How easy are Masters programs and Post-Bacs?

[HumbleMD]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So after looking at a few MDapplicants profiles, I've seen a whole mess of people with a 4.0 in their grad program. Is there massive grade inflation going on, or are the people determined to go into medicine just really hauling ass in grad school?

 

[MadHopsMD]

So after looking at a few MDapplicants profiles, I've seen a whole mess of people with a 4.0 in their grad program. Is there massive grade inflation going on, or are the people determined to go into medicine just really hauling ass in grad school?

Master programs have been know to be grade inflating. The are few exceptions (eg. SMPs). That's why uGPA is still king.

 

[foofish]

Master programs have been know to be grade inflating. The are few exceptions (eg. SMPs). That's why uGPA is still king.

I think postbaccs vary...with some you're taking the regular undergrad classes and are graded with the undergrads, with others you're taking night classes (and at some schools those are the same in difficulty as the day classes, but at some they're easier), etc.

 

[armybound]

Speaking from experience instead of hearsay, I'd say grad classes are as hard or harder than undergrad classes. The big difference: the courses are all in an area you're interested in, and you're only taking 9-12 hours instead of 12-18. Some of the classes we take as graduates are undergrad classes anyway, so how could they inflate our graduate sections but not the undergrad sections? I took a senior level biology course last semester and am taking another this semester, so my grade in those courses aren't inflated at all, relative to undergrads.

My 4.0 in grad school is due to those factors. It's not that I wasn't capable of getting higher grades as an undergrad (my last 3 semesters were 3.8-4.0). As a freshman I hadn't matured yet, I didn't have the proper work ethic. People who get a Masters while hoping to go on to professional school understand that good grades are exactly what's needed to get them on their way. Other people, like PhDs, don't care what their grades are, as long as they pass. Their grades will never matter again.

Think also of class size. When you have a class of 6-10 people, curves are going to benefit you more.

 

[docdude]

So after looking at a few MDapplicants profiles, I've seen a whole mess of people with a 4.0 in their grad program. Is there massive grade inflation going on, or are the people determined to go into medicine just really hauling ass in grad school?

First of all, i think this is a jerk question. Second of all, it completely depends on what school, what masters, etc. One thing about masters programs (if people aren't using them as a means to an end, aka med school - which there are actually people who want masters) - they are fairly self selecting. In my masters program, people worked above and beyond because of how interested they were in the topics. It wasn't grade inflation, it was effort inflation because people weren't doing it because it was 'required' or a 'means' but it was actually tools they wanted to use and understand. Plus, only about a dozen people a year (out of about 600) of my masters school apply to med school a year, so there is a lot of interest in the masters themselves.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

I think we should all keep in mind that post-baccs and master's (graduate) programs are different things.

 

[dutchman]

My masters program was significantly harder than my ugrad. I just knew how to study better at that level.

 

[Lindyhopper]

Master programs have been know to be grade inflating. The are few exceptions (eg. SMPs). That's why uGPA is still king.

In the hard sciences grad courses are nearly uniformly more difficult than undergrad. This is conclusively demonstrated in classes crosslisted as both grad & undergrad. The grad students will be routinely graded on a more difficult curve than the undergrad.
There are two reasons grad GPAs in the sciences are higher than undergrad. 1) Stage of life, focus, interest in subject etc.
2) Grad students usually take fewer credit hours, & have no university wide distribution requirements.

 

[southpawcannon]

My graduate program that I was in for two semesters(left after last fall) was more of giving work experience in order to get a job in that field upon graduation. IMO, the program I was in is unique in terms of the number of work hours required on average in comparison to other programs(including nursing). Some grad students worked at sites that required 35-40 hrs, while others, including myself, was working 50-60 hrs a week, 6-7 days a week. This was required at the site depending on the responsibilities given to you. Along with that, one of the graduate courses for us 1st year students placed all 8 of us on academic probation for the semester(hmm...where does the problem lie...) Get a B, don't get kicked out. Work is the priority. So, in this case, grad school was a hell of a lot harder. I've yet to begun my post-bac(starting this summer) but with this at least I will have a set working schedule each week of 40hrs, 5 days a week and can pace myself with my sciences as needed along the way.

 

[nubbey24]

So after looking at a few MDapplicants profiles, I've seen a whole mess of people with a 4.0 in their grad program. Is there massive grade inflation going on, or are the people determined to go into medicine just really hauling ass in grad school?

This is pretentious with a very arrogant undertone. You love taking satisfaction in belittling other people's accomplishments so that you can feel better about yours. This is very typical of your posts in which you do nothing more then point out how wonderful your stats are and how stressed you are about having to pick from so many acceptances. Seriously get over yourself.

 

[sejin8642]

I hope he did not wrote this thread to troll everyone around.

 

[HumbleMD]

So after looking at a few MDapplicants profiles, I've seen a whole mess of people with a 4.0 in their grad program. Is there massive grade inflation going on, or are the people determined to go into medicine just really hauling ass in grad school?

This is pretentious with a very arrogant undertone. You love taking satisfaction in belittling other people's accomplishments so that you can feel better about yours. This is very typical of your posts in which you do nothing more then point out how wonderful your stats are and how stressed you are about having to pick from so many acceptances. Seriously get over yourself.

Yeah, I clearly talked all about myself and how to choose in the above post. I save discussion of choice making, as most do, for the Class threads over at the Allo board (rather than listing an acceptance in my signature with 4 exclamation points, ahem).

My original post was a curiosity I had, becaue it seemed like there were an abnormally high number of really good GPAs for grad programs listed on MDApps. I figured it was due to 1 of 2 things, a higher average GPA overall, or the sample set of folks in grad program who were pre-med were skewed and the higher achievers. From the posts of others, it looks like it's the latter. Thanks for those honestly who replied from experience, rather than bitterly belittling. It was also originally posted in pre-Allo.

 

[relentless11]

For the most part, the replies to this thread are pretty much correct. However I want to add:

(1) The difficulty of ones graduate program isn't just about grades, but also about what they did. In terms of masters programs, there are usually two kinds: (a) masters by thesis, that is, one does research and writes a thesis to earn their masters degree, or (b) masters by exam, where you take an oral/written exam that covers all your courses. Choosing masters by thesis implies doing mandatory research, therefore despite taking "less" classes compared to undergrads, they are in effect working full time to get their research done on time. Doing masters by exam doesn't mean that these people aren't working or doing research either. Therefore this will be addressed by the adcoms.

Now, one also forgets that there are PhD students applying to med school as well. These people will be doing more research than a typical masters student. Some programs may require PhD students to take more classes too.
So that must be weighed in with their GPA. I for one take about 8 units of classes, and have 10 units of research. So I average about 18 units per quarter.

(2) To give an example of grad courses offered through my school (UC Davis). Grad level courses in pharmacology, physiology, pathology, med statistics, and molecular biology are ALL as hard or harder than the med school courses. There's not even a comparable course at the undergrad level. The med school faculty teach these courses, they use the same powerpoint slides, and we use the same texts. The exams are harder because they aren't multiple choice. We actually have to solve problems, rather than regurgitate information. Of course nothing wrong with the latter, since the med students have to prepare for Step I.

How do I know this? Because I've taken all these courses as a PhD candidate. When I was preparing for my qualifying exam, I used the med school course as review...and realized it was actually MORE watered down than my course! So to imply that grad school, at least my program is easy is to imply that UC Davis School of Medicine is also easy...which is of course false.

(3) We don't know what these people took as graduate students. Some may have just taken the BARE minimum and maintained a 4.0. That is quite obvious for adcoms. Others may take tons of grad level electives and done well. Then there are those like me, who took my core classes and take additional medical level and upper division undergrad level classes to boost my undergrad GPA. There is no way for someone to determine that X-profile on MDapplicants is one of these three kinds of people.

Anyway just something to think about.