How Do You Know Your Class Rank?

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hothause

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So I'm an MS-4 and I have no idea what my class rank is. How do you find out other than waiting for the dean's letter to come out? My clinical grades have been high passes with a few honors in the mix.

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So I'm an MS-4 and I have no idea what my class rank is. How do you find out other than waiting for the dean's letter to come out? My clinical grades have been high passes with a few honors in the mix.

You Email your Dean, if (s)he'll tell you. If not, it's tough to know.
 
Do students usually get a copy of the Dean's letter? I always thought they send it directly to the residency programs.
 
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Would you consider emailing the dean about this early on (during first year) in poor taste.
 
Would you consider emailing the dean about this early on (during first year) in poor taste.

Absolutely in poor taste, yes. Also I doubt they've even calculated it at that point. There are fewer and fewer schools that even factor first year grades into your rank at all.
 
Would you consider emailing the dean about this early on (during first year) in poor taste.

If you're worried about how you're doing at this point, you can meet with an academic advisor (we call them advisory deans at my school), assuming your school has a system like that. Emailing the dean to get your class rank is not the way to go.
 
Would you consider emailing the dean about this early on (during first year) in poor taste.

Don't even worry about class rank at this point. Just do as well as you possibly can
 
If you're worried about how you're doing at this point, you can meet with an academic advisor (we call them advisory deans at my school), assuming your school has a system like that. Emailing the dean to get your class rank is not the way to go.

My school tells us that there are no class rankings, however, some very prominent professors have told us that this is falsely stated to us so that we don't be highly competitive against one another. What do you guys think? If there is a class rank, I'd really like to know where I stand. Thanks :)
 
My school tells us that there are no class rankings, however, some very prominent professors have told us that this is falsely stated to us so that we don't be highly competitive against one another. What do you guys think? If there is a class rank, I'd really like to know where I stand. Thanks :)

FWIW, our dean specifically told us when speaking about grades that the school had to rank us for our own good when applying to residency programs. Now I could be drinking the kool-aid, but it seems logical -- I go to a good state school, but there still exists significant variety among students in terms of quality. It's helpful for residency programs to know where we stood in our class for that reason.

Gunner though I may be, I'll say without reservation I'm happy to be ranked against my peers so that I can distinguish myself (obviously one of several ways I hope to do so).

I do know that some top-tier schools (Harvard comes to mind, but that could be incorrect) claim not to rank their students. I think institutions with that sort of pedigree can probably get away with it.
 
I'm sure all schools work differently, but of all people, I would definitely not bother the dean by asking him about something like your class rank. You must have some sort of student affairs office at your school - they will know. I'm surprised this issue hasn't been addressed already at your school. I'm about to start my second year and we were given the opportunity to ask about our class rank a week or so ago.
 
I'd ask early into third year or about half-way through your clerkships when you are thinking about what kind of residency you want to go into. If you are going for ROADS or some other competitive specialty (ENT, Urology, etc) it is more important to know than with other, more mainstream, fields.

The earliest acceptable time, I think, that would make any sense (except to gratify your own self-importance) is to ask this question of the dean when you plan out your Step 1 studying and how much time & effort to put into it. It may motivate you to do more work if you know you are on the cusp between bottom/top half, etc.

Regardless, class rank shouldn't weigh on your mind too heavily...there are other, far more important aspects of your application to residencies, and you should always try to do better than you are currently.
 
FWIW, our dean specifically told us when speaking about grades that the school had to rank us for our own good when applying to residency programs. Now I could be drinking the kool-aid, but it seems logical -- I go to a good state school, but there still exists significant variety among students in terms of quality. It's helpful for residency programs to know where we stood in our class for that reason.

Gunner though I may be, I'll say without reservation I'm happy to be ranked against my peers so that I can distinguish myself (obviously one of several ways I hope to do so).

I do know that some top-tier schools (Harvard comes to mind, but that could be incorrect) claim not to rank their students. I think institutions with that sort of pedigree can probably get away with it.

Yale doesn't either. And I believe their curriculum is "truly" p/f and very reasonable in the clinical years in terms of grading too. Oh to get into Yale. Great school.
 
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