How do people get 4.0's?

[bortenson]

How do people get 4.0’s in undergrad?

We sleep with our professors. If they're the wrong gender/orientation, we get our significant other or our gay friend to bang them.

Medical schools applications is an arms race; if you're not having sex with your professors you really have no chance at the GPA required for an acceptance.

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[2105]

I read recently at my university that less than 10 students graduated with a 4.0 in the past few decades, with half of them were transfers.

I think there is more intelligence than hard work to getting a 4.0. This is just my opinion because I have friends that study crazy amounts of hours and struggle in a lot of science classes. Also I think that having a good foundation before entering college helps. I know I personally felt that I had to make up for lost ground from poor public schooling.

 

[nysegop]

My father said he almost never has students that get perfect 4.0s. 3.97 is a pretty common GPA for top students.

 

[Atherosclerotic]

I remember I had worked the "hardest" out of any student in my Spanish class as an undergrad. By hardest, I imply doing coursework submitted that went beyond what was assigned, including constantly participating in class and doing extraneous activities that coincided with the learning/student experience. The teacher gave me a B+. I was furious.

What I love about technical subjects such as math and science is there is no opinion. If your solution to a set of problems or concepts is accurate, it follows that that is your grade according to a default and objective scoring system. I understand any professor can wiggle out some damage to deflate a grade by arbitrarily taking points off for non-multiple choice questions (this is where you have open-ended, write-ins) but it's far more limited than in a liberal arts subject.

So, how do you achieve a 4.0? Like everything else in life, it's always a confluence of a sort: some luck, a college that grades an A as a 90 or higher, fair professors, a student putting in time to study, and of course how well you do on timed exams, to name a few.

 

[Dentalogist]

I remember I had worked the "hardest" out of any student in my Spanish class as an undergrad. By hardest, I imply doing coursework submitted that went beyond what was assigned, including constantly participating in class and doing extraneous activities that coincided with the learning/student experience. The teacher gave me a B+. I was furious.

What I love about technical subjects such as math and science is there is no opinion. If your solution to a set of problems or concepts is accurate, it follows that that is your grade according to a default and objective scoring system. I understand any professor can wiggle out some damage to deflate a grade by arbitrarily taking points off for non-multiple choice questions (this is where you have open-ended, write-ins) but it's far more limited than in a liberal arts subject.

So, how do you achieve a 4.0? Like everything else in life, it's always a confluence of a sort: some luck, a college that grades an A as a 90 or higher, fair professors, a student putting in time to study, and of course how well you do on timed exams, to name a few.

I remember getting a C- in Chemistry after working my ass off day by day....

 

[deleted407021]

 

[ditritium monoxide]

I'm not criticizing your academic abilities. I'm sure like any SDN pre-med you have research, volunteering and academics under your belt. I just don't believe half the BS people put on this thread about having time to go out and party. After doing 10+ hours of research, spending time preparing for exams, doing weekly homework sets and working out, i really doubt any human being has time/energy to "party"

Sorry for the necrobump, but you hit the nail on the head. I do all of the above: have sustained a 3.9+ gpa, gotten deeply involved with ECs I like, and even joined a fraternity, but assuming all the BS that people still post to this day about partying every day of every weekend is true, I'm doing something wrong because I'm fairly stressed throughout the semester overall, and some of my friends seem to be having a lot more fun than I do (yes, the nature of the profession, I've accepted it).

 

[Turkishking]

I received 2 A- Freshman year. I'm trying to bump my GPA to a 3.97 at the end of this year.

 

[Gurkhali]

I received 2 A- Freshman year. I'm trying to bump my GPA to a 3.97 at the end of this year.

You'll only have one year to take that 3.97 to a 4.25. Remember that's the cutoff for applying to med school.

 

[Turkishking]

You'll only have one year to take that 3.97 to a 4.25. Remember that's the cutoff for applying to med school.

Funny lol. But the 3.97 is for my own personal benefit. Ideally I would be pleased with a 3.68. I just like to see my hard work pay off.

 

[Gurkhali]

Funny lol. But the 3.97 is for my own personal benefit. Ideally I would be pleased with a 3.68. I just like to see my hard work pay off.

Nah I'm just teasing. I wish I had your foresight and dedication when I was a sophomore. Too busy playing vidya gaymes and shirking ECs. I just wanted to lighten you up but it seems like you're doing fine!

 

[Hemorrage]

Sorry for the necrobump, but you hit the nail on the head. I do all of the above: have sustained a 3.9+ gpa, gotten deeply involved with ECs I like, and even joined a fraternity, but assuming all the BS that people still post to this day about partying every day of every weekend is true, I'm doing something wrong because I'm fairly stressed throughout the semester overall, and some of my friends seem to be having a lot more fun than I do (yes, the nature of the profession, I've accepted it).

one hell of a necro bump. keep at it. I'm a third year now and all i can say is that work ethic is about 3-4x more important than raw intelligence during medical school.