Difference between A and B students with success in Med School

[deleted600623]

Hi all,

So I've caught a few bad breaks in a few of my science courses by just coming up short of earning an A and end up with a high B. Unfortunately, my university is not on the +/- system and so it ends up being a 3.0 instead of a 4.0. With that being said, if my sGPA ends up being short of a 3.5 and committees look at my course grades to see how I did, are they going to weigh those B's against me and think that I won't be successful in medical school? It was simply a matter of getting a few points here and there on exams and I end up with A's in most of those courses. Just curious.

Thanks for the help!

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[piii]

B students are the first to kill their patients

 

[Lannister]

I don't really understand what the question is. Of course getting an A is better than getting a B. A B is a B and if your school doesn't do +/- adcoms will never know whether you got an 89.9 or an 80.

 

[deleted407021]

Have you taken the MCAT and, if so, how did you do?


I'm in a similar boat, btw. Lots of Bs in the hard sciences. Lots of As, as well, but more Bs.

 

[xc_stallion92]

Hi all,

So I've caught a few bad breaks in a few of my science courses by just coming up short of earning an A and end up with a high B. Unfortunately, my university is not on the +/- system and so it ends up being a 3.0 instead of a 4.0. With that being said, if my sGPA ends up being short of a 3.5 and committees look at my course grades to see how I did, are they going to weigh those B's against me and think that I won't be successful in medical school? It was simply a matter of getting a few points here and there on exams and I end up with A's in most of those courses. Just curious.

Thanks for the help!

I can understand where you're coming from. The school where I did most of my undergrad at did the whole A, AB, B, etc. grading scale. There were many classes where I ended up just missing an A by one or two points throughout the semester, and those grades would come out to 3.5 rather than 3.7 like they would if my school had given A-'s. It's unfortunate but there's not much you can do about it. Med schools won't know or care really what your school's grading system is. You've just gotta go out there and kill the MCAT and show them that you know your basic science material as well as anyone.

 

[md-2020]

A B (89.9) is a B (85) is a B (80) in your grading system. All the adcoms are going to see is your letter grade on the transcript and the ACMAS calculated GPAs.

Life isn't fair. Welcome.

 

[NotASerialKiller]

B students are the first to kill their patients

I can confirm that this is untrue.

 

[xc_stallion92]

A B (89.9) is a B (85) is a B (80) in your grading system. All the adcoms are going to see is your letter grade on the transcript and the ACMAS calculated GPAs.

Life isn't fair. Welcome.

At the risk of de-railing, I'll ask the question, "why even bother with letter grades"? To me it seems like it would make much more sense to just give all grades in percentages.

 

[deleted600623]

https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fast...ad-36e735b5844a/mcatstudentselectionguide.pdf

Take a look at the above link. About page 10 in the appendix you get a series of tables with various correlations of UG cGPA and graduation, USMLE, etc

Thank you for the link! This helped a lot!

 

[deleted600623]

I can understand where you're coming from. The school where I did most of my undergrad at did the whole A, AB, B, etc. grading scale. There were many classes where I ended up just missing an A by one or two points throughout the semester, and those grades would come out to 3.5 rather than 3.7 like they would if my school had given A-'s. It's unfortunate but there's not much you can do about it. Med schools won't know or care really what your school's grading system is. You've just gotta go out there and kill the MCAT and show them that you know your basic science material as well as anyone.

Yeah it's tough. I still have a couple of hard science courses left so I have to do well in those but you're right, the MCAT is going to be the deciding factor.

 

[deleted600623]

I don't really understand what the question is. Of course getting an A is better than getting a B. A B is a B and if your school doesn't do +/- adcoms will never know whether you got an 89.9 or an 80.

Right. I guess there are advantages and disadvantages. I guess what I was trying to ask was how do ADCOM's weigh GPA and MCAT with respect to their educated guess of an applicant's success in medical school? But the pdf posted earlier sort of answered it.

 

[Gulliver Dark]

https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fast...ad-36e735b5844a/mcatstudentselectionguide.pdf

Take a look at the above link. About page 10 in the appendix you get a series of tables with various correlations of UG cGPA and graduation, USMLE, etc

Gonnif, that table is terrifying. Unless I am reading it wrong, I have a less than 90% chance of completing medical school on time? And that is with good stats. It doesn't get much better over 5 years. Is there something I am missing?

 

[deleted600623]

To me at least in my work in admissions, there is a point where all applicants show their ability to handle academic work. Very rough for me is a 3.5/30 MCAT

It is all those other qualities that make a huge difference at that point. Not the things your application lists but what they show you has a person. Motivation, Commitment, Tenacity, Caring, Empathy, Problem Solving, Teamwork, Leadership. So do grades matter and still matter post interview? Yes, but many other things also matter at that point

Good to know!! I will definitely keep those in mind. Thank you for your help!!

 

[deleted600623]

About 80%-85% of students finish in 4 years. A large percentage who dont are actually top students electing to do an extra year research/projects to get into a top residency. About 94% students graduate in 5 years, and that is the stat that is used most often for comparison. About 97% graduate in 8 years accounting for dual degrees. So less than 3% of the people in medical school fail to graduate. From my reading of the chart (Table 4, p10 or PDF p 15) at least 90% of students enter medical school with a 3.0 UG cGPA and higher and MCAT of 27-29 and higher graduates in 5 years. So, I am assuming, you are not reading it correctly

Is the reason students graduate in 5 years (that don't do research/projects) because they have to retake courses?

 

[TooMuchPressure]

At the risk of de-railing, I'll ask the question, "why even bother with letter grades"? To me it seems like it would make much more sense to just give all grades in percentages.

Then everyone will know all my A's are borderline 90's, all my B's are 80-85, and all my C's are because the professors felt bad for me and boosted me from a 68-69.5.

 

[El-Rami]

When I choose a physician to take care of me, the first thing I ask is how many As and Bs they got in undergrad and med school.

 

[KatniP]

To me at least in my work in admissions, there is a point where all applicants show their ability to handle academic work. Very rough for me is a 3.5/30 MCAT

It is all those other qualities that make a huge difference at that point. Not the things your application lists but what they show you has a person. Motivation, Commitment, Tenacity, Caring, Empathy, Problem Solving, Teamwork, Leadership. So do grades matter and still matter post interview? Yes, but many other things also matter at that point

Sorry, just asking to clarify, are you saying that 3.5/30 MCAT is around the range where people show that they are able to handle the academic work (to you)?

 

[SnakeDoc9497]

Coming from a fellow A through B minus student, if you apply smartly you will do well. I've gotten a couple II's.

In general, if you never settle for a grade and keep working hard, it will show. I understand your case is different, but it still applies to how you carry yourself.

If you ask me, any med school with their salt looks at the whole package. Having a decent MCAT 31-32+, a meaningful and polished personal statement (something people typically neglect and forget), and good experiences in clinic and out, makes that sub3.5 sGPA not matter really at all

 

[moisne]

I don't think a 3.5 vs a 3.8 has that big of a difference in medical school performance given they put in their best. Med school (unless you are truly a genius) performance is based more on effort than smartness...

 

[BluMist]

B students are the first to kill their patients

I can confirm that this is untrue.

... but you are the last person to see them alive

 

[ConfusedChemist]

It's not perfect, the GPA 3 vs 4 system, but I still don't understand why you think this is an excuse of sorts?
The same math applies to everyone. Just start making sure you're in that group who gets those last couple percent.
That's why not everyone has a 4.0, getting that last percent is hard. Going from a 88->92% on an essay is harder than going from 40->60%
Getting that last percent is what sets people apart, I don't get why you think this is special to you....

 

[El-Rami]

It's not perfect, the GPA 3 vs 4 system, but I still don't understand why you think this is an excuse of sorts?
The same math applies to everyone. Just start making sure you're in that group who gets those last couple percent.
That's why not everyone has a 4.0, getting that last percent is hard. Going from a 88->92% on an essay is harder than going from 40->60%
Getting that last percent is what sets people apart, I don't get why you think this is special to you....

This. I often find myself having to do 200% to get a high A on a paper. People can spend, say, 5 hours on a paper to get a B or low A if they are generally good writers. However, to get that grade that helps set up a buffer in order to guarantee an A at the end of the semester, others may have to spend a few hours longer just to make sure it is as well-written as possible. It also helps to do it as early as possible rather than at the last minute like most people. The difference between 4.0 students is that they budget their time better and put in more effort, not that they are actually smarter necessarily. These are people that will use books from the library as sources for a paper instead of just Internet sources.

 

[KatniP]

No, that is wrong. What I am saying is 3.5GPA /30 MCAT can easily handle the pure academic work that goes on in medical school. The data on MCAT puts that to 24-26 in old scoring system. The data I talked about before that shows 90% or better of students with 3.0 and higher, and 27 MCAT and higher who get accepted to medical school, graduate in 5 years. That seems to indicate that there is a wide range of other characteristics that are important to success in medical school.

And I never look at a single gross number on GPA, what are the trends. This is especially true the large population of nontrads I deal with who often have complicated and convoluted backgrounds, with inconsistent and uneven academic records

Ohhhh okay, I was confused. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[deleted600623]

It's not perfect, the GPA 3 vs 4 system, but I still don't understand why you think this is an excuse of sorts?
The same math applies to everyone. Just start making sure you're in that group who gets those last couple percent.
That's why not everyone has a 4.0, getting that last percent is hard. Going from a 88->92% on an essay is harder than going from 40->60%
Getting that last percent is what sets people apart, I don't get why you think this is special to you....

I get what you're saying for sure and I'm not using it as an excuse. I just don't want ADCOM's to view my grades as much worse than others just because of the grading system. But that's where the MCAT comes in. Thanks!