Average GPA at your school

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wolfram241

wolfram241

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What do you think the average GPA is at your school, or most schools for that matter? Common sense tells me it's somewhere between 2 and 2.5 considering the average of most classes is a C or C+.


Puts things in perspective for those worried about their 3.2. Then again, med school admissions is a whole other story.
 
inside_edition said:
it also explains your mdapplicant gpa..just kidding.
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Looking at your MDAPPs, why wouldn't AMCAS count undergrad research as BCMP, assuming if was done in a science department?
 
wolfram241 said:
Looking at your MDAPPs, why wouldn't AMCAS count undergrad research as BCMP, assuming if was done in a science department?
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because this is what my transcript says:
"UC 280 Undergrad Research A ", where UC stands for university course. i'm not sure how the amcas ppl would interpret this.

edit: it was done in a biomedical field.
 
Thats awesome, I thought I was the only one with a C in ecology
 
Dudes, I got a C in PE in high school because the gym teachers were...well, I won't call names. But yeah - there are certain things you don't talk about except under semi-anonymous monikers on SDN.
 
nice website.. gives some hope in regards to public school v. private!

and speaking of c's in useless subjects.. i got one in environmental science 😴
 
　
 
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I don't understand the discrepancy between private and public schools. I go to a private school, and I'm fairly certain if I went to a public school my GPA would be much higher. I go to a LAC, which I suppose is a little different. But, in general, is it true that public schools are easier, but there is a greater number of people not trying as hard which brings the GPA down?
 
　
 
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wolfram241 said:
I don't understand the discrepancy between private and public schools. I go to a private school, and I'm fairly certain if I went to a public school my GPA would be much higher. I go to a LAC, which I suppose is a little different. But, in general, is it true that public schools are easier, but there is a greater number of people not trying as hard which brings the GPA down?
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It really comes down to the school, and even more so the department. I don't know if you would be able to make a qualitative judgement on kids that go to public school are more likely to not as try as hard. I can see an arguement for it, as in kids who go to private schools are more likely to come from $$ and so have a higher expectation of them but it goes both ways. However there's just too many variables. It would depend on a lot of things, like what kinds of programs are offered, what programs they're in etc

I'd say there's just so many more people going to public schools that there's more likely a distribution of lower end grades, what would be more telling would be if we seen the drop-out rates between private and public.
 
wolfram241 said:
I don't understand the discrepancy between private and public schools. I go to a private school, and I'm fairly certain if I went to a public school my GPA would be much higher. I go to a LAC, which I suppose is a little different. But, in general, is it true that public schools are easier, but there is a greater number of people not trying as hard which brings the GPA down?
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myth
 
It really depends on the school. I assure you going from a public school to MIT would not bring your GPA up. On the other hand, I doubt transfering from Harvard to a public school would drop one's GPA. In the end, most of us will never transfer, so most of us will never know for sure. What makes the most sense is to do the best with what you have in where you are. In the end, the goal is to get into med school.
 
Now that I think about it I'd like to restate my hypothesis. I've gone to two schools: a small private one and a large private school. I suppose I equate the second school with public schools because I think of public schools as being similar. But my experience is that the LACs are very competitive, whereas I had no problem being near the top of my class at the bigger school. Maybe it's just my experience with a LAC that is throwing me off.
 
I don't think there is much difference in difficulty b/w a top private grade-inflated school like Harvard or Stanford and a tough public school like Michigan or Berkeley. But, for most public schools, despite the difference in avg. GPA's, it is harder to get better grades at the private school. The difference in the competitiveness, intelligence, and work ethic of the students is simply too large.<--I know I'm gonna get flamed for this comment. I'm not referring to any SDNers but those of you who attend state schools know approx. what percentage of your class are actually serious premeds.

Case in point, one of my friends showed me his orgo exam from UC Davis. To be perfectly honest, it was not much different than my orgo midterm at Cornell in terms of material and difficulty. So what was the difference? The mean on his midterm was a 39 while the mean on my orgo midterms is around a 65. I generally have to get approx. 80 to get an A- in the class. Are you telling me if I get an 80 at UC Davis when the mean is 39, I wouldn't at least get an A-? I would be considered an orgo god while at Cornell I barely got an A-.
 
BigRedPremed said:
I don't think there is much difference in difficulty b/w a top private grade-inflated school like Harvard or Stanford and a tough public school like Michigan or Berkeley. But, for most public schools, despite the difference in avg. GPA's, it is harder to get better grades at the private school. The difference in the competitiveness, intelligence, and work ethic of the students is simply too large.<--I know I'm gonna get flamed for this comment. I'm not referring to any SDNers but those of you who attend state schools know approx. what percentage of your class are actually serious premeds.

Case in point, one of my friends showed me his orgo exam from UC Davis. To be perfectly honest, it was not much different than my orgo midterm at Cornell in terms of material and difficulty. So what was the difference? The mean on his midterm was a 39 while the mean on my orgo midterms is around a 65. I generally have to get approx. 80 to get an A- in the class. Are you telling me if I get an 80 at UC Davis when the mean is 39, I wouldn't at least get an A-? I would be considered an orgo god while at Cornell I barely got an A-.
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At my public school in the with same orgo test, an 80 would land you exactly with a B- 🙂 Caveat, there are couple science profs who curve, I've only had 1 science class (cell bio) curved.
 
BigRedPremed said:
Case in point, one of my friends showed me his orgo exam from UC Davis. To be perfectly honest, it was not much different than my orgo midterm at Cornell in terms of material and difficulty. So what was the difference? The mean on his midterm was a 39 while the mean on my orgo midterms is around a 65. I generally have to get approx. 80 to get an A- in the class. Are you telling me if I get an 80 at UC Davis when the mean is 39, I wouldn't at least get an A-? I would be considered an orgo god while at Cornell I barely got an A-.
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I hope you are basing your theory on more than just this one example. I could pretty much say the reverse using another class and another exam. And is UC Davis and Cornell at the same competitive level? How about comparing Berkeley with Cornell?
 
wolfram241 said:
I don't understand the discrepancy between private and public schools. I go to a private school, and I'm fairly certain if I went to a public school my GPA would be much higher. I go to a LAC, which I suppose is a little different. But, in general, is it true that public schools are easier, but there is a greater number of people not trying as hard which brings the GPA down?
Click to expand...

a buddy of mine thought just like you. He went to MIT and always spoke poorly of Illinois. One summer he decided to come here and hang out, take a class, room with me. His 4.5/5.0 gpa at MIT was just barely able to get him a B in a literature class (and even though MIT isn't know for lit/comp, his SATs were way below average and his essay was what got him in the door). He had to bust his ass for that B at U of I, and ever since I haven't heard him bad mouth public schools.
 
BigRedPremed said:
I don't think there is much difference in difficulty b/w a top private grade-inflated school like Harvard or Stanford and a tough public school like Michigan or Berkeley. But, for most public schools, despite the difference in avg. GPA's, it is harder to get better grades at the private school. The difference in the competitiveness, intelligence, and work ethic of the students is simply too large.<--I know I'm gonna get flamed for this comment. I'm not referring to any SDNers but those of you who attend state schools know approx. what percentage of your class are actually serious premeds.

Case in point, one of my friends showed me his orgo exam from UC Davis. To be perfectly honest, it was not much different than my orgo midterm at Cornell in terms of material and difficulty. So what was the difference? The mean on his midterm was a 39 while the mean on my orgo midterms is around a 65. I generally have to get approx. 80 to get an A- in the class. Are you telling me if I get an 80 at UC Davis when the mean is 39, I wouldn't at least get an A-? I would be considered an orgo god while at Cornell I barely got an A-.
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Same buddy from MIT was tired of hearing me complain about public school orgo, so to shut me up he sent me a copy of his friends Orgo test .pdf, which was seriously much much easier than mine. I finished it up in 30 minutes, sent it to him, and got a raw score of like 95%.
 
39 average? our teachers would shoot themselves in the face or get really excited that they were genius test writers. at the private school i go to class avg is usually around 75 and anything less than an 87 or so avg will not even give you the slightest chance of an A-. they curve the class average to being a B- and especially in premed classes you get kicked in the nuts as far as curves go...the only class that had a nice enough curve was physics and that was only because there was 5% homework grade, 10% participation to factor in with ****ty test scores that were also curved so a 70 avg on tests and perfect homework and participation was good enough to land a B- right on the dot. sorry i just can' t get over that 39...i wanna be in that class.
 
Didn't we just have this argument like two days ago?
 
Julius Erving said:
a buddy of mine thought just like you. He went to MIT and always spoke poorly of Illinois. One summer he decided to come here and hang out, take a class, room with me. His 4.5/5.0 gpa at MIT was just barely able to get him a B in a literature class (and even though MIT isn't know for lit/comp, his SATs were way below average and his essay was what got him in the door). He had to bust his ass for that B at U of I, and ever since I haven't heard him bad mouth public schools.
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Dude - you're comparing a literature class to a guy who probably majored in a hard science. I'm not putting down public schools or lit classes, but a lit class and a sci class take two different types of skills. He sounds like a guy who probably didn't take a single lit class while he was at MIT - so I don't know why he'd think he'd fare better taking one at U of IL. If I went to CalTech, I wouldn't travel to UCSB and take a class on rhetoric while puffing my chest over the rigor of the beaver - that doesn't make sense. Now sci to sci and humanity to humanity - those are where the comparisons can be made. At any rate, the lit classes at MIT aren't famous, but they're not bad. The lit and writing departments are (unfortunately) kind of small.
 
average GPA: 3.27
average male GPA: 3.15
average female GPA: 3.36

(having a football team will do that to you)

I go to a small LAC which is just barely in the USNews top 100, and will probably fall out of it within the next year or two. however, we're definately inflated by the non-science departments... either way, I'd still say it's easier than a place like UofMichigan.
 
maestro1625 said:
average GPA: 3.27
average male GPA: 3.15
average female GPA: 3.36

(having a football team will do that to you)

I go to a small LAC which is just barely in the USNews top 100, and will probably fall out of it within the next year or two. however, we're definately inflated by the non-science departments... either way, I'd still say it's easier than a place like UofMichigan.
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got that right. i go to UMich ann arbor and in one of my previous semesters, i studied every single day, didn't go out once and still ended up with a 3.1 gpa. that was probably like my worst semester. the competition here is just so insanely high. it's like everybody's premed and they're all trying to go for the A's and the class is curved. this semester again, i'm planning to study every single day. plus at a big school like this, you don't expect racism. but if you act like you're from a different culture here, you'll know the difference b/c it is a lot more stressful if you experience racism when it's not expected compared to when you experience racism after expecting it.
 
at duke the avg premed applicant (about 100-120 apply each year) has a 3.50 and a 34 mcat. the avg overall gpa is around a 3.25-3.30. so as you can see, its hard to do well at duke, even though the grade inflation seems kind of high...

(logic being that people with 34 mcats from other schools tend to have higher than 3.50 gpa)
 
BunnyMonkey said:
I hope you are basing your theory on more than just this one example. I could pretty much say the reverse using another class and another exam. And is UC Davis and Cornell at the same competitive level? How about comparing Berkeley with Cornell?
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How about reading the first half of my post?
 
vooweevoo said:
At my public school in the with same orgo test, an 80 would land you exactly with a B- 🙂 Caveat, there are couple science profs who curve, I've only had 1 science class (cell bio) curved.
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Well, if the mean is a 39 AND they don't curve, then I'll admit that the class is harder than my Cornell class. If the mean is a 85, then yea 80 should be a B-.
 
inside_edition said:
got that right. i go to UMich ann arbor and in one of my previous semesters, i studied every single day, didn't go out once and still ended up with a 3.1 gpa. that was probably like my worst semester. the competition here is just so insanely high. it's like everybody's premed and they're all trying to go for the A's and the class is curved. this semester again, i'm planning to study every single day. plus at a big school like this, you don't expect racism. but if you act like you're from a different culture here, you'll know the difference b/c it is a lot more stressful if you experience racism when it's not expected compared to when you experience racism after expecting it.
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umm, that or you just couldn't cut it... there are just as many kids at UofM who never study and still dominate thier classes.

though if you actually expalined the "racism" it might sound like youre not just whining.
 
wolfram241 said:
What do you think the average GPA is at your school, or most schools for that matter? Common sense tells me it's somewhere between 2 and 2.5 considering the average of most classes is a C or C+.


Puts things in perspective for those worried about their 3.2. Then again, med school admissions is a whole other story.
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I bet my school's average is 2.6-3. Otherwise I dont know. Teachers here give out B's easily. Some also give out A's easily, but typically there arent a lot of A's.
 
Just look at GPA/MCAT correlations. Out of 47 applicants from Cornell who scored 35+ on the MCAT, only 11 (less than a quarter) had a GPA of 3.8 or above. Clearly there is a disconnect b/w GPA and MCAT. I suspect this is even worse at schools like MIT.
 
I've noticed junior colleges are way easier than my public school (UC Irvine). My sister & I both went to UCI and we both pulled a little less than a 3.0. She left after 2 years and finished up all science courses as JCs and got all A's. I took a Spanish class at a local JC and got an A, I did almost nothing out of class. 2 years before, I took Spanish at UCI (pass/not pass, woohoo) and got a C+ (pass).
 
maestro1625 said:
umm, that or you just couldn't cut it... there are just as many kids at UofM who never study and still dominate thier classes.

though if you actually expalined the "racism" it might sound like youre not just whining.
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that's the thing, it also depends on the classes you're taking. sometimes you can just get screwed over. also most doctors/medical students are not exceptionally bright. most of them usually work hard at getting through school.
 
inside_edition said:
but if you act like you're from a different culture here, you'll know the difference b/c it is a lot more stressful if you experience racism when it's not expected compared to when you experience racism after expecting it.
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Is that a coherent thought? if you speak like that in classes then that 3.1 from UM might be a godsend. Racism does not giveth B's. Also, I really doon't know what you're talking about bc everyone is from a different culture.
 
Ironhead2000 said:
Is that a coherent thought? if you speak like that in classes then that 3.1 from UM might be a godsend. Racism does not giveth B's. Also, I really doon't know what you're talking about bc everyone is from a different culture.
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i didn't get any sleep last night and didn't bother to read what i'm writing b/c it doesn't matter here.

i've gotta correct you on this. everybody is from a different race, not a different culture. it's something about a concept on 'marked' vs 'unmarked'.

i don't feel like explaining this right now, but my experiences are quite a bit different. some of my gsi's (graduate student instructor) were negatively commenting on my lifestyle, such as vegetarianism or the fact that i'm waiting until marriage to have sex. with the students, it's even worse.

it seems that people who are not white and nonwhites who aren't white washed generally seem to be friendlier to different people.

right now, my thoughts are incoherent but i've learned that in order to have a less stressful experience at michigan i have to expect that certain people won't be as responsive compared to other groups of people. overall, my experience here at umich has been extremely bad and unpleasant.
 
Rafa said:
Dude - you're comparing a literature class to a guy who probably majored in a hard science. I'm not putting down public schools or lit classes, but a lit class and a sci class take two different types of skills. He sounds like a guy who probably didn't take a single lit class while he was at MIT - so I don't know why he'd think he'd fare better taking one at U of IL. If I went to CalTech, I wouldn't travel to UCSB and take a class on rhetoric while puffing my chest over the rigor of the beaver - that doesn't make sense. Now sci to sci and humanity to humanity - those are where the comparisons can be made. At any rate, the lit classes at MIT aren't famous, but they're not bad. The lit and writing departments are (unfortunately) kind of small.
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well, he actually won awards for short story writing at my high school. And like i said, he essay got him in MIT with a 13XX SAT. Also took AP Comp and Lit in High school, creative writing, expos writing, along with required english and speech classes on enriched level getting straight A's, earning a GPA of 4.6/4.0. I know b/c we were tied for 1st in class and I got an A in all of these classes.


And he isn't hardcore science at MIT as far as i know. he has changed his major 3 times and i believe at one point he was nothing technical at all.. i remember giving him crap for going to a tech. school for liberal arts type degree....
 
&#12288;
 
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inside_edition said:
got that right. i go to UMich ann arbor and in one of my previous semesters, i studied every single day, didn't go out once and still ended up with a 3.1 gpa. that was probably like my worst semester. the competition here is just so insanely high. it's like everybody's premed and they're all trying to go for the A's and the class is curved. this semester again, i'm planning to study every single day. plus at a big school like this, you don't expect racism. but if you act like you're from a different culture here, you'll know the difference b/c it is a lot more stressful if you experience racism when it's not expected compared to when you experience racism after expecting it.
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U of M student here. What in the world are you talking about? Are you saying that one of the schools on the fore-front of affirmative action and racial equality is fostering a racist environment that is responsible for your bad grades? I also can't believe that you feel isolated because you are a vegetarian - my goodness have you been in East Quad? If anything, I feel isolated because I eat Red Meat in Ann Arbor. I also am waiting until marriage, but the key is to not go around telling everyone in a self-righteous manner. Have you tried any of the South Asian organizations on campus? I don't recommend surrounding yourself with only people like yourself, but it may be the support network you need. And FYI, I'm a biochem major and don't study every night because I'm involved in meaningful and worthwhile EC's, and manage to pull failry okay grades. People are competetive, but mostly just with themselves. Have you ever considered that maybe you're just not cut out for medicine?
 
inside_edition said:
i didn't get any sleep last night and didn't bother to read what i'm writing b/c it doesn't matter here.

i've gotta correct you on this. everybody is from a different race, not a different culture. it's something about a concept on 'marked' vs 'unmarked'.

i don't feel like explaining this right now, but my experiences are quite a bit different. some of my gsi's (graduate student instructor) were negatively commenting on my lifestyle, such as vegetarianism or the fact that i'm waiting until marriage to have sex. with the students, it's even worse.

it seems that people who are not white and nonwhites who aren't white washed generally seem to be friendlier to different people.

right now, my thoughts are incoherent but i've learned that in order to have a less stressful experience at michigan i have to expect that certain people won't be as responsive compared to other groups of people. overall, my experience here at umich has been extremely bad and unpleasant.
Click to expand...


honestly dude you sound like a freshman...

Transfer to Hope or Calvin then if you feel your "morality" stands out.
 
Julius Erving said:
well, he actually won awards for short story writing at my high school. And like i said, he essay got him in MIT with a 13XX SAT. Also took AP Comp and Lit in High school, creative writing, expos writing, along with required english and speech classes on enriched level getting straight A's, earning a GPA of 4.6/4.0. I know b/c we were tied for 1st in class and I got an A in all of these classes.


And he isn't hardcore science at MIT as far as i know. he has changed his major 3 times and i believe at one point he was nothing technical at all.. i remember giving him crap for going to a tech. school for liberal arts type degree....
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Oh wow. Interesting. What major did he finally settle on/graduate with? There are a few writing majors there, but they're mostly with a double-major in a science field (I think it's to save face). Sounds like his U of IL visit taught him a thing or two though...
 
I go to UMich and my grades are fine. I think you're just dumb.
 
_ian said:
I go to UMich and my grades are fine. I think you're just dumb.
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Hey, be firm but not condescending (or maybe be condescending but not cruel).
 
Rafa said:
Oh wow. Interesting. What major did he finally settle on/graduate with? There are a few writing majors there, but they're mostly with a double-major in a science field (I think it's to save face). Sounds like his U of IL visit taught him a thing or two though...
Click to expand...


He is in his last year. He switched his major from opposite ends of spectrum too much to double major like normal. Initially he was Computer Science (or something of that nature), then he switched to some more creative/liberal arts major, and now he is Management (Finance) with a minor in Economics.

And it could very well have been more psychological than actually difficulty level. I'm sure if going into the class he thought it would be a hard grade to get, he would have done better... but for the most part, I think private school attendees underestimate a public school education. Public may not be as good, but it is not as large of a gap as most think.
 
BigRedPremed said:
Just look at GPA/MCAT correlations. Out of 47 applicants from Cornell who scored 35+ on the MCAT, only 11 (less than a quarter) had a GPA of 3.8 or above. Clearly there is a disconnect b/w GPA and MCAT. I suspect this is even worse at schools like MIT.
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Exactly. Average GPA means nothing without putting the competition into consideration. A school with a median GPA of 3.2 can be inflated if the median student can't break a 23 on the MCAT. A school with a median GPA of 3.2 can be deflated if the median student breaks 30 on the MCAT. The average Cornell student probably can blow the top students of many other schools out of the water (Ok, bash me all you want now). GPA is such a useless number.
 
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