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Bigdre1997

Bigdre1997

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So, in one of my Chem courses, not going to specify which one, the average grade of the class was a 65 or so. I ended with around an 82 which was top twenty in a class of 225. But, obviously I only got a B still. Do med schools even put that into consideration, because it dropped my gpa a significant amount.
 
Is this a serious question? Do you think for each applicant they look at each grade and attempt to evaluate what that grade means at that school? Most public med schools don't even consider quality of undergrad schools. I attended a notorious grade deflator undergrad, adcoms couldn't care less. GPA is a quantitative indicator, show me the number!
 
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I don't see how one B can drop your GPA in a significant matter. I wouldn't worry too much about it, just keep working hard and use it to motivate you to do even better next semester.
 
Good point, one B won't tank you GPA or your application. Might seem to hurt badly now but when you have more credits it will have less bearing.
 
Bigdre1997 said:
So, in one of my Chem courses, not going to specify which one, the average grade of the class was a 65 or so. I ended with around an 82 which was top twenty in a class of 225. But, obviously I only got a B still. Do med schools even put that into consideration, because it dropped my gpa a significant amount.
Click to expand...
Do you actually have a B on your transcript or is there possibly going to be a curve?

If no curve, ouch...pretty hard to imagine it's justified for the professor to fail a majority of students.
 
A 65% class average speaks more poorly of the professor than of the students. Are you sure there is no curve?
 
ProspectiveKidd said:
Yeah if the avg was 65 (probably ochem) I can't see him not curving
Click to expand...
My Ochem professor didn't curve. He'd also post how many people got each grade after each test on the blackboard- less than 5% As, about 10% Bs, 50% Cs, 20% Ds, 15% Fs. He didn't give a damn if you failed, he was training people for advanced chemistry coursework and didn't really care about premeds. If you didn't master the material, that was a personal problem.
 
A 65% class average shouldn't warrant a grading curve at all; that's actually about normal for upper level courses if grades aren't inflated.

Also, one B is not going to hold you back from med school.

Our O-Chem only had a handful of A's in the whole lecture hall and still no curve. I felt kinda bad for my classmates, but for us few who worked hard and pulled the A's, we got hella nice LoR's, research opportunities, and TA gigs. A meritocracy at its finest.
 
By the time you apply, you'll have not less than 90 credits. Those 90 credits carry a maximum of 360 quality points (90*4). Getting a B rather than an A in a 4 credit course results in the subtraction of 4 of those 360 possible points. You can see how little a single B, rather than an A in the same course, makes in the overall GPA (1.1% after junior year to quantify it and less than 1% when you have finished the 120 credits required for graduation).
 
I dont have the exact average, but going by exam averages and the ACS national exam average, my gen chem 2 class average was likely below 65%.
Exam 1 avg= 47%
Exam 2 avg= 52%
Exam 3 avg= 49% (I think)
ACS Final avg= 49%

I pulled an A, but it was brutal. I got an 87% before any curve, and if he had communicated what the online homework was at the start of the semester, I would have done the first assignment on time, and had a 90 pre-curve. Oh well. Bad professor... I'm his TA in the fall 😛
 
Even for a state school with no inflation failing a majority of students is a bit much, no? A C average with maybe 1/4 at most failing like Mad Jack mentions is about the worst that makes sense.
 
I guess on the flip side if you survive that class series with a strong enough GPA, you'll probably find the MCAT a cakewalk.
 
efle said:
I guess on the flip side if you survive that class series with a strong enough GPA, you'll probably find the MCAT a cakewalk.
Click to expand...

That was luckily the case with me. Though to be honest, none of the classes with D averages were unreasonable. The exams were fair and the professors had clear lectures. Your grade correlated well with how well you knew the material so a curve just would be unwarranted inflation.
 
Mad Jack said:
My Ochem professor didn't curve. He'd also post how many people got each grade after each test on the blackboard- less than 5% As, about 10% Bs, 50% Cs, 20% Ds, 15% Fs. He didn't give a damn if you failed, he was training people for advanced chemistry coursework and didn't really care about premeds. If you didn't master the material, that was a personal problem.
Click to expand...
That just reminded me of when my cell bio professor posted this slide after one of our tests. I think she was proud of it...

IMG_3742.JPG
 
ZedsDed said:
...Jesus....
Click to expand...
She was evil. I think the reason most people did poorly was because her questions were always:

A. blah blah
B. blah blah
C. blah blah
D. Only B & C
E. All of the above.
 
dougy said:
Is this a serious question? Do you think for each applicant they look at each grade and attempt to evaluate what that grade means at that school? Most public med schools don't even consider quality of undergrad schools. I attended a notorious grade deflator undergrad, adcoms couldn't care less. GPA is a quantitative indicator, show me the number!
Click to expand...
Well okay sorry for asking such a stupid question?
 
Bigdre1997 said:
So, in one of my Chem courses, not going to specify which one, the average grade of the class was a 65 or so. I ended with around an 82 which was top twenty in a class of 225. But, obviously I only got a B still. Do med schools even put that into consideration, because it dropped my gpa a significant amount.
Click to expand...

No, they won't take that into consideration. They'll probably think you were in the top 60% because that's where most schools place their B students. You're SOL.
 
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