how has your school's grading system (GPA vs P/F) affected you?

[Rvting]

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How has the typical grading system of a GPA or the Pass/Fail system really shaped you as a dentist and/or a student?

To my understanding, doing a P/F system allows you to be more open with your peers meanwhile GPA presents a more cut throat, competitive environment.

 

[BYU4you]

I was at a GPA school that gave out our ranks. I liked it because I was a gunner going for OMFS so gave me a way to stand out. The majority of my classmates who weren't specializing didn't care as long as they were passing and learning how to be good dentists, Im sure they would've preferred P/F but didn't really matter. Im sure there was a group of students who wanted to specialize and having a GPA and Rank was not a good thing if they weren't doing as well.

Im now in a P/F medical school and I definitely put in less effort in than I would've if it was graded and ranked. On the other hand I'm also less stressed so it really just depends on your end goals.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Columbia told us we wouldn't be ranked and then still ranked us into 3 categories (lol)

It hasn't affected me

 

[princeafrica]

I am at a graded school. Some classes are graded and some are P/F. Classes that are graded people tend to try harder in and classes that are P/F students tend to not try hard or just not show up

 

[DMD12345]

Unranked w/ gpa is a nice balance because as long as you get a relatively high gpa you have that competitive look and extra cv component compared to straight P/F, but you're not stressing over whether a B here and there is going to mean top 15% vs top 30%. It keeps you on your toes but with less stress.

 

[dental1993]

P/F here, I can honestly say I don't try as hard as I should be lol (a lot of folks in my cohort have agreed with me on this). Even if I don't pass, remediation is a cake walk at my school. Like you mentioned, I don't sense any competitiveness in my cohort and we're very supportive of each other - I feel comfortable reaching out to any of my classmates if I need help and vice versa. Alternatively, I've spoken to a student at another DS in my city recently (they're graded), and in comparison to their experience, I definitely have it easier; a good amount of them had to retake their entire first/second year $$$ (meanwhile I realized I can get by on studying a lecture an hour before an exam my D3/D4 year and I'm still on track to graduate on time). A lot of the folks at my school are specializing too since we have a pretty good match rate.

 

[Rvting]

P/F here, I can honestly say I don't try as hard as I should be lol (a lot of folks in my cohort have agreed with me on this). Even if I don't pass, remediation is a cake walk at my school. Like you mentioned, I don't sense any competitiveness in my cohort and we're very supportive of each other - I feel comfortable reaching out to any of my classmates if I need help and vice versa. Alternatively, I've spoken to a student at another DS in my city recently (they're graded), and in comparison to their experience, I definitely have it easier; a good amount of them had to retake their entire first/second year $$$ (meanwhile I realized I can get by on studying a lecture an hour before an exam my D3/D4 year and I'm still on track to graduate on time). A lot of the folks at my school are specializing too since we have a pretty good match rate.

Do you feel prepared as a dentist? That's my one concern. Go to an 'easy' P/F school but then coming out with unsharpened skills and abilites.

 

[Chief's Pineapple]

Do you feel prepared as a dentist? That's my one concern. Go to an 'easy' P/F school but then coming out with unsharpened skills and abilites.

Are there any schools where you do actually feel prepared? Are there?

As for dull skills and abilities, the school can only do so much. It's up to the person who's attending to try their best to learn what's offered. Even then, you'll probably only learn the basics. If you came out of a P/F school feeling unprepared, I'm sure it's because the schools only teach so much; it has nothing to do with whether a school is graded or P/F. You may have a better time regarding mental health at a P/F school (and that's a maybe), though.

 

[redchesus]

P/F made my dental school experience really nice... very chill, especially the didactic portion.
Clinic was clinic, the P/F thing didn't really affect it, everybody had the same numerical requirements to meet by graduation. I felt prepared just fine for the real world (even more so than some colleagues from ranked school, so it is very much an individual thing).

It did make things more difficult when I went back to apply to specialty though, because I had no rank or GPA. So I had to take the ADAT just to have a number. I managed to get in still so... P/F wasn't a big big hindrance.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

P/F is useless unless it’s true pass/fail (no ranking).

I can speak as somebody who is a med student at a school with pass fail but also ranking and it’s just as bad as getting a GPA—maybe even worse. It’s very competitive and if you want to match ortho, optho, ent, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, urology, IR, you best be in the top quartile. This is not really true at higher ranked schools as they tend to be pass fail