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- Jul 30, 2019
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I'm a 2nd year at a DO school that has graded preclinicals and a GPA. I have been fully on the UFAPS boards grind, doing AnKing/AMBOSS/UWorld. Our in-house material don't align with 3rd party super well, and we're taught a lot of "useless" stuff according to our 3rd years (their words, not mine). I'm doing decently well in question banks, and I think AnKing is starting to stick. I've been told a strong Step 1 foundation lends itself well to preparing for Step 2.
I have been getting mostly B's in everything, so I'm around that 3.0-3.1 mark. Haven't failed anything. I know GPA is meaningless, but our class rank is entirely based on preclinical GPA, and I just learned that historically the 50th percentile point has almost always been ~3.4. I just did the math and it's unlikely I'll bring myself up to that point. I can't believe I'm worrying about f'ing GPA in medical school lol.
I'm just gonna keep what I'm doing to build a strong foundation for Step 2 and 3rd year. My clerkship grades will not affect my rank, so as far as I'm considered even a 6/6 H will not move me.
But it's got me worrying... is being in the 3rd quartile something that's gonna hurt me in a meaningful way if I keep grinding for Step 1/2 and end up with 250, 260+ (easier said than done I know)? It seems so silly to me that clinical grades don't affect my rank at all, and I hope that a class rank based entirely based on preclinical grades holds less meaning...
I'll probably have maybe 1 pub and a couple of posters, perhaps more. I'm strongly interested in academic IM/anesthesia. Thanks for your input.
I have been getting mostly B's in everything, so I'm around that 3.0-3.1 mark. Haven't failed anything. I know GPA is meaningless, but our class rank is entirely based on preclinical GPA, and I just learned that historically the 50th percentile point has almost always been ~3.4. I just did the math and it's unlikely I'll bring myself up to that point. I can't believe I'm worrying about f'ing GPA in medical school lol.
I'm just gonna keep what I'm doing to build a strong foundation for Step 2 and 3rd year. My clerkship grades will not affect my rank, so as far as I'm considered even a 6/6 H will not move me.
But it's got me worrying... is being in the 3rd quartile something that's gonna hurt me in a meaningful way if I keep grinding for Step 1/2 and end up with 250, 260+ (easier said than done I know)? It seems so silly to me that clinical grades don't affect my rank at all, and I hope that a class rank based entirely based on preclinical grades holds less meaning...
I'll probably have maybe 1 pub and a couple of posters, perhaps more. I'm strongly interested in academic IM/anesthesia. Thanks for your input.