- Joined
- Jun 30, 2005
- Messages
- 2,780
- Reaction score
- 2
I see GPA with +- and without +-.
which one do dental schools look at?
which one do dental schools look at?
GPA calculation- inc + or w/o +
- Thread starter joonkimdds
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2002
- Messages
- 1,511
- Reaction score
- 6
Each school has their one unique way of using those numbers, and it is virtually impossible to say one is better than the other and which school uses which. Your best bet is to keep both of them high. If your are already in the process of applying, there is nothing you can do now, so don't worry about it.
After calculating my with and without, there was only a 0.01 difference.
After calculating my with and without, there was only a 0.01 difference.
N
NAVY DDS 2010
I don't think d-schools look at any one type as being better than the other. Go to the school of your choice where you feel you can get the best education you can. Now, if you are the type of person who consistently gets an 88 or 89 in classes, the +/- system might benefit you because a 3.33 is better than a 3.0 on a regular basis. But if you regularly get a 91 or 92 in your classes, then a system without the +/- system might benefit you because a 4.0 is better than a 3.67. (Of course my examples are based on if you go to a school where 90-100=A, 80-89=B. etc.)
I'm actually in the middle of writing a paper on this very subject.
While it may be mathematically true that the plus/minus system is better when you get an 89%, it doesn't take into account the fact that a lot of instructors were more likely to round up an 89% to a 90% under the "old" system. I found a quote online where one professor said "We have a term for 'an almost A.' It's called a 'B plus.'"
And as this very crude graph shows, the exclusion of a numerical value for an A+ can have a slightly negative impact on students who do well.
- Joined
- May 19, 2005
- Messages
- 457
- Reaction score
- 4
PredentDJ,
I've been rolling in misery all week because I'm a "victim" of this no +/- system 😡 I have many MANY 89% in my sciences and all A+ in all my labs which at my college are worth 2 credits.....my GPA is 0.3-0.4 LOWER than what it should be! There's nothing that I can do to help it....boy after all these years of hard work to end up like this really hurts....I had no choice but to attend this college. I love it, but the GPA system really hurts students like me. Every time I saw a B in my final grade I felt like dying! Got hit with a 3.0 every time. Oh, and if it was a C+ ---> 2.0 instead of a 2.7 it was like a shovel to go dig my own hole in the cemetery!
In a year or so, my college WILL start the new system and will not apply to anyone before the new system
Ok, enough drama. I'm moving on with my life....
I've been rolling in misery all week because I'm a "victim" of this no +/- system 😡 I have many MANY 89% in my sciences and all A+ in all my labs which at my college are worth 2 credits.....my GPA is 0.3-0.4 LOWER than what it should be! There's nothing that I can do to help it....boy after all these years of hard work to end up like this really hurts....I had no choice but to attend this college. I love it, but the GPA system really hurts students like me. Every time I saw a B in my final grade I felt like dying! Got hit with a 3.0 every time. Oh, and if it was a C+ ---> 2.0 instead of a 2.7 it was like a shovel to go dig my own hole in the cemetery!
In a year or so, my college WILL start the new system and will not apply to anyone before the new system
Ok, enough drama. I'm moving on with my life....
PredentDJ,
I've been rolling in misery all week because I'm a "victim" of this no +/- system 😡 I have many MANY 89% in my sciences and all A+ in all my labs which at my college are worth 2 credits.....my GPA is 0.3-0.4 LOWER than what it should be! There's nothing that I can do to help it....boy after all these years of hard work to end up like this really hurts....I had no choice but to attend this college. I love it, but the GPA system really hurts students like me. Every time I saw a B in my final grade I felt like dying! Got hit with a 3.0 every time. Oh, and if it was a C+ ---> 2.0 instead of a 2.7 it was like a shovel to go dig my own hole in the cemetery!
In a year or so, my college WILL start the new system and will not apply to anyone before the new system
Ok, enough drama. I'm moving on with my life....
That sucks. I'm sorry to hear that. It's definitely frustrating. My experience has been that most professors (at least at my school) will cut you the slack when you land on an 89%. But it's enough to drive you mad when they don't. Especially when you put in the effort to make yourself known to the instructor.
I was on the other side of your coin when I was at my last school. There were a couple of times that I just barely squeaked into a 90% (thereby giving me my 4.0).
In theory, though, your GPA wouldn't be any better off under the plus/minus system. This of course assumes that your grades are like most other college students (a relatively equal number of pluses to minuses). Surely not every grade you get is a C+, B+, or A+. You have to have some minuses in there somewhere. And imagine if you did have the plus/minus system; you might be equally upset that your A+ grades on the labs don't count for anything more than a plain old A does.
I definitely feel your pain though. I remember the first time I got a paper back with a B on it. Or the first test I took where I got a C. I just knew that all my hopes and dreams of dentistry were gone forever. But of course that's nonsense.
Best of luck to you!
Last edited:
N
NAVY DDS 2010
This varies from school to school. I know plenty of people who got bit form the 88 or 89 % in school whose profs did not gove them the A. I know at me college, they did not have the +/- when I went there. Now they do. I can guarantee that most of the profs there, although they are great and care about the students, would not give a person an A- just because they were close. They make you EARN your grade.
- Joined
- May 19, 2005
- Messages
- 457
- Reaction score
- 4
I have never EVER taken a class with professors that curve. If the highest score was 67, then that was a 67.....and for organic which is famous for the 30's or 40's for turning into a B or an A...I also never had professors with that evil system. In my opinion, they don't know how to teach 😡 For organic our tests were 13-15 pages long and they were fair to hard, but we had extra time to finish it and my professor made sure she covered everything including many learning styles....anyways, I still think that we all these B+ 89% and A 98% I got my GPA could be a little better......well, just another story to tell my great grand kids about granny getting into dental school 🙂
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2008
- Messages
- 255
- Reaction score
- 5
How do you finish a 13-15 page long in time? How does anyone design or figure out the mechanism for a bunch of reaction that fast? No wonder people are scoring in their 20's in ochem.
- Joined
- May 19, 2005
- Messages
- 457
- Reaction score
- 4
There were 3 prof every semester teaching Org chem at my school:
Prof 1-Typical hard-non sense exam 1 page, average 20-30, huge curve, only 5 people left by final. He locks the classroom door after 5 mins (school is in a huge metropolitan area full of traffic--8:00 a.m. lecture)....
Prof 2-Two days exam, average 50's, first exam handed out with a "Drop Form" to most people.
Prof 3-We had 13-15 pages long exams, lots of spectras, blank boxes, no multiple choice. Review sessions for exams, weekly/daily quizzes, and after the 2 or 1.5 hrs of in class exam, if we didn't finish we went to a chemistry lab and took as long as we needed it to finish it (3 hrs total for some). Prof has been teaching this way for 30 yrs. Has the most students coming out of her class as tutors, you learn the material well with her method all from the scratch. Prof is hard, but gives you all the tools to get a good grade. All finals are ACS and this class always has the highest grades in the whole department. Some of the exams can make you cry, but if you focus and prepared well, then one can do well. Prof is big on using a molecule set and makes it mandatory for Org 1.....very unique style of teaching such a complex class. All the hard work paid off and I see it when I get high grades in the ACS finals! BTW, prof 3 used to write for the MCAT and DAT. I like the hard-makes sense professors.
I may never see one like prof #3 again, but I'm very well prepared for the chem section of the DAT and it was worth all the extra work 👍 Chem ended up as my minor.....
