Grades

[Entirecropslost]

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Hey, I'm an undergrad going into my senior year, and I wanted to ask you guys about Grades in Med school. I know there can be pass/fail, and ABCDF. But I think there are some important implications from grades that I havn't figured out yet, like all that buisness about ranking students against their class. For example, I've heard some people complaining about emory's grading system and wanted to go to MCG instead largly b/c of it.
Thanks so much for any help!

 

[EmpHol]

I think the system is set up so you will not worry about grades. Just enjoy it, work hard and you will be fine.

 

[dynx]

Hey, I'm an undergrad going into my senior year, and I wanted to ask you guys about Grades in Med school. I know there can be pass/fail, and ABCDF. But I think there are some important implications from grades that I havn't figured out yet, like all that buisness about ranking students against their class. For example, I've heard some people complaining about emory's grading system and wanted to go to MCG instead largly b/c of it.
Thanks so much for any help!

With some exceptions schools that are Pass/Fail still keep track of your scores in order to rank you and some (like mine) even have a "silent equivalent" of Honors. FInd out if this is the case before you chose a school, if it is, there is no difference between a P/F school and one that grades in reality, in fact the grading school is more up front and I'd probably take that one. If not, P/F is more layed back

 

[RxnMan]

With some exceptions schools that are Pass/Fail still keep track of your scores in order to rank you and some (like mine) even have a "silent equivalent" of Honors. FInd out if this is the case before you chose a school, if it is, there is no difference between a P/F school and one that grades in reality, in fact the grading school is more up front and I'd probably take that one. If not, P/F is more layed back

I'll be attending Albany this fall, and they have something similar to this. They give you H/HP/P/LP/F but the Pass grade range is +/- 1.5 StDev about the mean (modified A-F). Thus, most people are going to get a pass, (hopefully) making students more likely to work together than compete. However, they still keep track of your % grade and will rank you at the end of your 4 years based on those.

The only way to find out how schools grade is to ask them - they're all unique.

 

[Law2Doc]

I'll be attending Albany this fall, and they have something similar to this. They give you H/HP/P/LP/F but the Pass grade range is +/- 1.5 StDev about the mean (modified A-F). Thus, most people are going to get a pass, (hopefully) making students more likely to work together than compete. However, they still keep track of your % grade and will rank you at the end of your 4 years based on those.

The only way to find out how schools grade is to ask them - they're all unique.

At any school with some form of ranking there will be students who are there to compete and others who are there to cooperate. Changing letters from A-F to H-F as you described is pretty meaningless and just lets the school claim they are doing things to reduce competition, but I'd be skeptical that this is more than windowdressing. The more enlightened students will realize that the first two years grades will matter far less than things like board scores (i.e. the real competition is going to be external from your school).

Ultimately, letter grades are great if you are doing well (lots of positive reinforcement), and not so great if you are not -- so you don't really know if a P/F system is a benefit to you until you start. And as said above, things like board scores will play a larger role in your career direction anyhow. Thus grade/PF probably shouldn't be a huge determinant to be used when choosing a school, and perhaps any change in competition level is illusory anyhow.