Curious dillema

[Altruisticism]

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Do admission committees treat every body equally when it comes to GPA?

Math or Physics major with a cGPA of 3.4/3.5 and an sGPA of 3.7+
VS.
Biology major with a cGPA of 3.7+ and an sGPA of 3.7+

Would they be treated equally when it comes to admission into medical school?

*Assuming all EC's are equal and would suffice to a standard medical school*

 

[NickNaylor]

Most schools take into account the "rigor" of your academic program, whatever that means.

 

[FIREitUP]

Do admission committees treat every body equally when it comes to GPA?

Math or Physics major with a cGPA of 3.4/3.5 and an sGPA of 3.7+
VS.
Biology major with a cGPA of 3.7+ and an sGPA of 3.7+

Would they be treated equally when it comes to admission into medical school?

*Assuming all EC's are equal and would suffice to a standard medical school*

To be honest, while they do factor in the rigor of the courseload to a degree, on paper it is glaringly obviously who looks better. I would prefer to be the Bio major.

 

[Overmjnd]

i think theres a bigger gap between majors than simply .1. The typical conversation about this is chemical engineering guy with 3.4 vs. psychology major with 3.55.

I think in real life liberal arts teachers are wayyyy too lenient. I think the real story is more like 3.4 vs. 3.8 GPA.

case in point: I took one easy class this semester, art history related. Studied exactly 3 hours for the midterm, got a 98%. Compare that to the 2 weeks of non-stop, 10 hour days for my biochemistry test, which I still didn't do that great on.

 

[gravitywave]

^ ^ maybe you're just better at art history?

 

[orthomyxo]

The truth is that there will always be applicants that took a similar course load and did better than you.

 

[NickNaylor]

^ ^ maybe you're just better at art history?

Agreed. I'm minoring in the humanities, and I think those classes are more difficult to get an A in than an upper-level science course.

 

[barcoderider]

This topic has sort of been done to death, but here's my take: A good GPA is never looked down upon, but a lower GPA may warrant consideration of the major that fostered it.

So an Art major with a 4.0 won't be looked down upon, but an engineering major with a 3.3 might receive a "boost". Who knows if this is the case at every school though.

I was a Psych major and personally found those classes to be much easier than my physics or chemistry courses. Mostly because the other students weren't nearly as competitive, so the curves would be much more generous.

 

[Barcu]

Do admission committees treat every body equally when it comes to GPA?

Math or Physics major with a cGPA of 3.4/3.5 and an sGPA of 3.7+
VS.
Biology major with a cGPA of 3.7+ and an sGPA of 3.7+

Would they be treated equally when it comes to admission into medical school?

*Assuming all EC's are equal and would suffice to a standard medical school*

Pretty much will echo what everyone else has said.

A good gpa, no matter the major, will catch the adcoms eye.

A worse gpa may be salvaged by a difficult major. However while reading these forums, it seems like that "boost" is not sufficient (or maybe there are too many whiny engineers).

But, if you do engineering, you got a great degree to fall back on if you decide med school is not for you.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

This topic has sort of been done to death, but here's my take: A good GPA is never looked down upon, but a lower GPA may warrant consideration of the major that fostered it.

So an Art major with a 4.0 won't be looked down upon, but an engineering major with a 3.3 might receive a "boost". Who knows if this is the case at every school though.

I was a Psych major and personally found those classes to be much easier than my physics or chemistry courses. Mostly because the other students weren't nearly as competitive, so the curves would be much more generous.

Statistically the data does not agree with this in terms of engineering.