Is there GPA in medical school?

[MustangGtV894]

Specifically for schools that use the Honors, High Pass, Pass system in the basic sciences and clinical years. Is there like a GPA equivalent for each of the things?

Just curious 🙄

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[Hopefulone09]

No... not there is not

 

[KeyzerSoze]

No... not there is not

Depends on the school. Any school which uses "Honors, High Pass, Pass" is basically just A/B/C/F and may have a GPA.

 

[turkeyjerky]

Depends on the school. Any school which uses "Honors, High Pass, Pass" is basically just A/B/C/F and may have a GPA.

I think most places don't actually calculate a GPA though. However, most schools will report class rank on the dean's letter--this'll likely entail ranking you on your numerical performance in each of the courses/rotations you've completed; some schools include step 1 too.

 

[gravitywave]

no wonder no PDs use the Dean's Letter

 

[swamprat]

Depends on the school. Any school which uses "Honors, High Pass, Pass" is basically just A/B/C/F and may have a GPA.

It's not really because Honors is usually from like 90-94+, high pass is usually just a point or two below that and everything else falls into pass so someone with an 88 gets a P just like someone with a 71.

 

[Brigade4Radiant]

It's not really because Honors is usually from like 90-94+, high pass is usually just a point or two below that and everything else falls into pass so someone with an 88 gets a P just like someone with a 71.

Again it all depends on the school. Some high pass is 80+ and honors is 90. At my school we just have the A/B/C/D/F grading system.

 

[patel2]

I think most places don't actually calculate a GPA though. However, most schools will report class rank on the dean's letter--this'll likely entail ranking you on your numerical performance in each of the courses/rotations you've completed; some schools include step 1 too.

Is it more common to report class rank or class quartile?

 

[nitemagi]

Quartiles or similar %'s can show up in your dean's letter. A few school's are straight pass/fail. Most have honors within the clinical years. Some have letter grades. I've seen transcripts from a number of osteopathic schools that go by percent, so every point is counted.

 

[Jolie South]

Moving to Pre-allopathic.

 

[Disinence2]

Each school has their own method for doing this.

In my opinion find a school that just does Pass Fail for your pre-clinical years. (Improves cooperation amongst students, and your step 1 score will be all that programs really care about during your 1st 2 years)

Then pass fail honors for clinical years.

The Deans letter will usually divide up the students into some form or adjectives (Outstanding, excellent, good etc. )

 

[rHinO1]

😱 what? If there are no GPAs, then how am I supposed to maintain my lifetime 4.0 and get outside affirmation of my self worth? This is very concerning...


Also, do you actually meet with the dean before he writes a letter for you? Or is it strictly written based on #s and evaluations?

 

[StudyShy]

😱 what? If there are no GPAs, then how am I supposed to maintain my lifetime 4.0 and get outside affirmation of my self worth? This is very concerning...

 

[Law2Doc]

Each school has their own method for doing this.
...

For this reason, the "grades" in the first two years of med school don't really matter all that much. It's the "dirty little secret" nobody tells you, but residencies are going to focus on your Step 1 score and clinical rotation evaluations as your "grade". Nobody cares if you had a 3.5 or a 3.0 or even a 2.8 equivalent in the pre-clinical years. If you passed everything and learned enough to do well on Step 1, you are in good shape. It's a pretty different world than undergrad, where course grades actually impact your GPA and thus are meaningful in terms of your next station in life. Getting a pass in a pass fail med school course won't impact your life.

It also ends up being humbling in med school because most people who get into med school are high GPA types who can't imagine being in the bottom half of the class. Yet half will be in med school. The admissions folks do a great job of truncating out the folks from college who made most of us look good during our undergrad years. Now the worst person in med school was someone who still got their share of high grades in undergrad, and so the competition to even just be average is now pretty intense. Which is why a lot of med schools do the pass/fail thing -- to try and serve as a safety valve for intense competition, basically acknowledging that the only "grade" that matters is on Step 1.

Step 1 is a beast, and the best way to pre-prepare for that test is to work hard in the first two years of med school. No way you can learn it all the summer before the test. If you are doing well in med school, you spend an intense 6 weeks "refreshing" and can do fine. If you are struggling in med school, there's probably a good correlation with being less ready for Step 1.

 

[Law2Doc]

...

Also, do you actually meet with the dean before he writes a letter for you? Or is it strictly written based on #s and evaluations?

Usually you communicate with one of several "assistant deans" on the "deans letter" (the MSPE) and may get to at least proofread a version of it for typos before it goes out, although you have no real control over the content. It's important to know about ahead of time though, because you may be asked to explain away things in your interviews. In addition to a section by the dean discussing your activities, accolades and in some cases rank (in other cases they simply use different text for folks who were "good", "excellent" or "outstanding" students), it typically will contain your rotation and elective evaluations verbatim. As a result, how you did in years 3-4 matter more than years 1-2, and your Step 1 score is the most important numeric stat you have.

 

[mvenus929]

Also, do you actually meet with the dean before he writes a letter for you? Or is it strictly written based on #s and evaluations?

My impression is that it varies from school to school. I'm still not sure which Dean actually writes and signs our Dean's letter, but we have a Dean for Student Affairs that we meet with throughout pre-clinical years and they get to know us pretty well. The Dean of the med school gave us a lecture at the beginning of the year presenting his research, and we really haven't seen him since.

 

[rHinO1]

Thanks for the info mvenus and law2doc.

My impression is that it varies from school to school. I'm still not sure which Dean actually writes and signs our Dean's letter, but we have a Dean for Student Affairs that we meet with throughout pre-clinical years and they get to know us pretty well. The Dean of the med school gave us a lecture at the beginning of the year presenting his research, and we really haven't seen him since.

Are the meetings with the dean of student affairs advisory in nature?

 

[Monocles]

For this reason, the "grades" in the first two years of med school don't really matter all that much. It's the "dirty little secret" nobody tells you, but residencies are going to focus on your Step 1 score and clinical rotation evaluations as your "grade". Nobody cares if you had a 3.5 or a 3.0 or even a 2.8 equivalent in the pre-clinical years. If you passed everything and learned enough to do well on Step 1, you are in good shape. It's a pretty different world than undergrad, where course grades actually impact your GPA and thus are meaningful in terms of your next station in life. Getting a pass in a pass fail med school course won't impact your life.

It also ends up being humbling in med school because most people who get into med school are high GPA types who can't imagine being in the bottom half of the class. Yet half will be in med school. The admissions folks do a great job of truncating out the folks from college who made most of us look good during our undergrad years. Now the worst person in med school was someone who still got their share of high grades in undergrad, and so the competition to even just be average is now pretty intense. Which is why a lot of med schools do the pass/fail thing -- to try and serve as a safety valve for intense competition, basically acknowledging that the only "grade" that matters is on Step 1.

Step 1 is a beast, and the best way to pre-prepare for that test is to work hard in the first two years of med school. No way you can learn it all the summer before the test. If you are doing well in med school, you spend an intense 6 weeks "refreshing" and can do fine. If you are struggling in med school, there's probably a good correlation with being less ready for Step 1.

Thanks for sharing. I think this is a great system because it emphasizes learning for the sake of learning as opposed to for grades.

 

[mvenus929]

Thanks for the info mvenus and law2doc.

Are the meetings with the dean of student affairs advisory in nature?

The single official meeting I've had with my Dean was basically a get to know you session, and he wanted us to fill out some specialty interest survey beforehand so that he could get a handle on what we're interested in (I came out like 92% peds, and the next closest was internal medicine at like 10%).

That said, our deans are pretty cool. We had a lunch sponsored by our Dean towards the beginning of the year where we got to know people in our group, and he announced different options for summer (I wasn't able to go to that meeting, cause there was another meeting at the same time). He's also come to some of our social events, and knows me by name. My Dean also happens to be the Dean of Admissions, so I've talked to him a bit about that secondary to the students that I've hosted. He's also done a patient interview for our class, and his patients love him. It's awesome.

One of the other Deans is involved in residency placement for the Peds department here, so while she's not my Dean, I've talked to her a bit as well, and all her students love her as well.