How important are MS1 grades?

[nickster]

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In a Pass/High Pass/Honors situation is it important to strive for High Pass or is just Pass enough. My fellow classmates, as well as many MS2's, seem to think Pass is plenty. I've always been a high achiever so naturally I set my goals on at least High Pass but now I'm having second thoughts. In other words why stress out for top grades if they aren't important. Is there such a thing as GPA in medical school.

 

[vgirl712]

Most people seem to say first year grades (and second year grades too) don't matter that much in and of themselves, but the information is important for Step 1, so you might at well learn it while you have more time than cramming it all in later. At our school, the grade differentiations don't matter as much as your numerical score, which is used to calculate class rank. So, an 80% is better than a 65%, even though both are in the "pass" category. But we don't really have a GPA anymore.

Of course high pass and honors are better than passing, but having a life is important too. Also, getting a high pass or honors in one class and letting other classes suffer is worse than not having any of the higher grades.

 

[dutchman]

In a Pass/High Pass/Honors situation is it important to strive for High Pass or is just Pass enough. My fellow classmates, as well as many MS2's, seem to think Pass is plenty. I've always been a high achiever so naturally I set my goals on at least High Pass but now I'm having second thoughts. In other words why stress out for top grades if they aren't important. Is there such a thing as GPA in medical school.

Do your best and leave the rest.

 

[njbmd]

In a Pass/High Pass/Honors situation is it important to strive for High Pass or is just Pass enough. My fellow classmates, as well as many MS2's, seem to think Pass is plenty. I've always been a high achiever so naturally I set my goals on at least High Pass but now I'm having second thoughts. In other words why stress out for top grades if they aren't important. Is there such a thing as GPA in medical school.

Pass = MD/DO but striving for the highest grades and mastery of the information presented can make the difference between getting into the residency of your choice in the location of your choice versus hoping for a match. Do the best you can as the top graduates of any medical school in this country always control their fate.

If you have a scholarship, as I did, all grades counted. Some folks were awarded merit scholarships after a strong performance in their pre-clinical years. Do pre-clinical grades matter? Yes, because they generally set the tone for the clinical years. I have yet to see someone dramatically rise to the top of the class from the bottom half during third year. Somewhere it may be done it's unusual.

 

[Law2Doc]

In other words why stress out for top grades if they aren't important. Is there such a thing as GPA in medical school.

I have been told by multiple mentors that the "dirty little secret" of med school is that the pre-clinical year grades barely matter, the first even less than the second year. But they are good prep for Step 1, which does count, and the material will ultimately be good fodder for pimping during the clinical years, which also count. Do your best, pass everything, and hopefully stow some of the info away into long term memory for when it actually matters. The schools want you to learn everything well, so they'd just as soon you stay stressed and work hard, which is why most schools don't go that extra step and eliminate competiton altogether by eliminating honors, ranking etc.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

They don't count for a lot because a lot of practicing doctors don't use the type of material you're taught first year and don't particurally like it. This has become even more true in recent years where the amount of biochemistry, molecular/cellular biology, and genetics has skyrocketted. So if you don't do stupendously first year, it won't kill you.

However, it will hurt you if you fail a lot of classes. Even though it's not the most relevant stuff, if you can't manage to pass that reflects poorly on your mental abilities or your dedication to the field, or both.

That being said, you'll have to take Step 1 after second year and you'll have a decent amount of that material on that examination (especially in the areas I said above that aren't clinically relevant) so might as well learn it well the first time.

Also, depending on your school, even if your school doesn't have a "GPA", a lot of schools secretely tabulate class ranks. Some of them only use them for AOA purposes, some of them actually put it on your Dean's letter. The rumor around my school is that even though the administration claim they don't keep track of class rank for anything but awards and AOA, they DO put it on your Dean's letter.