Grades vs. Evaluations

[chalk]

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Hi, I'm new to posting--but have been browsing for a few weeks. I searched the threads for my question, but was unable to find a good answer.

I am in a Community College and wish to transfer to a 4yr college. My choices are the University of Washington, and the Evergreen State college. I would like to go to Evergreen, and they do have a good reputation but they don't actually give out grades, they do "evaluations". It is a good school, and has what I'm looking for in my major(and they do have good organic/bio/etc courses that satisfy the prereqs); however, is the non-grading policy going to hurt me in applying to medical school?(Any medical school students from evergreen out there?) Should I go to the UW just because they give grades instead of evaluations? I'm thinking the MCAT will be a deciding factor, and I'm ok with that--but am still worried about not actually recieving decimal grades.

And my second question is: How did you all start the process of finding what factors to look for in medical schools and is there any good books/sites you would suggest? I'm asking because there are a ton of med schools out there, and I don't know where to begin. I plan on applying to the ones in my state, but don't know where to start looking out of state.

Thanks in advance. Oh and please don't flame me (I've seen some flames on this board). I'm serious about being a premed for reasons I won't go into here.

Bill Fairfield 🙂

 

[gower]

No contest. Go to the University of Washington. Contact Jason Boyd, the advisor at UW, make an appointment. There is no advisor that I know of at Evergreen and evaluations, rather than grades, make comparisons difficult when applying.

[email protected]

U Washington is the only medical school in Washington. It is one of the top medical schools in the US. A GPA of 3.5 is at the LOWER end of of competitiveness as are MCAT scores of 9. The interview, if you get one, counts for 50% toward acceptance.

 

[tostra]

Hey Bill,

I am an Evergreen grad and will be attending Medical school this fall. For personal/philosophical reasons I chose to pursue admission to Osteopathic medical schools and had no problems at all gaining admission. I applied to 4 schools, received secondaries from all, and had two interview offers, of which I was accepted to one and waitlisted at the other.

My situation sounds similar to yours, I attended SPSCC (a community college in Olympia), got my A.A. - transferred to Evergreen (mainly because of convenience and cost) and applied to Medical schools and got in my first try. So it can be done by going to Evergreen.

As far as evaluations go, I did have to send official transcripts to each school, so they could get a better sense of my studies and performance at Evergreen. If anything I found explaining the "Evergreen way" was a good icebreaker during my interview.

I was fortunate though to have taken classes at SPSCC, because it gave me a reportable GPA. Gower is right in the sense that evaluations, rather than grades, might create difficulties for some adcoms to compare you to other applicants. But since you have some community college credits and assuming you have a good g.p.a. ( >3.5 ) and you do well on the MCAT, I don't think going to Evergreen will hurt your chances.

If you need more information about my experiences with Evergreen and the application process, feel free to email me. I'd be willing to get together with you to discuss any of this since I'm still in Olympia and will be until the end of July.

 

[Wifty]

Just throwing in my tidbit of info.

Hubby is a Greener and loves it. He has had a chance to do research that most undergrads at any school, never would get to touch.

Anyways, he decided to go the DO route too as he likes the philosophy much better.

He has been offered 4 interviews, but since he was accepted at his first interview, which was his top choice, he is going to decline the others.

The U of WA gets Greeners all the time, and are familiar with the evaluation system....so it shouldn't be a problem. In fact, one of the top people at the U who has done ground breaking work in fractals, visited Evergreen and was amazed by what they were doing.

Go to the school that will allow you to be the most successful and to enjoy your years the most.

Trust me, great evaluations, and research chances are at least equal to (if not outweigh), a piece of paper with a GPA and no research chances.

Wifty

 

[none]

Yeah, DO schools may take the appropriate time to deal with your evaluations...you may not be so lucky at many allopathic schools. The University of Washington is an amazing institution WITH a medical school for biomedical research and clinical volunteer experience. I strongly recommend you go there.

 

[SMW]

Originally posted by chalk:
•
And my second question is: How did you all start the process of finding what factors to look for in medical schools and is there any good books/sites you would suggest? I'm asking because there are a ton of med schools out there, and I don't know where to begin. I plan on applying to the ones in my state, but don't know where to start looking out of state.

Thanks in advance. Oh and please don't flame me (I've seen some flames on this board). I'm serious about being a premed for reasons I won't go into here.

Bill Fairfield 🙂 •••

There is a book called Medical School Admissions Requirements (MSAR) put out by AAMC. It's the bible for aspiring medstudents as it gives an overview of the programs and the specific admissions requirements for all the medical schools in the country. You can order it on-line through AAMC, or your school library or pre-med advising office may have a copy.

Very few flames on SDN (unlike another site I could mention 😉 ). Welcome to SDN!! 😀

 

[nitemagi]

I went to Hampshire College, which pioneered(no pun-- valley natives will get it) evaluations instead of grades. Honestly, it does get to be a bother. Though I got verified super fast, my transcript ended up thick. Assuming you're pursuing a science undergrad, I would also recommend going to UW. Unless, of course, you're going to be doing such innovative work at Evergreen that grades won't even matter. Those small LIBERAL arts colleges(Hampshire, Evergreen) can give a much wider range of options and freedom to pursue your own interests. Safety-wise, however, UW is a good choice.

In the end, neither is exact. Having to read your evaluations may help adcoms to look more closely at you, rather than just numbers. It could also irritate them.

Unfortunately I chose to move to pre-med after I was 2+ years done at Hampshire, so it was a little too late for me.

It may not be too late for you, however.
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