculants it's a 3.8. Of course this doesn't say anything about individual schools grad programs, but the data is clear that grad gpas of people applying to med school are higher than ugrad gpas. Is it true at every school? Of course not, but is it likely that the University of Pittsburgh medical school will realize that Cincinatti's MPG program is graded on a little harder curve than Ohio State's? I doubt it.....

then again, I would would probably flunk out of any grad school work completely 🙂 I'm not exactly a fan of ther lab.

 

[CD]

I'm currently a second year graduate student in organic chemistry (and loving it!!) There is NO WAY the grades are inflated at my institution. In my advanced organic class (CH 630, 631, and 632) there were only four of us who made it through the year....the other students gave up and quit...and there were ALL CHEMISTRY GRADUATE STUDENTS! Those grades were hard earned! This year I'm taking a biochemistry class that is made up of part undergrads and part graduate students. The really "stinky" thing is that the graduate students are placed on a separate curve independent of the undergrads.....and that is NOT in the graduate students best interest. We have to score about 10 pts higher on tests just to get the same grade as the undergrads...it doesn't seem fair.😕 So far I'm holding my own....but it's tough to see undergrads with scores on tests BELOW mine but who have a higher grade on that same test. Grade inflation may exist in some places....but not where I am! Fortunately, our state school is aware of the difficulty of my curriculum. I called a few years ago and asked about their policy....they recognized the extra effort that is required to get "exceptional" grades in my grad school.

 

[snapdad]

I just completed an MBA in health administration program in May. Although I don't think there was grade inflation per se, the curve *was* different because a B average was the minimum passing average. When you're in a very small class (like mine), and you get a couple of hotshots who have a bunch of years of field experience in, say, marketing, most of the rest of the class clusters around the A-/B+ range. While this might constitute "grade inflation" (because nobody gets below a B) you can't really compare it to undergrad grades because it's *very* tough to break out of this A-/B+ range, even if you do very well. That's why my GPA for grad school was 3.4, while my undergrad was 3.7.

Having said that, I don't think the grad GPA is really being looked at much by schools. They seem much more interested in my undergrad and post-bacc GPAs; the reaction to the health MBA just seems to be that it makes me "well-rounded" and knowledgeable about health policy, etc. (and it does seem to be helping my application in that sense). As another poster mentioned, this is probably because it's a "soft" degree, and if it were hard science I'm sure the GPA would be looked at more closely.

 

[toomuch]

bump

 

[ornis4]

I just started a Master's program at a medical school, specifically geared towards an MS in Basic Medical Sciences...this entire first year, I take virtually the same Biochem and Physiology classes that the med students get, but spread over a longer time frame. I completed my undergrad last year, and am planning on taking the MCAT for the first time in April, and applying for '05. This is the first time I've ever posted here by the way...

You guys are telling me my performance in a post-bacc program would have been more valuable to adcom's than my performance here? Even though this program I'm in is 100% relevent to med school? I'm confused...

--Josh

 

[Adcadet]

I have no idea what adcoms thought. All I know is that being able to talk about how my MPH would help me seemed important. But then again, the same was true for my basic science research.

 

[AndyDufrane]

Hi I, the grad school thing didn't work right away, I had an undergrad gpa of 2.93 from a non-name NY state college, but then enrolled in a grad program in Biomedical Sciences in Univ at Buffalo, got a 30 on the MCAT, and that still wasn't good enough, so the following year, I did a year in AmeriCorp and got my butt into a US med school, so for me, grad school didn't work right away, but I think it must have helped at some level

 

[trauma_junky]

Depends on the institution. I'm graduating with a masters in bio in Dec. and I have an interview at TAMU on thursday and one at UTSA soon. I've talked to many adcoms, some think Grad school is harder than undergrad and others think it is inflated. I think their view of grad school comes from the programs offered at their institution or previous instituitons they were from. I've busted my ass in my classess and done well.

For some reason this tends to be a touchy subject on SDN. If you have more questions, PM me.

 

[G0S2]

I am in my fifth year of grad school in molecular bio with an M.S. in 2001. Medical schools seem to look at my grades and classes as an indication of future success in med school courses. The GPA doesn't seem to matter as much as getting through the grad curriculum of biochem and genetics. I have been accepted and I am now deciding whether to ditch and go or to hold on for a year or two to complete the doctoral degree.

 

[LordoftheFries]

hey ornis, what program is you in?

 

[LordoftheFries]

hey ornis, what program is you in?

 

[VienneseWaltz]

Originally posted by snapdad
While this might constitute "grade inflation" (because nobody gets below a B) you can't really compare it to undergrad grades because it's *very* tough to break out of this A-/B+ range, even if you do very well.

This sums it up right here. People in graduate programs are there because they have high ability in that discipline, so of course their grades are going to be "good," i.e., B or better. But the highest grades are almost impossible to get. I definitely did not feel that my grades were inflated.

I had a different experience from pathdr2b in that most of the schools she listed ditched me outright, whereas I'm at Hopkins now. I don't think anyone cared about my graduate GPA (I have an MA in health economics), but my degree was of great interest to adcoms and did nothing but help me in the process.

This has been discussed elsewhere, but I find that medical school classes are harder than undergrad but easier than grad (in that few things in medical school are conceptually difficult--the challenge is in the volume of info).

 

[Adcadet]

Originally posted by VienneseWaltz

This has been discussed elsewhere, but I find that medical school classes are harder than undergrad but easier than grad (in that few things in medical school are conceptually difficult--the challenge is in the volume of info).

The material was harder in my MPH program in that you really had to understand what you were learning. So far in med school I only have to memorize.

 

[snapdad]

Originally posted by VienneseWaltz
I don't think anyone cared about my graduate GPA (I have an MA in health economics), but my degree was of great interest to adcoms and did nothing but help me in the process.

Exactly the same experience I'm having. I get a lot of interest in the fact that I have an MBA (especially a health MBA), but not one interviewer has mentioned my graduate GPA. The reaction has been consistently positive, and the conversation always moves toward health policy, possible career paths for an MD/MBA, etc. I feel like it's only helped.