GPA's for Pod. Schools

[FutureDocHopefl]

Hey everyone,

I know the saying "the higher your GPA, the better" is true, but what is the minimum? I am looking at a very good non-science GPA and my science GPA is hurting. Right now my sci GPA could be below 2.5, but I still have Chem II, Organic I-II, Bio II, and Orgo Chem Lab.

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[jonwill]

Hey everyone,

I know the saying "the higher your GPA, the better" is true, but what is the minimum? I am looking at a very good non-science GPA and my science GPA is hurting. Right now my sci GPA could be below 2.5, but I still have Chem II, Organic I-II, Bio II, and Orgo Chem Lab.

The minimum GPA standards for each school can generally be found on that school's website (link below). If this is not the case, each website does have a contact number.

DMU's minimum GPA standard is 2.5 on a 4.0 scale. the average GPA for last years incoming class was nearly 3.4. (http://www.dmu.edu/cpms/admissions/profile/index.cfm)

Link to websites for all colleges of podiatric medicine:

www.aacpm.org and then click on the appropriate tab.

 

[whiskers]

That's all I seem read about when folks talk about education. I've seen plenty of triple G's (good grade getters) who literally sacrificed knowledge and integrity for a good letter grades... Both of which are very difficult to regain.

It's been my experience that sharp folks (docs and pts) have X-Ray vision and can see right through grades and degrees. It's just unfortunate that a few of them are even caught up in the Grading Game, for whatever reason... Ie, to maintain their own perceived reputation. But they still know.

So my advice is "get the knowledge" and leave the Grade Vultures in their academic desert.

 

[ucrs]

i think you need at least a 3.00gpa or so for them to seriously consider you. good luck

 

[GoldenGustie]

i think you need at least a 3.00gpa or so for them to seriously consider you. good luck

I would agree with Ucrs on this. Grades are important, but don't forget that they aren't everything. From my perspective, if you have decent grades and have shown that you're devoted and motivated towards a career in medicine, and in our case podiatry, than you've got it made! Your ability to handle classwork as well as extracurriculars or volunteer activities is important.

 

[Dr_Feelgood]

MCAT is more important than grades b/c it is the great equalizer.

 

[bdaddyjolley]

Hey everyone,

I know the saying "the higher your GPA, the better" is true, but what is the minimum? I am looking at a very good non-science GPA and my science GPA is hurting. Right now my sci GPA could be below 2.5, but I still have Chem II, Organic I-II, Bio II, and Orgo Chem Lab.

If you are granted an interview, I think they would ask why your science GPA is low because pod school is science based like all medicine. The question is always would this person be able to handle the curriculum and become a good pod. If your science GPA is low now, I suggest trying to get A's in the science classes you have not taken yet especially if they are harder. This can bring up your science GPA and you could point out you did better in the harder science classes. You will want to show an upward trend.

Also as feelgood said, the MCAT is a great way to put everyone on the same level because of the differences between Universities. You'll want to do well on that too to show you know your stuff. However, I don't think the MCAT replaces the consistency of a good GPA. A good GPA usually shows that you are consistent in doing well in a variety of different classes over time and not for just one test. Both GPA and MCAT scores are important even though one might be weighed more important than the other from school to school. Hope this helps because it's just my opinion.

 

[Dr. BDix]

I agree with bdaddy that they are both important. I know a lot of schools look at trends towards the last couple semesters of school. You could retrake classes, I know I retook a couple that I had gotten low grades in and it shows that your determined. But, it is easier to do what you can right now and that would be to get A's in the harder science classes to show that you can handle hard science classes which will be your first 2 years of school.

 

[MrFeeties]

dr feelgood has the right idea. The MCAT is THE great equalizer. I had a 2.9 undergrad science GPA but I got a 32 on the MCAT. I also went to a huge public university with a major research hospital where everyone is pre-med and classes are excessively competitive. That being said, if you just want a good GPA, go to a dinky private school that practices grade inflation. My buddies in med school at my big public university have plenty of these people "private school" students in their class and from what I understand some of them are borderline ******ed.

Grades are important, but so is the whole package. I had a science GPA below 3.0, but I also have a masters degree, plenty of volunteer experience in health care and I'm prior service military. Remember, grades are the best indication of how good of a student you are, so if you have lots of C's, that doesn't show alot of academic prowess and admission committees will likely not consider you. Good luck!

 

[cool_vkb]

That being said, if you just want a good GPA, go to a dinky private school that practices grade inflation. My buddies in med school at my big public university have plenty of these people "private school" students in their class and from what I understand some of them are borderline ******ed.

Wait a minute. Do u mean getting a high GPA in Private School is easy . Are you serious I dont know what private schools are you talking abt . can u explain a little bit more. I think if you go thru USA News Ranking. You will find many of top 25 or top 50 schools are Private. MIT is private! Harvard is Private! What private schools are you talking! No school is better than other. Be it public school or be it private. and no school is dinky or pinky. They all have to follow some basic academic standard.

No matter how you got in, No matter what u did to get in a school. Once u r accepted. Thats it! Nobody shud pass comments bcoz the other student went to a community college or MIT. They all are equal now. Judge them based on their current performance rather than on their past.

 

[JEWmongous]

cool, sometimes you gotta listen and understand and not just shoot out ideas in your head. You seem to do this for every topic on this podiatry forum. Do a little research first before you post. I'm not trying to be mean, but just to inform you. Anywho, you are wrong that ALL schools, public or private are the same academically. You would tell me that Duke University has the same difficulty of classes and cirriculum as Van Wilder Junior College? Yes, there are amazing private schools out there, such as all of the Ivy League, Bowdoin, MIT, Duke and much more. There are many more private schools in America than public schools to begin with. In the past few years, there was grade inflation even going on at a few select ivy league schools and the administration was trying to stop it (giving a set number of A's, B's,etc).

However, there are many middle and lower tier private schools as well as those elite ones ones mentioned before. I know one PUBLIC research university on long island that I took classes in, and it was a HELL OF A LOT HARDER than my small 1200 student private college. I know this is the same for other science classes there as well. I honestly think it is easier academically at most private schools than publics. One example is that for the biology major at my small private college, I do not need to take 2 semesters of calculus (as many universities do) but only 1 semester of statistics. At the state school I mentioned, you need either Calc 1 and 2 or Calc A, B, and C to fufill this requirement. I definitely think it is easier to take 1 semester of easier math than 2/3 semesters of difficult math. Given the difficult classes at this state school, I would never have the GPA I have at my school if I went to this public university.

Usually you have much smaller classes (I had molecular biology with 8 students, environmental chem with 2, cell biology with 6, etc) at private schools which definitely make it somewhat easier. Professors are usually more acessible, professors can run small study sessions before tests, and more. The thing about private schools is that since they receive little or no money from the state, they can make up their own rules pretty much. In one place a 70 could be passing and another 65. There are a ton of colleges and universities out there and it is impossible to call them equal. Sorry for the rant!

 

[funfeet]

I agree, no school is equal. I took my first bio class with 500+ students. We may not be known for biology undergrad, but the microbiology department here is known worldwide (ranked usually in the top 3 for micro). Orgo chem here, a 65% in the class was an A or something like that. I've never had a biology class smaller than 100 people, which is considered to be "small". Believe me, the difference from a professor's help in a 500 class compared to a 100 sized class is greatly different. So I couldnt even IMAGINE how a class is with only 50 students! Only difference there is really is the amount of individual help. My school was ranked the worst in a poll because of the amount of TAs we have to have. I'm not saying my school is harder or yours is harder, but there is a difference when you're competing against 499 students rather than 49 students.

 

[Dr_Feelgood]

Usually you have much smaller classes (I had molecular biology with 8 students, environmental chem with 2, cell biology with 6, etc) at private schools which definitely make it somewhat easier. Professors are usually more acessible, professors can run small study sessions before tests, and more.!

I went to a private school and had 3 people in my genetics class. I agree that we had a lot of attention to our needs, which did make the class easier. We also covered more information and much more in depth b/c we didn't have to worry about 1/2 the class being left behind.

But everyone that graduates from the school gets into a professional school if they want it. We usually cruise on the MCAT also b/c we are so prepared.

 

[OSUDDS]

I've heard quite the opposite, go to a large public school. Anyone with a pulse can pull a 4.0 there.

 

[jonwill]

I've heard quite the opposite, go to a large public school. Anyone with a pulse can pull a 4.0 there.

Large public schools, especially those that have medical schools, are usually extremely difficult. The science classes are generally used as "weeder" courses for that particular medical school. The beginning biology and chemistry classes are made particularly difficult in order to get rid of everyone that isn't completely serious.

 

[bdaddyjolley]

Large public schools, especially those that have medical schools, are usually extremely difficult. The science classes are generally used as "weeder" courses for that particular medical school. The beginning biology and chemistry classes are made particularly difficult in order to get rid of everyone that isn't completely serious.

This was very true at my school. Almost every science class was a weeder class, even the upper division ones, and you had to far and beyond what the professor talked about to get an A or even a B. There are also differences from public school to public school. I went to a UC school which is public and from what I hear it is a lot harder and more demanding for sciences than a Cal State school and they are both public schools in CA. Also different schools have different strengths. Some schools strengths are business while others science or humanities. I think that is why too some admissions people will take in to account the school you went to in making a decision not just the grades you received there.

 

[JEWmongous]

A 4.0 with a science major? That's a little crazy. I mean biochemistry, organic, and the upper level classes are going to be tough wherever you go. A 4.0 in a non-technical field sounds more feasible. The school I studied at for a semester was a big public school, about 22,000 undergrads and grads total, but it was big in research as well. It also had a medical and dental school so there is a large feeder program too. Really tough science courses, a lot of competition, huge classes some with 500 students, a lot of TA's and many were not good in english, and more. I didn't think this college was easy at all and I don't think any science major would have a 4.0 there!

 

[cool_vkb]

cool, sometimes you gotta listen and understand and not just shoot out ideas in your head. You seem to do this for every topic on this podiatry forum. Do a little research first before you post. I'm not trying to be mean, but just to inform you. Anywho, you are wrong that ALL schools, public or private are the same academically. You would tell me that Duke University has the same difficulty of classes and cirriculum as Van Wilder Junior College? Yes, there are amazing private schools out there, such as all of the Ivy League, Bowdoin, MIT, Duke and much more. There are many more private schools in America than public schools to begin with. In the past few years, there was grade inflation even going on at a few select ivy league schools and the administration was trying to stop it (giving a set number of A's, B's,etc).

However, there are many middle and lower tier private schools as well as those elite ones ones mentioned before. I know one PUBLIC research university on long island that I took classes in, and it was a HELL OF A LOT HARDER than my small 1200 student private college. I know this is the same for other science classes there as well. I honestly think it is easier academically at most private schools than publics. One example is that for the biology major at my small private college, I do not need to take 2 semesters of calculus (as many universities do) but only 1 semester of statistics. At the state school I mentioned, you need either Calc 1 and 2 or Calc A, B, and C to fufill this requirement. I definitely think it is easier to take 1 semester of easier math than 2/3 semesters of difficult math. Given the difficult classes at this state school, I would never have the GPA I have at my school if I went to this public university.

Usually you have much smaller classes (I had molecular biology with 8 students, environmental chem with 2, cell biology with 6, etc) at private schools which definitely make it somewhat easier. Professors are usually more acessible, professors can run small study sessions before tests, and more. The thing about private schools is that since they receive little or no money from the state, they can make up their own rules pretty much. In one place a 70 could be passing and another 65. There are a ton of colleges and universities out there and it is impossible to call them equal. Sorry for the rant!

I think may be u shud read what i wrote. I wrote all schools have to "Follow some basic standard". there are education boards, accrediting agencies, govt organizations looking out there. No school can just throw you an "A" grade without you doing any hardwork.

Ofcourse some schools are harder than the other but that doenst mean that they one is sky and one is ground. i havent seen any so called easy dinky private school that gives students "A" if they have 70/100 or gives a "C" grade if they just attended the class. Now plzz dont give some example of a music class or arts class but iam talking abt the real science classes.All schools are equal in the sense that they have to meet some basic requirement in order to get accredited. Some schools decide they need to be more hard while other schools not. Its their personal choice.but they all have to meet certain basic standard to be accredited. If they are too easy or are missing something in their curriculum then they wud never get accredited. I need to get my 4 credits in Physics. I dont give a damn if it get from a Comminity College college or from a MIT. They both are accredited and my credits will be accepted by Scholl. Thats a different thing i might not learn that much in CC or course might be very hard in MIT. Its a personal choice some attend Private, some attend public. But a Community College or a Dinky PINKY PRIVATE SCHOOL will never give me an "A" grade if i dont study and get certain score. And the whole point of the post was that. The person before my post said that "Its very easy to get a high GPA in private school".

May be you shud stop writing against people. You saw something wrong write abt the point. You dont need to comment wat tat person does, why he does, how he posts, what is his views,,etc and then write in the end "sorry for the rant!". Its my will and wish. i may write what comes out of my head or from my heart, so far iam not attacking someone else on the forum, i guess it shudnt be anyone's business to comment on someone's personal behavior. What kind of a professionalism is this? Its a public forum. You have no right to give a personal advice here unless being asked by the person. I'am sorry but these are really bad manners. Someone once wrote on my scrap that this is a Professional forum, after that i stopped writing anything against any troll. and what you wrote in the beginning paragraph is unprofessional and attacking nature. Sometimes you gotta think what is manners and what are bad manners.

 

[bdaddyjolley]

B]All schools are equal in the sense that they have to meet some basic requirement in order to get accredited[/B]. Some schools decide they need to be more hard while other schools not. Its their personal choice.but they all have to meet certain basic standard to be accredited. If they are too easy or are missing something in their curriculum then they wud never get accredited. I need to get my 4 credits in Physics. I dont give a damn if it get from a Comminity College college or from a MIT. They both are accredited and my credits will be accepted by Scholl. Thats a different thing i might not learn that much in CC or course might be very hard in MIT. Its a personal choice some attend Private, some attend public. But a Community College or a Dinky PINKY PRIVATE SCHOOL will never give me an "A" grade if i dont study and get certain score. And the whole point of the post was that. The person before my post said that "Its very easy to get a high GPA in private school". -QUote from Cool_vkb

It is true that every school has to meet the same standards for accredidation. However, accredidation is the minimum requirements a school must meet. Therefore, crappy schools can meet this minimum requirement but that does not put them on the same level as MIT or other great schools. ANd I think that there is a difference between graduating at a great school compared to a crappy one even though both met the same accredidation standards. That's why the name of your school can give you many opportunities in employment. If you go to Wellsly like my cousin did, that name can really help you get a great job afterwards like she did.

The point is that it is true that you can choose what school you want to go to but the education is not equal from school to school. Similar biochem classes do not mean the same. I know because when I did my masters at UCR we had a couple of people in the program who did their undergrad at UCI (and UCI and UCR are part of the University of California system and under the same big wigs) who knew a lot less about biochem than the students that went to UCR for undergrad. The students from UCI had to take extra undergrad classes at UCR that weren't required at UCI undergrad but are for UCR undergrad and the masters program. It was a shocker to see the difference in knowledge form two different UC schools that should be really similar.

So I don't think anyone is attacking anyone by stating that education varies from school to school. It's a fact and if it wasnt, there would be no national ranking system. (Recently, UCR #77 out of 500, woohoo!) LOL

 

[cool_vkb]

B]All schools are equal in the sense that they have to meet some basic requirement in order to get accredited[/B]. Some schools decide they need to be more hard while other schools not. Its their personal choice.but they all have to meet certain basic standard to be accredited. If they are too easy or are missing something in their curriculum then they wud never get accredited. I need to get my 4 credits in Physics. I dont give a damn if it get from a Comminity College college or from a MIT. They both are accredited and my credits will be accepted by Scholl. Thats a different thing i might not learn that much in CC or course might be very hard in MIT. Its a personal choice some attend Private, some attend public. But a Community College or a Dinky PINKY PRIVATE SCHOOL will never give me an "A" grade if i dont study and get certain score. And the whole point of the post was that. The person before my post said that "Its very easy to get a high GPA in private school". -QUote from Cool_vkb

It is true that every school has to meet the same standards for accredidation. However, accredidation is the minimum requirements a school must meet. Therefore, crappy schools can meet this minimum requirement but that does not put them on the same level as MIT or other great schools. ANd I think that there is a difference between graduating at a great school compared to a crappy one even though both met the same accredidation standards. That's why the name of your school can give you many opportunities in employment. If you go to Wellsly like my cousin did, that name can really help you get a great job afterwards like she did.

The point is that it is true that you can choose what school you want to go to but the education is not equal from school to school. Similar biochem classes do not mean the same. I know because when I did my masters at UCR we had a couple of people in the program who did their undergrad at UCI (and UCI and UCR are part of the University of California system and under the same big wigs) who knew a lot less about biochem than the students that went to UCR for undergrad. The students from UCI had to take extra undergrad classes at UCR that weren't required at UCI undergrad but are for UCR undergrad and the masters program. It was a shocker to see the difference in knowledge form two different UC schools that should be really similar.

So I don't think anyone is attacking anyone by stating that education varies from school to school. It's a fact and if it wasnt, there would be no national ranking system. (Recently, UCR #77 out of 500, woohoo!) LOL

Got it boss! thank u.

 

[bdaddyjolley]

Thumbs up

 

[bdaddyjolley]

Got it boss! thank u.

not a problem and on the bright side, were gonna be cool pods one day.

 

[JEWmongous]

Hey cool, the poster said, "go to A dinky private school that practices grade inflation." He didn't say ALL private schools. Seems like you misunderstood his statement. Anywho, I'm sure he does not mean Harvard, Yale, Stanford,Cornell, or other elite private universities. Do you know how colleges are accredited in America? Do you think they ask students how difficult the classes are and such? To evaluate a cirriculum, they go over the major, course descriptions, maybe speak with professors, etc. At my school, the cell biology (junior - senior level) course was FAR less intensive in lab and lecture than my freshman biology course. I'm talking 2 take home tests, maybe 2 hours of lab a week with 1 writeup, pp lectures from the book's cd, and that's pretty much it. As I said, this is a class your supposed to take your junior or senior year when you have already taken a number of science courses.

This one teacher was decently tough in freshman bio but her upper level classes are what we call "a piece of cake." I can VERY easily get an A in this course compared to someone at (let's say Harvard) who may be busting their ass just to get a low B. I feel as I got the shaft in some situations because I know I won't be as strong in some areas of bio as students from other universities. I do cell/molecular bio research though so I do understand the concepts. I think the MCAT is excellent because it will be the great equalizer between these disparities. It doesn't matter if you went to a crappy or amazing undergrad, this test will "level the playing field."

Furthermore, The middle states commission on higher education (accrediting body) came to my school last year. Guess what, nothing changed at all. Most students would not complain about classes being too easy. I definitely think theres a difference between my small college and the big public university I attended for a summer. It would be a hell of a lot harder to keep a high GPA at this big research school.

You are correct there are minimum standards for universities in America, but that doesn't mean anything for easyness of classes obtaining a high GPA. As I said, private schools can pretty much do their own thing because they receive little or no money from their state governments. Hell, I don't get labor day, martin luther king day, or any other PUBLIC holidays off because my school is private and does not have to follow federal or state holidays. We have two 12 week semesters because our college created a 6 week spring term where you can travel abroad and take classes and such. I went on some amazing trips (australia, bahamas, spain) but they cut down our regular semester classes to make room for this term. This means we don't cover as much material in regular classes (biochem, orgo, etc) as one would do in another university. I believe there is a definite disparity between the academics and "easyness" of universities.

 

[densmore22]

I see so much variation from school to school. I have people in my class that went to smaller private schools, all (or the majority) took some form of a class that we take in our 1st year here at DMU and they said they never learned half of what we were taught at DMU whereas the people who went to larger public universities (most that had allopathic medical, pharmacy, PA, Dentistry, nursing schools) struggled less. I'm not saying it's 100% because I know people that went to small private schools and are pretty much 4.0 every class, but the consensus is that the larger, public schools prepare the students for the rigors of a graduate level health professions education. Example of this would be that I had a friend who went to a super small (~1000 total student body) private university, graduated w/ a 4.0 37 MCAT, great LORs, applied to 12 schools, got interviewed only at 3 (applied to a wide range ~1/3 top tier, ~1/3 middle, ~1/3 low tier), got in at only 1 of those schools where I had another friend who graduated from a big public university (my alma mater), substantially lower gpa (3.25) w/ a 34 MCAT, got IN at 5/14 schools applied too, mainly top tier schools too. Yeah, that's just one example and there's many to backup this story and many to refute this story-I'm just saying is all.

I think in part it has to do w/ reputation, bigger schools have their name known across the country more, the bigger schools can recruit and keep top notch researchers, they usually have a more competitive undergraduate science curriculum-EVERY one of my science classes was a weed out class regardless if it was a prereq course or a major course, and in general, the bigger universities produce more money (due to government funding, grants, research, more students paying tuition, graduate schools, etc.) than smaller universities (where they may have all of those same properties as a big university, but they generally pay their faculty more/year than the bigger schools). Anyways, just wanted to "hear myself talk." I'm out.

Dens

 

[Dr_Feelgood]

I see so much variation from school to school. I have people in my class that went to smaller private schools, all (or the majority) took some form of a class that we take in our 1st year here at DMU and they said they never learned half of what we were taught at DMU whereas the people who went to larger public universities (most that had allopathic medical, pharmacy, PA, Dentistry, nursing schools) struggled less. I'm not saying it's 100% because I know people that went to small private schools and are pretty much 4.0 every class, but the consensus is that the larger, public schools prepare the students for the rigors of a graduate level health professions education. Example of this would be that I had a friend who went to a super small (~1000 total student body) private university, graduated w/ a 4.0 37 MCAT, great LORs, applied to 12 schools, got interviewed only at 3 (applied to a wide range ~1/3 top tier, ~1/3 middle, ~1/3 low tier), got in at only 1 of those schools where I had another friend who graduated from a big public university (my alma mater), substantially lower gpa (3.25) w/ a 34 MCAT, got IN at 5/14 schools applied too, mainly top tier schools too. Yeah, that's just one example and there's many to backup this story and many to refute this story-I'm just saying is all.

I think in part it has to do w/ reputation, bigger schools have their name known across the country more, the bigger schools can recruit and keep top notch researchers, they usually have a more competitive undergraduate science curriculum-EVERY one of my science classes was a weed out class regardless if it was a prereq course or a major course, and in general, the bigger universities produce more money (due to government funding, grants, research, more students paying tuition, graduate schools, etc.) than smaller universities (where they may have all of those same properties as a big university, but they generally pay their faculty more/year than the bigger schools). Anyways, just wanted to "hear myself talk." I'm out.

Dens

A lot of that is not what you know but who you know. Just based on alumni numbers are you more likely to run into a U of Iowa alumni or a Simpson College alumni???

I will agree that the independent study habits are need more to be successful in a large institution. But being a nameless face can be harmful to one's education. I know that test taking services were available to U of South Florida students when I lived in Tampa. Many of the people I met down there would pay or get paid be other students to take tests. One girl had a very high GPA but rarely took her own tests. She only took exams that were in her major. This is the best part, she was a criminal justice major.

 

[krabmas]

Wait a minute. Do u mean getting a high GPA in Private School is easy . Are you serious I dont know what private schools are you talking abt . can u explain a little bit more. I think if you go thru USA News Ranking. You will find many of top 25 or top 50 schools are Private. MIT is private! Harvard is Private! What private schools are you talking! No school is better than other. Be it public school or be it private. and no school is dinky or pinky. They all have to follow some basic academic standard.

No matter how you got in, No matter what u did to get in a school. Once u r accepted. Thats it! Nobody shud pass comments bcoz the other student went to a community college or MIT. They all are equal now. Judge them based on their current performance rather than on their past.

Actually there have been many reports in NYTimes and other newspapers about the grade inflation at Harvard, Princeton and other elite Ivy league schools.

They have done research about how many A's were given several decades ago compared to now.

It is still hard to get into these schools but maybe not so hard to get a 4.0

 

[krabmas]

A lot of that is not what you know but who you know. Just based on alumni numbers are you more likely to run into a U of Iowa alumni or a Simpson College alumni???

I will agree that the independent study habits are need more to be successful in a large institution. But being a nameless face can be harmful to one's education. I know that test taking services were available to U of South Florida students when I lived in Tampa. Many of the people I met down there would pay or get paid be other students to take tests. One girl had a very high GPA but rarely took her own tests. She only took exams that were in her major. This is the best part, she was a criminal justice major.

I agree with the large public U and being an independent studier. When I started pod school I did not expect my profs to teach me everything. I figured I'd have to study and learn on my own. Nor did I expect everything on the test to have been stated point blank in class. I figured there may actually be thinking while taking the test not just rote memorization.

I cannot say the same thing for my whining classmates that went to smaller schools that wanted the teacher to teach everything that would appear on the test.

 

[krabmas]

I think may be u shud read what i wrote. I wrote all schools have to "Follow some basic standard". there are education boards, accrediting agencies, govt organizations looking out there. No school can just throw you an "A" grade without you doing any hardwork.

Ofcourse some schools are harder than the other but that doenst mean that they one is sky and one is ground. i havent seen any so called easy dinky private school that gives students "A" if they have 70/100 or gives a "C" grade if they just attended the class. Now plzz dont give some example of a music class or arts class but iam talking abt the real science classes.All schools are equal in the sense that they have to meet some basic requirement in order to get accredited. Some schools decide they need to be more hard while other schools not. Its their personal choice.but they all have to meet certain basic standard to be accredited. If they are too easy or are missing something in their curriculum then they wud never get accredited. I need to get my 4 credits in Physics. I dont give a damn if it get from a Comminity College college or from a MIT. They both are accredited and my credits will be accepted by Scholl. Thats a different thing i might not learn that much in CC or course might be very hard in MIT. Its a personal choice some attend Private, some attend public. But a Community College or a Dinky PINKY PRIVATE SCHOOL will never give me an "A" grade if i dont study and get certain score. And the whole point of the post was that. The person before my post said that "Its very easy to get a high GPA in private school".

May be you shud stop writing against people. You saw something wrong write abt the point. You dont need to comment wat tat person does, why he does, how he posts, what is his views,,etc and then write in the end "sorry for the rant!". Its my will and wish. i may write what comes out of my head or from my heart, so far iam not attacking someone else on the forum, i guess it shudnt be anyone's business to comment on someone's personal behavior. What kind of a professionalism is this? Its a public forum. You have no right to give a personal advice here unless being asked by the person. I'am sorry but these are really bad manners. Someone once wrote on my scrap that this is a Professional forum, after that i stopped writing anything against any troll. and what you wrote in the beginning paragraph is unprofessional and attacking nature. Sometimes you gotta think what is manners and what are bad manners.

Just one more point to make on this subject...

Are all pod schools the same? We all cleary agree that they are not. There is always prospectives looking for a list of rankings.

Yes they all have minimum standards by they are really minimum. Have you read these? aacpm has a link to them.

 

[MrFeeties]

dr_feelgood, I went to the University of Iowa!

Everyone at my school it seems was "pre-something." The pre-med club in the fall packed auditoriums and of all the students that come in to the University of Iowa listed as "pre-med," maybe about 1 in 15 will matriculate. Many change their major after a year of the biology department here! I actually graduated in 2002 with a degree in Math and a comp sci minor. I spent a few years in the army figuring I'd leave the military and pursue an MBA and a finance career, but after spending 14 months in Iraq, I knew I needed to be in health care. I came back to Iowa after 3 years in the army and did all my medicine pre-reqs and finished an MPH degree, and believe me I had my back against the wall. Classes seemed twice as competitive in sciences than my math classes ever did.

I guess the bottom line is we all need to be honest with ourselves. If you had an outstanding GPA but only got an 18 on the MCAT, well then that says something about you. Same as if you get a 2.5 GPA and a 34. While I think with enough time and dedication, most who try can get into some form of graduate education in health care, if you can't get in, medicine is not for you. It will be alot harder and require alot more of you than most pre-meds will ever realize.

That being said, I'm looking forward to many years of podiatry requiring alot of me when I start at Scholl this fall!

cheers!