How big of a deal is P/F vs no graded

[magician7772222]

Does having graded courses really make for that worse of an experience? Given that lots of schools are already P/F does getting poor but still passing grades such as Cs or whatever the passing grade in medical school is really put your at a disadvantage when applying for residency since youll be compared to people who have Ps anyway?

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[Ho0v-man]

Not really. It’s nice for mental health when being in the bottom quartile vs the top is basically a dozen questions in a semester. But it’s not a big deal overall for DOs. It can matter for derm or something but you’ll be in the top quartile if you get the boards for that anyway.

 

[magician7772222]

Not really. It’s nice for mental health when being in the bottom quartile vs the top is basically a dozen questions in a semester. But it’s not a big deal overall for DOs. It can matter for derm or something but you’ll be in the top quartile if you get the boards for that anyway.

Does anyone really care about what quartile youre in when applying to residency? I would guess they mostly ignore grades since lots of people wont have anything to compare them to.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

If your school is graded, then better grades are better for your application. It's impossible to know how every program will interpret your grades. But you should assume that "everything counts". Do the best you can.

 

[Goro]

Does having graded courses really make for that worse of an experience? Given that lots of schools are already P/F does getting poor but still passing grades such as Cs or whatever the passing grade in medical school is really put your at a disadvantage when applying for residency since youll be compared to people who have Ps anyway?

Having P/F means less stress and better mental health for medical students.

The vast majority of medical schools use this format now.

 

[magician7772222]

Having P/F means less stress and better mental health for medical students.

The vast majority of medical schools use this format now.

Would you be putting yourself at a serious disadvantage if you were to treat a graded curriculum as if its pass/fail, simply aiming to get passing grades without any regard for the letter grade itself?

 

[orthoPA81]

Would you be putting yourself at a serious disadvantage if you were to treat a graded curriculum as if its pass/fail, simply aiming to get passing grades without any regard for the letter grade itself?

I come from a school with letter grades all four years. My classmates who took the “just do well enough to pass” approach, ended up struggling when it was time for board exams. Also, students who tended to do the best in preclinical also did the best on boards. It’s hard to maintain mediocre study habits and then score high on Step 2/Level 2. It’s your call but I say try hard on everything because it all counts when applying for residency.

 

[MrBigglesworth]

Depends on the type of student you are and your stress tolerance. In general, I would recommend going to a P/F school over a graded one if you have the choice (all other things being equal)

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Would you be putting yourself at a serious disadvantage if you were to treat a graded curriculum as if its pass/fail, simply aiming to get passing grades without any regard for the letter grade itself?

The answer to your question: Yes

 

[magician7772222]

Depends on the type of student you are and your stress tolerance. In general, I would recommend going to a P/F school over a graded one if you have the choice (all other things being equal)

Well of course I'm hoping to get into a P/F but so far my best acceptance is graded so I guess I was just trying to see if I could find a way to cope about it. I guess I'll have to try for As if I dont get some love from P/F schools though

 

[Goro]

Would you be putting yourself at a serious disadvantage if you were to treat a graded curriculum as if its pass/fail, simply aiming to get passing grades without any regard for the letter grade itself?

One should always try one's best, so you can be advised if you're acting everything, or barely passing.

It's more risky to treat the P/F Boards as being unserious.

 

[MrBigglesworth]

Well of course I'm hoping to get into a P/F but so far my best acceptance is graded so I guess I was just trying to see if I could find a way to cope about it. I guess I'll have to try for As if I dont get some love from P/F schools though

I went to a graded med school and I grew significantly as a person by striving to make straight A's (which I did). But it was extremely hard. Also do you / did you do sleight of hand? I did a ton of it prior to med school

 

[Ho0v-man]

Does anyone really care about what quartile youre in when applying to residency? I would guess they mostly ignore grades since lots of people wont have anything to compare them to.

Here’s why it’s not a big deal:

Reddit and sdn would have you believe that med school is just full of the biggest Chads all skating through med school and then cranking hard for a month or two to get a 90th+ percentile on boards.

If it was that easy, everyone would do it.

The reality is that if you’re in the bottom half of the class, you’re probably struggling to hit the 50th percentile on boards and will end up in a non-competitive specialty. The people doing extremely well are studying for their classes and boards and murder both.

The person who claims they’re getting locked out of a competitive specialty because of class rank and an otherwise perfect app is basically a unicorn.

TLDR; it’s rarely an issue because it correlates to the rest of your app.

 

[magician7772222]

I went to a graded med school and I grew significantly as a person by striving to make straight A's (which I did). But it was extremely hard. You can direct msg me if you want guidance on how to study etc. I did write a book on the whole experience as well. Also do you / did you do sleight of hand? I did a ton of it prior to med school

In some classes yes, but the MCAT definitely not, the vast vast majority of everything I was able to do on test day came from practice.

 

[magician7772222]

Here’s why it’s not a big deal:

Reddit and sdn would have you believe that med school is just full of the biggest Chads all skating through med school and then cranking hard for a month or two to get a 90th+ percentile on boards.

If it was that easy, everyone would do it.

The reality is that if you’re in the bottom half of the class, you’re probably struggling to hit the 50th percentile on boards and will end up in a non-competitive specialty. The people doing extremely well are studying for their classes and boards and murder both.

The person who claims they’re getting locked out of a competitive specialty because of class rank and an otherwise perfect app is basically a unicorn.

TLDR; it’s rarely an issue because it correlates to the rest of your app.

I am not particularly interested in competitive specialties as of now anyways so I guess this is good to hear

 

[Dr_Jan_I_Tor]

I would say it depends on school curriculum to a point (aka what they test) and also if you are "just passing" the school exams but spending that saved time on boards prep.

I was 3rd quartile in M1/M2 but was the only one of my friend group that passed our COMSAE on the first try & was done with both boards by early June. I have friends in SSP who failed COMSAE and almost everyone I know (who were all higher quartiles) pushed back boards at least once. Several lost an elective rotation block due to it.

I think our school exams had a lot more minutiae and don't test quite the same way as boards, so doing super hot in classes doesn't equate to boards readiness for us.

 

[MDMechEngr]

The people doing extremely well are studying for their classes and boards and murder both.

This^^^.

2024 ophthal applicant data from reddit mega thread:

Class rank 1st quartile average S2 is 263.
Class rank 2nd quartile average S2 is 255.


Class rank also correlates with number of honors and other stats also. Not to be cli·ché, but the cream tend to rise to the top.

 

[Goro]

This^^^.

2024 ophthal applicant data from reddit mega thread:

Class rank 1st quartile average S2 is 263.
Class rank 2nd quartile average S2 is 255.


Class rank also correlates with number of honors and other stats also. Not to be cli·ché, but the cream tend to rise to the top.

Very true. The people who want the uber-specialties need to be at the top of the pack