Baylor Grading System

[dragon2g]

I have been very fortunate to have been accepted by Baylor. I love everything about the school and its curriculum. However, I'm a little intimidated about its grading system (honors, high pass, pass, mar. pass, fail), which is basically letter grade system. Do you guys have any input about this? For those who have interviewed or been accepted or heard anything about Baylor, have u heard anything about the competitive or cooperative environment of the students? Also, can this grading system potentially be harmful later on for when I'm applying to residency? At other schools, since evrything is p/f, the first 2 years won't matter. At Baylor, it would be another way of evaluating me. What do you guys think?

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[FemalesCANTDriv]

my sister goes to baylor and she loves it... im not really sure what ure asking exactly... are u trying to find the school that is ranked in the top 10 that isn't going to be hard or competitive or what??? i mean, each class at any school is going to have gunners and going to have cool ppl (yes, this does imply that gunners are not cool). either way, you are gonna find ppl you get along with. as far as the school goes, if you do ure best u'll be fine. it's not like ure gonna fail but u prolly won't be ranked #1 either. plus u still have the whole honors high pass stuff once u get into ure rotations so the grading doesnt just hault after 1.5 years at baylor... don't worry, baylor is freakin awesome and ure lucky to have been accepted so early to such a bada$$ place.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I have been very fortunate to have been accepted by Baylor. I love everything about the school and its curriculum. However, I'm a little intimidated about its grading system (honors, high pass, pass, mar. pass, fail), which is basically letter grade system. Do you guys have any input about this? For those who have interviewed or been accepted or heard anything about Baylor, have u heard anything about the competitive or cooperative environment of the students? Also, can this grading system potentially be harmful later on for when I'm applying to residency? At other schools, since evrything is p/f, the first 2 years won't matter. At Baylor, it would be another way of evaluating me. What do you guys think?

congrats on the BCM acceptance...I'm still waiting to hear from them eek: might not be a good thing for me!)

What really matters for residency is your clinical evaluations. A good performance on Step 1 is much more important than preclinical grades since many schools do not use grades in this part of the curriculum. Remember that Baylor's Step 1 average is one of the highest in the country, a 236! With an average Step 1 that high, I would imagine that you should be able to score highly enough to offset any average performance in your preclinical coursework.

Again, to get competitive residency positions, you must shine on your clinical rotations. That is whole other object of discussion, but Baylor has such a good system of teaching hospitals at TMC.

 

[latinfridley]

I have been very fortunate to have been accepted by Baylor. I love everything about the school and its curriculum. However, I'm a little intimidated about its grading system (honors, high pass, pass, mar. pass, fail), which is basically letter grade system. Do you guys have any input about this? For those who have interviewed or been accepted or heard anything about Baylor, have u heard anything about the competitive or cooperative environment of the students? Also, can this grading system potentially be harmful later on for when I'm applying to residency? At other schools, since evrything is p/f, the first 2 years won't matter. At Baylor, it would be another way of evaluating me. What do you guys think?

I wouldn't worry bout it. There is no curve, so you are not really competing. Everyone in my class is extremely cooperative, probably more so than most other schools (so I hear). So, don't stress it. Also, if you take a look at the BCM match list you will see that baylor folks don't have a problem getting into a great residency (pre-clinical grades are pretty low on the totem pole in terms of usefulness by residency programs due to the different grading schemes betweeen schools).

 

[FemalesCANTDriv]

ya but there is a curve during rotations in a way... not everyone honors rotations... in fact, they have to break it down into honors, high pass, etc. by percentiles if im not mistaken???

 

[OwnageMobile]

ya but there is a curve during rotations in a way... not everyone honors rotations... in fact, they have to break it down into honors, high pass, etc. by percentiles if im not mistaken???

I think they are quite different animals, as quantummechanic suggested:

Again, to get competitive residency positions, you must shine on your clinical rotations. That is whole other object of discussion, but Baylor has such a good system of teaching hospitals at TMC.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

ya but there is a curve during rotations in a way... not everyone honors rotations... in fact, they have to break it down into honors, high pass, etc. by percentiles if im not mistaken???

its not just about Honors...your Dean's Letter (the official review of your academic performance at med school that gets sent to residency programs) will have subjective evaluations from each of your rotations. It is not simply a point of "Honoring" the rotation, as the grade is not everything that gets seen. More of it comes down to how well you got along with the evaluator, how you impressed him/her as a person and as a student, the perception of how hard you worked, and how well you got along with the medical team on that residency.

 

[OncoCaP]

The student I stayed with during my interview day at Baylor said that she had a professor who told her that if you are doing more than passing, you're spending too much time studying! Anyway, apparently there have been some "gunner classes" as Baylor where everyone was trying to outdo each other (one of my interview tour guides said her class was supposed to have been such a class), but even she seemed pretty happy, and Baylor must keep the unhappy med students locked up somewhere in the basement somewhere because I have never met one. If anything, I've been told that doing well in the pre-clinical classes is not really where the heavy lifting occurs (things get much tougher @ MS3).

 

[FemalesCANTDriv]

ya but from what i hear, you don't get bad things in your evals unless you REALLY REALLY piss someone off... mostly it's just like "team player" "hard worker" "insert other BS statement here that is mostly meaningless"... im not saying the grade is so important but really the comments can hurt you more than help you probably

 

[topdogg82]

well they might not curve the preclinical grades, but there is still some competition. when i interviewed, they told us about some gunners who got a review session by a prof cancelled b/c they felt it unfairly benefited those who didn't usually attend class like them.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

well they might not curve the preclinical grades, but there is still some competition. when i interviewed, they told us about some gunners who got a review session by a prof cancelled b/c they felt it unfairly benefited those who didn't usually attend class like them.

aren't lectures at Baylor videotaped though?

 

[MadameLULU]

I have been very fortunate to have been accepted by Baylor. I love everything about the school and its curriculum. However, I'm a little intimidated about its grading system (honors, high pass, pass, mar. pass, fail), which is basically letter grade system. Do you guys have any input about this? For those who have interviewed or been accepted or heard anything about Baylor, have u heard anything about the competitive or cooperative environment of the students? Also, can this grading system potentially be harmful later on for when I'm applying to residency? At other schools, since evrything is p/f, the first 2 years won't matter. At Baylor, it would be another way of evaluating me. What do you guys think?

I wouldn't equate baylor's grading system to letter grading as our P encompases ~20 pts (68-86.4), HP encompases 5 points(87.5-92.4) and Honors is 93-100. There's such a huge range for Pass that it is hard to discriminate the people that are marginally passing from those who almost high pass. As latinfridley suggested our class is very cooperative; people are willing to send out their condensed notes and review sheets before exams.

well they might not curve the preclinical grades, but there is still some competition. when i interviewed, they told us about some gunners who got a review session by a prof cancelled b/c they felt it unfairly benefited those who didn't usually attend class like them.

This happened in the current first year class, a class that is somewhat odd . It's unfortunate that one person had to ruin it for everyone for one exam, but the professor decided to hold review sessions (he doesn't have them during class time, so they aren't videotaped) for future tests.

 

[cutie20]

I applied to Baylor but haven't heard anything from them yet. I keep waiting and checking my email hoping to get an invite from them. For you guys that are already in, can you give me any advice? Should i send a letter of intent/update? Each time I call, the admissions lady reads out exactly what is on the online page and cannot tell me anything else.
Will appreciate your advice..

 

[NCF145]

aren't lectures at Baylor videotaped though?

yes, they are

 

[OncoCaP]

I applied to Baylor but haven't heard anything from them yet. I keep waiting and checking my email hoping to get an invite from them. For you guys that are already in, can you give me any advice? Should i send a letter of intent/update? Each time I call, the admissions lady reads out exactly what is on the online page and cannot tell me anything else.
Will appreciate your advice..

Well, I wouldn't stress out about it; that would accomplish nothing. Have you been invited to other schools? I would just focus on getting into the best school that I could (in terms of your personal preferences, priorities, and career plans).

I'm very happy that I was accepted to Baylor, but I'm confident I would have be very happy and be able to get a great medical education at other schools as well. Learn to make the most of the opportunities you have and you'll lead a happier and more productive life.

While one shouldn't ignore the quality of the school, medical school is a lot about what you put into it and your own personal performance, no matter where you go. There are great medical education opportunities at several schools.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

I have been very fortunate to have been accepted by Baylor. I love everything about the school and its curriculum. However, I'm a little intimidated about its grading system (honors, high pass, pass, mar. pass, fail), which is basically letter grade system. Do you guys have any input about this? For those who have interviewed or been accepted or heard anything about Baylor, have u heard anything about the competitive or cooperative environment of the students? Also, can this grading system potentially be harmful later on for when I'm applying to residency? At other schools, since evrything is p/f, the first 2 years won't matter. At Baylor, it would be another way of evaluating me. What do you guys think?

I wouldn't worry about the grading system hurting you in the future. I think that having "Baylor College of Medicine" on the top of the transcript is going to move it toward the top of some residency application piles IMHO more than having "pass" would move it down (by a LONG way). Many schools use some variation of this grading scale, and your USMLE will outweigh any grades anyhow.

At Baylor, it will be a very insignificant extra way of evaluating you. My concern is that if you are worried about getting a passing score, then I wonder why you'd apply to Baylor in the first place.

I'll give you the same offer I've given everybody else about Baylor. You can trade places with me anytime and I'll gladly pay both tuitions.

 

[OncoCaP]

...
I'll give you the same offer I've given everybody else about Baylor. You can trade places with me anytime and I'll gladly pay both tuitions.

Woah! Is it just the advantage in residency match that brings about such Baylor love or is there more to it? I get the impression you're doing pretty well at your school, so I'm a little surprised you would say that. Are you interested in a very competitive specialty?

 

[Wizard of Oz]

Woah! Is it just the advantage in residency match that brings about such Baylor love or is there more to it? I get the impression you're doing pretty well at your school, so I'm a little surprised you would say that. Are you interested in a very competitive specialty?

No, I'm just a little bit disgruntled with my school's curriculum, and I loved Baylor's when I visited. Even MY dean said Baylor's curriculum was her favorite. I also loved the tuition, the Texas Medical Center, and most things about Texas (lack of income tax, better schools, state pride) relative to the other panhandled state to the north.

I honestly don't understand how a person could turn down that school for the price that they're offering, though I'd have no argument for anybody who'd choose UTSW instead. I just took issue with something I read in the MSAR about Dallas' admissions that will not be repeated here lest I start another flamewar ala en fuego.

To bad my trade offer would be nullified by both houses. Not only would Baylor not take me, but my school only wants in-state people.

 

[OncoCaP]

No, I'm just a little bit disgruntled with my school's curriculum, and I loved Baylor's when I visited. Even MY dean said Baylor's curriculum was her favorite. I also loved the tuition, the Texas Medical Center, and most things about Texas (lack of income tax, better schools, state pride) relative to the other panhandled state to the north.

I honestly don't understand how a person could turn down that school for the price that they're offering, though I'd have no argument for anybody who'd choose UTSW instead. I just took issue with something I read in the MSAR about Dallas' admissions that will not be repeated here lest I start another flamewar ala en fuego.

To bad my trade offer would be nullified by both houses. Not only would Baylor not take me, but my school only wants in-state people.

Ah, yes. Those are factors that attracted me to Baylor vs other schools as well. We have it pretty nice here in Texas with great schools to choose from. Maybe you can do a residency in Texas ....