Deleting my post!
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I generally like them. Not that I've gotten to know any very intimately, but the ones who I'm acquainted with are friendly enough. And in general, when I first meet someone, I'll automatically like them until they do something to get on my nerves. I have yet to meet another pre-med who annoys me terribly...Must mean that I'm the annoying one.![]()
I took some summer classes at one of my state universities and the pre-meds there were astounding confident (to add also already declaring they are going to do ortho or EM), but their resumes didnt even compare to alot of my friends at school and I would frankly be very suprised if many of them made it to medschool.
Curious... assuming you're a traditional student, what makes you so confident about your ability to evaluate someone's resume (in general, much less in terms of medical school)? Have you ever hired anyone or sat on an admissions committee? IME, many (most?) traditional students have little to no real understanding of what makes a student marketable to any kind of employer or school. I would guess this extends to premeds understanding exactly what makes an applicant truly desirable (beyond simple high stats, lots of hours, etc.)
Curious... assuming you're a traditional student, what makes you so confident about your ability to evaluate someone's resume (in general, much less in terms of medical school)? Have you ever hired anyone or sat on an admissions committee? IME, many (most?) traditional students have little to no real understanding of what makes a student marketable to any kind of employer or school. I would guess this extends to premeds understanding exactly what makes an applicant truly desirable (beyond simple high stats, lots of hours, etc.)
There are some things that applicants can pick out as weak compared to other applications. For example, an applicant with few activities outside their academics and a paltry academic record at that will probably have a weak application. Or, pretty low academic record in general can make an application weak. Reciprocally, it is easy to pick out some of the features that make applications strong (MCAT, GPA, research, clinical exposure, African babies, etc). This doesn't require us to be privy to the thought process of an Adcom or interviewer.
However, sure, when you start getting applicants that are more a blend of both, then you start getting picky and the students have to market themselves to convince the interviewer that the positives are attractive enough that their negatives are overlooked/mitigated.
No!!!! I mean what is your major. I do not give a rat's behind what path you are taking🙂D), what is your major????!!!?! is it computer science, English, bio????
WOW! 😱 You guys are uber serious! I usually feel a bond with other pre-meds cause we're in the same boat and we always share information! I mean misleading someone for your own benefit is a total **** move. But then again my school doesnt have too many pre-meds and im nowhere near the top of the pre-med grade hierarchy so that could also be it![]()
Yeah i can imagine! luckily my school is fairly new with about 20,000 undergrad students so we still get the awe factor when we saw we're pre-medI think it would be much better at a school where there where are less pre-meds. It gets annoying when the fact that your a pre-med suddenly makes everyone else believe that it is imposible for you to be altruistic and everything you do is just part of some scheme to get into med school.
I think it would be much better at a school where there where are less pre-meds. It gets annoying when the fact that your a pre-med suddenly makes everyone else believe that it is imposible for you to be altruistic and everything you do is just part of some scheme to get into med school.
Can someone please explain to me the benefit of not revealing grades and MCAT scores? I'm friends with a few pre-meds and I love that I can have discussions about similar ideas and motivations. I do despise those cocky students that announce to the world they are pre-med and have not even taken chem 1. I'm still wondering about the overly-competitive nature of not revealing grades, etc. My friends and I could care less. We see it as an opportunity to help each other when we need it and work hard for our own effort when we have to. I have a curious group of friends at school that I'm very thankful for. Otherwise, my undergrad would be torture...
Well some people are self conscious about their grades and don't want others to know how well they're doing. Also, if you are doing better than someone else, some people don't want others to know so that they become more competitive etc.
Personally, I think it's kind of silly. I typically won't volunteer my grades when they're good because I don't want to come off as gloating but I have no problem telling mine if someone asks. I'm sure some others are probably like me as well.
Can someone please explain to me the benefit of not revealing grades and MCAT scores? .
My friends and I talk about our grades pretty openly, usually it involves one of my crazier friends making very graphic descriptions of what he metaphorically did to his class or what it did to him.
Disturbing? Yes Amusing? Very
Well some people are self conscious about their grades and don't want others to know how well they're doing. Also, if you are doing better than someone else, some people don't want others to know so that they become more competitive etc.
Personally, I think it's kind of silly. I typically won't volunteer my grades when they're good because I don't want to come off as gloating but I have no problem telling mine if someone asks. I'm sure some others are probably like me as well.
Well some people are self conscious about their grades and don't want others to know how well they're doing. Also, if you are doing better than someone else, some people don't want others to know so that they become more competitive etc.
Personally, I think it's kind of silly. I typically won't volunteer my grades when they're good because I don't want to come off as gloating but I have no problem telling mine if someone asks. I'm sure some others are probably like me as well.
Same here. If they ask, I will generally give them an idea. (Although how close depends upon how I think they are doing. If they're struggling, I probably won't tell them I got a 105% b/c that's not likely to be a positive thing to say. Instead, I might emphasize that the test was hard but I still managed to do well and then ask how they did and congratulate them for the results of their hard work and emphasize whatever positives I can find about how they did or what I've seen them do elsewhere. OTOH, if they're doing well or looking for help/tutoring, I'll probably be more open about how I did and offer any help I can if they are asking for assistance.)
Can someone please explain to me the benefit of not revealing grades and MCAT scores? I'm friends with a few pre-meds and I love that I can have discussions about similar ideas and motivations. I do despise those cocky students that announce to the world they are pre-med and have not even taken chem 1. I'm still wondering about the overly-competitive nature of not revealing grades, etc. My friends and I could care less. We see it as an opportunity to help each other when we need it and work hard for our own effort when we have to. I have a curious group of friends at school that I'm very thankful for. Otherwise, my undergrad would be torture...
I don't mention my grades because usually the people who ask me are trying to be competitive. So they ask me how I did on a biology test so they can compare themselves to me and maybe say, oh, well I did so much better than that. It's not just curiosity, it definitely has a motive. If they want to know I feel about it (which is an entirely different question), I'll tell them. But I keep my actual grades and MCAT private because unfortunately there are people at my school who really just want to create competition where there doesn't need to be any.
There's an old proverb that says "as iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another"... sure, it's not really talking about competition persay but I'd say it could be applied to competition. Competition can be very healthy. Why do you think runners run faster when training with other runners or why do you think people tend to work out harder at a gym than at home (controlling for differences in equipment)? Social cues, such as competition, greatly increase performance. If you're not getting the scores you need as a premed it might actually behoove you to "compete" with other premeds. Of course, "competing" in a cruel or distasteful way is a totally different story, but if there's a (positive) relationship of some sort w/ those wanting to compare test scores with you, it may push you both toward greater success.
Of course, "competing" in a cruel or distasteful way is a totally different story, but if there's a (positive) relationship of some sort w/ those wanting to compare test scores with you, it may push you both toward greater success.
True, but if someone I've rarely spoken to only comes up to me to ask me what grades I got, I'm not particularly impressed with that. I'm competitive, don't get me wrong, and I certainly do well. But I believe in competing with myself and striving to be the best I can be. I don't really need to compare my test scores to my friends to be motivated. But that's just me.
I have a feeling a pass/fail med school is the way to go for me.
True, but if someone I've rarely spoken to only comes up to me to ask me what grades I got, I'm not particularly impressed with that. I'm competitive, don't get me wrong, and I certainly do well. But I believe in competing with myself and striving to be the best I can be. I don't really need to compare my test scores to my friends to be motivated. But that's just me.
I have a feeling a pass/fail med school is the way to go for me.
True, but having an idea of your peers may allow you to set a more practical benchmark for yourself. I'm not advocating to go around interrogating others for their grades. I'm merely pointing out some of the potential benefits of comparing test scores for motivation.
I've noticed that there seems to be a lot of hate of premeds from med students and other premeds. I myself must admit that I'm not fond of most premeds that I meet. How do you feel about most premeds (of course there will be exceptions).
*shrug* That's a potential benefit, but most of my professors provide data about mean/median test scores and the highest and lowest grades in the class, so I always feel like I know where I stand. And I can figure out how competitive my gpa is from looking here.
But I do understand what you mean by that, and it can definitely be helpful for someone who'd like to see where they stand.