How stressful are letter grades?

[whoanelly]

I hate to make this part of my decision but, after 4 years of stressing over grades in undergrad (in contemplation of getting into med school), I dread going to a med school that gives letter grades rather than pass/fail or even the honors/high honors system. For those of you in schools with the traditional grading system, do you think it makes for fiercer competition among students? Are most grades given on a curve, or in reality are there few grades below a "C"? Are there benefits? If you had it to do over and had a choice, would you still go to your school in spite of the grading system? In other words, should this be a factor in my decision among schools? Any and all insights are appreciated!

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[Kazu]

I prefer the letter grade. Although it doesn't really matter because your class rank is what is important. Whether you have letters, pass/fail, etc. you are still ranked. By having letter grades I feel like I have a better idea of where I stand. Generally our classes are not curved and less than a C is failing. Some schools do pass/honors/high pass. Its the same as ABC, just different names. In reality they are the same.

 

[vyc]

i heard that at a school with P/F, step 1 and 2 scores then become really important for matching.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by vyc:
•i heard that at a school with P/F, step 1 and 2 scores then become really important for matching.•••••On that note, does having high letter grades put you in a better postion to make up for not-so-hot board scores? Judging from experience, I bet that could happen to me...

 

[Kirk]

OK! I completly understand moving to a pass/fail or even a honors/pass/fail system to try and reduce the competition, etc. What I don't understand is why Kansas University uses this system:

Superior (SU) -work of marked excellence, indicating high honor
High Satisfactory (HS) -work of much more than average quality
Satisfactory (SA) -work of average quality
Low Satisfactory (LS) -work of lowest acceptable quality
Unsatisfactory (U) -work of less than acceptable quality

It's not a real brainer to see that it is just A,B,C,D,F in words instead of letters. Can someone tell me the point??

 

[guardian]

Do schools with letter grades further subdivide the C grading range into C+, C, C-? If not then it's pretty much the same as honors, high pass, and pass.

 

[Hercules]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by guardian:
•Do schools with letter grades further subdivide the C grading range into C+, C, C-? If not then it's pretty much the same as honors, high pass, and pass.•••••My school uses letter grades sans +/-

 

[guardian]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Hercules:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by guardian:
•Do schools with letter grades further subdivide the C grading range into C+, C, C-? If not then it's pretty much the same as honors, high pass, and pass.•••••My school uses letter grades sans +/-•••••That'd really be stressful if they subdivided the C range, well for me at least :wink: . At my school honors is top ~20%, high pass the next ~20%, pass ~55-60%. So it's pretty much like a letter grading system except that "pass" just sounds better than a C.

 

[Kazu]

Residency directors know that there is variation with the grading systems..pass/fail, letter grades etc, so they are not good comparisons. They take that into consideration. It is part of the reason class rank is a big deal. It can be used regardless of the grading system. In the end it is just a matter of what makes you feel less stressed. Like you said, "pass" makes you feel better than a "C". At jefferson some classes are pass/fail, and the others are actually number grades, not letters. But I think most of our averages are in the mid to high 80's range.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

So, even if you get graded pass/fail, they rank you by your numbers? How exactly do they rank you?

 

[Kazu]

you still take exams and exams have percentages. So they can compare your percentage grade and give you a rank, they just don't put the percentage in your posted class grade. They use the same thing to decide whether you get a grade of pass/fail etc.

 

[Kazu]

people don't like grades because they are a way of rating and ranking your acedemic performance and they think that pass/fail will get them out of that competition. But in reality there is no way to go to school and not get a rating/ranking relative to other students.