How favorable are AB's looked upon by med schools?

[wlee43]

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Comparable to A's and B's. Would an applicant still be fairly competitive with mostly AB's?

 

[transfec]

Comparable to A's and B's. Would an applicant still be fairly competitive with mostly AB's?

?

A lot of B's is not good. You should be shooting for A's all the time.

 

[deleted307836]

I think you get to keep your shirt on during the interview

 

[wlee43]

?

A lot of B's is not good. You should be shooting for A's all the time.

I meant AB's , as in B+

 

[transfec]

I meant AB's , as in B+

I've never heard of AB's... lol

You should have just said B+.

A B+ is no A- or A. If you get too many, you're going to be in trouble.

A B+ is 3.3. You don't want a cumulative GPA anywhere close to that.

 

[wlee43]

I've never heard of AB's... lol

You should have just said B+.

A B+ is no A- or A. If you get too many, you're going to be in trouble.

A B+ is 3.3. You don't want a cumulative GPA anywhere close to that.

I thought AMCAS counts B+ as 3.5? At least my school does..

 

[transfec]

i thought amcas counts b+ as 3.5? At least my school does..

amcas:

A
4.0
a-
3.7
b+
3.3
b
3.0
b-
2.7
c+
2.3
c
2.0
c-
1.7
d+
1.3
d
1.0
d-
0.7
f
0.0

A
4.0
AB
3.5
B
3.0
BC
2.5
C
2.0
CD
1.5
D
1.0
DE
0.5
F
0.0

So, if your school goes by AB, then it's 3.5.

That's still a pretty mediocre GPA.

 

[wlee43]

so since AB's count as 3.5, is that at least competitive

 

[Geekchick921]

I seriously came into this post expecting it to be about blood type and was all ready to dub it THE most ridiculous question I have ever seen on SDN.

Now I'm disappointed.

 

[deleted307836]

If you go to one of the few schools that give AB's I think amcas processes them in such a way that it may not be a B+ -- they still may be a 3.5 like your school assigns to them. I remember someone had a problem like this a while ago... try searching to see if anything comes up.

Edit: read transfec's post

 

[wlee43]

I seriously came into this post expecting it to be about blood type and was all ready to dub it THE most ridiculous question I have ever seen on SDN.

Now I'm disappointed.

Well sorry to disappoint you

 

[deleted307836]

I seriously came into this post expecting it to be about blood type and was all ready to dub it THE most ridiculous question I have ever seen on SDN.

Now I'm disappointed.

Med schools don't like AB's. All they do is take and take and don't give anything in return.

 

[Geekchick921]

Med schools don't like AB's. All they do is take and take and don't give anything in return.

Only if we're talking RBCs. Aren't they the universal donors for plasma?

 

[deleted307836]

Only if we're talking RBCs. Aren't they the universal donors for plasma?

Wikipedia says yes! I never knew that...

 

[xnfs93hy]

so since AB's count as 3.5, is that at least competitive

~3-70+ is competitive.

3.5 isn't terrible by any means, but it's not ideal.

 

[apumic]

so since AB's count as 3.5, is that at least competitive

No, not really. Looking at AAMC data, you could probably say:

4.0-3.8 Very competitive
3.8-3.65 Competitive (above average)
3.5-3.65 Somewhat competitive (low average, competitive w/ 30+ MCAT)
3.4-3.5 Marginally competitive (significantly below average, not competitive w/o 30+ MCAT)
3.2-3.4 Not competitive w/o mediating factors (incl. URM, very high MCAT)
3.0-3.2 Not competitive w/o outstanding mediating factors (incl. URM)
<3.0 Not competitive (period)

 

[eablackwell]

I thought you meant "able bodied" lol. In my world that's how we refer to you walking folk. 😉

 

[gasbait]

I like A's

 

[slowbutsteady]

"The Situation" would totally get into Harvard. It's that important.

 

[WorldChanger36]

If you keep your grades around 3.6 your fine in regards to grades. Not worry about an individual grade persay but be more concerned about your cGPA and your BCMP GPA. If you keep these around 3.6 ish your doing very well.

I do think school will be biting their nails over your indivual grades. They may look into your pre-recs a touch more but that is all covered in BCMP. Stop worrying and just shoot for the top.

 

[muffeoniv]

I seriously came into this post expecting it to be about blood type and was all ready to dub it THE most ridiculous question I have ever seen on SDN.

Now I'm disappointed.

YES YES YES YES YESY YES YES YES NOT ME HAHAHAHA NOT ME

 

[apumic]

YES YES YES YES YESY YES YES YES NOT ME HAHAHAHA NOT ME

Hey Muff...forgive me, but:

Hey everybody, Muff replied to a thread without creating a new one!

J/K, but welcome to the forum this time! 😀

 

[gettheleadout]

As far as AB's go, you'll want at least a six-pack to show off at your interviews, and an eight-pack is expected at top schools.

 

[MisterVeil]

Only if we're talking RBCs. Aren't they the universal donors for plasma?

Pff, who cares about plasma anyway? Plasma shmasma.

 

[NickNaylor]

Dinosaurs probably became extinct due to an asteroid impact.

 

[phylumchordata]

Haha, a lot of interesting responses to this and yet very few (that I could tell from a cursory glance) were helpful or accurate. You could get ALL AB's and with a 3.5 GPA you would still stand a good shot at an interview because your GPA is only a single part of your app and can easily be bolstered by your MCAT (not so much the other way around though). Plus throw in excellent EC's and you could be a very competitive student. This is hardly my opinion; look at the percentile range of accepted student GPA's at different schools. you will probably be quite surprised.
Always shoot for A's but give yourself a little slack and know that GPA's are not as important as many tend to believe.