GPA into class rank @ your school

[sammas]

I have a friend at a dental school who just finished her first year with a 2.6 GPA, and she is ranked 94/100. Does that sound right to you? It seems kind of competitive, doesn't it? didn't think a 2.6 was so terrible.

For reference, I ended up with a 3.0 after two years and am right around the 50 % mark.

How are things at your school?

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[Yah-E]

94 out of 100 with a 2.6 doesn't sound odd to me at all. Think it about it, usually in a graduate program whether it's law, master's, PhDs, business, medical or dental, in any graduate degree, the class averages are always above a 3.0.

For my class of 99 classmates after a year of dental school, the rankings are roughly broken down as the following:

#1 = ~98/100% (3.92 GPA)
#5 = ~92.5/100% (3.70 GPA)
#6 = ~92.1/100% (3.68 GPA)
#15 = ~90/100% (3.60 GPA)
#21 = 88.88/100% (3.56 GPA)
#35 = ~86/100% (3.44 GPA)

I know for fact that there are at least around 40-50 classmates of mine that are between 80/100% and 86/100%! And I wouldn't be surprised that with a 3.0 GPA will land you with a #75th in rank in my class. It's very common to have a large number of your classmates bunched up in the 80s. Every little point in a quiz will count towards your final grade! One hundredth of a point can potentially move you up or down couple of spots in the class rank ladder!

I was very fortunate this past semester. I was at #17 at the end of the first semester with a 3.64 GPA and I only dropped 4 spots total with my poor 3.49 GPA performance for the spring semester! I thought I'd ranked in the 30s for the year after my 3.49 GPA performance!

This is how I look at it, for the second year (this next school year), all I have to do is to be sure I maintain a 90/100% average for the year, then my cumulative GPA after two years of dental school will increase, therefore, my ranking will also increase.

I would much rather be in my shoe than like someone that has a 92/100% average. For them to maintain where they are, they must earn 92s/100% as an average to just stay where they are in rankings. Anything less, their ranking and GPA will go down. See, I have much less stress, 90s are achievable!

But of course, my classmates that are in the top 5, they're smart as hell so I wouldn't expect anything less from them but 95s all the time! 🙄

Ranking is a funny game! You must play it if you wish to specialize, but for those that love general practice, this is a game that they can careless! They can be 100 out of 100 and be the last classmate in the class, but guess what, they're a doctor at the end (given if they earn all 70s/100 through the entire 4 years).

 

[sammas]

They may be more effective at regurgitating minutiae (read "anatomy, biochemistry, etc."), but Yah-E, do you really think the top 5 in your class are smarter than you? Or anyone else? From reading your posts, I'd say you are analytical, which is a function of critical thinking, and that is more impressive to me than memorization.

When your class gets to treatment planning - which is the most interesting and possibly only aspect of dentistry to require true thought - I bet some top ranked students will stumble. And that's where you're likely to shine. I'm sure you can catch up to the top 5. You'll make a fine oral surgeon.

 

[drillerNfiller]

sammas,

Your grades seem a lot more reflective of the grades at my school, a B-/B is right in the middle of the class. Higher grades, are not neccesarily more competitive though, in my opinion it is usually the other way around. Regardless of the grading scales and curves, some schools give out a lot more A's than others, this may raise the averages on paper, but I think it lowers the competition if everyone is getting A's

 

[Yah-E]

Sammas:

Thank you for your sentiment! I also like to believe that I would be a great surgeon someday, but in the mean time, I have to tackle this monster we call NBDE Part I in 8 days just to get a step closer to my OMS goal. Of course I don't think that all classmates rank above me are smarter than me or that I'm inferior to them, but I do appreciate and praise their work ethics and hard work as they have earned it!

Also another thing that I want to add about my school Nova Dental, we have no grading curves here. You get what you deserve.

90 = A-
80 = B-
70 = C-
<70 = Fail

 

[Firm]

Yah-E,
I have some questions about your grading scale. I know mathematically that a 90% equals a 3.6 on a 4.0 scale. I don't think this is correct. Sounds a bit inflated. I know that your school uses a percentage which is a more accurate way of separating students, but I don't think you can simply multiply the percentage by 4 and get your GPA. That would mean a 75 average is a 3.0 GPA, most would agree that a 3.0 is a B (usually around 85). Just some thoughts.

 

[Yah-E]

Firm, thanks for pointing that out:

The scale goes:

Letter Grade - GPA - Percentage
A = 4.0 = 94-100%
A- = 3.6 = 90-93%
B+ = 3.3 = 87-89%
B = 3.0 = 84-86%
B- = 2.6 = 80-83%
C+ = 2.3 = 77-79%
C = 2.0 = 74-76%
C- = 1.6 = 70-73%

I completely agree that 85% would equal a B, but as far as GPA goes, it would be a little higher than a 3.0 technically (maybe around a 3.2 for a 85% grade).

For example my Cumulative Grade right now is a 88.88% in percentages, if categorizing my grade in a group, I'd be in the B+, 3.3 GPA group. But to be more specific, which dental schools do, my GPA would be 3.54-ish (if 90% is a 3.6 GPA).

So base on this scale, if you just multiply your percentage grade by 4, you're not that far off. Since I've never seen an official transcript yet from my dental school, I guess I really don't know my EXACT GPA conversion is, but at least I know the area that it is in!

Let me know what you think?

 

[dds06]

If you have a 3.0 in my school after the 1st year I am pretty sure you will be in the top 1/3 of the class not top 1/2.