H/HP/P v A/B/C

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Tradewind

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Are the honors/high pass/pass and A/B/C systems equivalent?

In other words, if an applicant has a lot of Passes, is that like having a lot of C's?

At some medical schools, students are not allowed to accrue more than a couple of C's before being put on probation or having to repeat the semester. This does not seem to be so of Pass grades, which can account for much of the transcript. On the other hand, it appears as if the distribution of each category is roughly the same percentage when comparing systems. Very roughly speaking:

A=H ~ 40%
B=HP ~ 40%
C=P ~ 20%

If grades and GPA matter less at institutions where the H/HP/P system is used, are the criteria for AOA different?

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My school is Honors/Pass/less-than-satisfactory/Fail and only about 15% get honors in a given course/clerkship.

The criteria for AOA aren't clear. It all happens in a back room somewhere. Basically, I think the people who are AOA are in the top quarter of the class and have demonstrated excellent professionalism, leadership, personality, patient care, contribution to the community, etc.
 
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My school is Honors/Pass/less-than-satisfactory/Fail and only about 15% get honors in a given course/clerkship.

The criteria for AOA aren't clear. It all happens in a back room somewhere. Basically, I think the people who are AOA are in the top quarter of the class and have demonstrated excellent professionalism, leadership, personality, patient care, contribution to the community, etc.

Yes, I've seen some classes that are conservative on the awarding of Honors (15%) as well as other classes that award nearly as many Honors as High Passes.

So all in all, it sounds like:

A = H or HP
B = HP or P
C = P or "less than satisfactory"

And that AOA at medical schools where GPA is calculated is perhaps slightly more based on class ranking as opposed to other aspects of leadership.
 
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The only point I'd like to make is that Honors is good, but pass is good too. A grade of pass with good comments is very acceptable at my school. (since we don't give HP's).

Honors just means you kiss more *****.
 
Ha! Yes, I could see that, particularly with the clinical years, where the grading is more subjective and less test-based.

(Not that tests are everything, either...)
 
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