list of schools where it is notoriously hard to get a good gpa

[bargostovan2]

if you know of any list them :

berkeley (?)

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[AlbinoHawk DO]

University of Chicago, MIT, Princeton, Cal Tech.

 

[Lucca]

CalTech
MIT
UChicago

The holy trinity of "**** college is hard."

EDIT: AlbinoHawkDO beat me to it, haha.

 

[sjv]

JHU

 

[Reckoner]

Princeton
Swarthmore
Harrison University

 

[Bulbasaur]

Princeton
MIT
CalTech
UChicago
JHU
UC Berkeley
Reed
Swarthmore

Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head

 

[osprey099]

JHU, where people brush their teeth in the library bathrooms.

 

[Lucca]

JHU, where people brush their teeth in the library bathrooms.

nothing beats UChicago's "Where fun comes to die" slogan. That slogan is just badass.

 

[Syndicate]

Cornell
JHU
Chicago
Stanford
Princeton
MIT
Cal Tech

 

[nets445]

Can't speak for the others, but definitely JHU:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/lets-bash-johns-hopkins-ug.902247/

 

[asw98]

Cornell truly isn't that bad.

 

[BeancheBlanco]

In general, the more "prestigious" the school, the tougher it is because they have more competitive students. And yes that is general so don't burn me.

 

[wtr24]

Depends on your major at Cornell.

 

[xTacocatx]

Mate, Cornell is not that bad.

 

[Reckoner]

nothing beats UChicago's "Where fun comes to die" slogan. That slogan is just badass.

 

[Psai]

I've also heard JHU come up often

 

[Chipster.]

Is it just me or is that horse packing some serious heat below the belt. That's just terrifying.

 

[solitarius]

Pointless thread.

If you are among the best, you would be admitted to Harvard or Stanford and just go because it should be a no-brainer.
If you're everyone else, you go to the easy and cheap state school, get a 4.0, and crush the MCAT.

 

[Reckoner]

Is it just me or is that horse packing some serious heat below the belt. That's just terrifying.

This is an odd situation. There are too many potential jokes I can reply with here. I'm paralyzed with choice. Do I go with the classic "hung like a horse"? What about a "how I know you're gay" joke? That could be solid. Or do I acknowledge re-watching the video to confirm the presence of said man meat and spin it into a line about how little it's getting used at UChicago??? Choose your own adventure Chipster.

 

[Muad'Dib]

This is an odd situation. There are too many potential jokes I can reply with here. I'm paralyzed with choice. Do I go with the classic "hung like a horse"? What about a "how I know you're gay" joke? That could be solid. Or do I acknowledge re-watching the video to confirm the presence of said man meat and spin it into a line about how little it's getting used at UChicago??? Choose your own adventure Chipster.

All of this. Yes.

 

[SolarMed]

I hear the average in most engineering schools is around a 2.8

 

[RedWedding]

Georgia Tech

 

[MDforMee]

Does Berkeley deflate GPAs or is it that there is more competition for grades?

 

[chillaxbro]

Is it just me or is that horse packing some serious heat below the belt. That's just terrifying.

mirin'

 

[ninjaman22]

At whatever school you don't study hard enough.

 

[sourdoughllama]

Palomar Community College
25% graduation rate.
http://www.collegemeasures.org/2-ye...alomar-College-CA/scorecard/graduation-rates/

 

[sourdoughllama]

if you know of any list them :

berkeley (?)

Cal isn't anywhere near as competitive as the other schools listed purely because the caliber of students accepted is not the same (it's more around UCLA/UMich/UVA area).

Everyone else: How do you all know these schools are GPA destroyers? Where is the data?

 

[jjmusicman29]

Pointless thread.

If you are among the best, you would be admitted to Harvard or Stanford and just go because it should be a no-brainer.
If you're everyone else, you go to the easy and cheap state school, get a 4.0, and crush the MCAT.

Just like that, huh?

 

[chenzt]

Cal isn't anywhere near as competitive as the other schools listed purely because the caliber of students accepted is not the same (it's more around UCLA/UMich/UVA area).

Everyone else: How do you all know these schools are GPA destroyers? Where is the data?

http://www.gradeinflation.com - scroll to the bottom

http://www.gradeinflation.com/sweet162010.html

 

[sourdoughllama]

http://www.gradeinflation.com - scroll to the bottom

http://www.gradeinflation.com/sweet162010.html

Thanks brah.

 

[sourdoughllama]

Well, for example, my school has the highest entrance averages (93.5% was the admission minima). Large portion came in with IB diplomas and stuff (some programs require 39-41 ish out of 42).

The class averages are normally in the 60s to low 70s. A lot of class mark breakdowns are 30% midterm/70% final or 35% lab final/65% course final.

• Example 1: Biology midterm average was "higher than desired" and the prof made the final average a 40% so that the final course average could be in the 60s.
• Example 2: Calc II test... 8 (hard) integrals in 40 minutes, no calculator, final answer only, +2 right answer/-1 wrong answer... the average of this was in the negatives and he curved the average to zero....

Anyways, my school is notorious for difficulty and grade deflation in Canada. I literally took a molecular bio course 3 years ago (the one mentioned above) and my friend asked me to help her on her midterm. She sent me her practice midterm (she goes to a school known to be pretty easy) and I got 100% on her midterm. Not because I remembered that much material, but because her exam was so basic and the mere skeleton of my course.

I don't see why people fight against this possibility. I'm not complaining, I chose to go to this school and I love it because it challenges me.

Selective entry -> enforced low average & competitive students -> harder to get good marks

Easier entry -> even if it is the same average, it is still easier to get good marks.

Yeah I believe there are schools that are inherently more difficult, for sure. I just wanted to see some data like @chenzt provided rather than

1- Rumors (or arbitrary lists based on "notoriousness")
2- Anecdotes

I could say I went to a school where 90% of the class got Cs and the avg GPA is around 2.5 if that's all I saw (because I was stupid and all my friends were stupid).

 

[TheBossDoctor]

I feel like UCLA also belongs on this list.

 

[solitarius]

Just like that, huh?

Yeah, it's my 1% vs. the 99% for med school admissions.

 

[neekzg]

I feel like UCLA also belongs on this list.

As a student here I would like to think so.. but not sure if that's just to make me feel better. It's certainly competitive (some of the pre-reqs and if you have a hard major) but it's probably not among the hardest schools.

 

[sourdoughllama]

I feel like UCLA also belongs on this list.

UCLA is definitely the #1 sexiest school

 

[XmedBarney]

In general, the more "prestigious" the school, the tougher it is because they have more competitive students. And yes that is general so don't burn me.

Not really. Harvard is notorious for grade inflation, whereas Princeton which has about the same caliber of students is famous for grade deflation.

In general, engineering schools tend to be misers about giving out A's everywhere and the public ivy's can wreak havoc on your GPA if you don't stay on top of your game.

 

[TheBossDoctor]

As a student here I would like to think so.. but not sure if that's just to make me feel better. It's certainly competitive (some of the pre-reqs and if you have a hard major) but it's probably not among the hardest schools.

I'm a student there too. Especially for science classes, the curve is set so that the average grade is a B-/C+. At Harvard, it'd be more like A-/B+. Not saying UCLA is at the top of this list, but we definitely have it harder than most schools out there.

 

[solitarius]

Not really. Harvard is notorious for grade inflation, whereas Princeton which has about the same caliber of students is famous for grade deflation.

In general, engineering schools tend to be misers about giving out A's everywhere and the public ivy's can wreak havoc on your GPA if you don't stay on top of your game.

Which only makes my advice more golden that it already is.

If you guys choose to go to these "tougher" schools or major in engineering, just don't get upset when nobody cares enough why your GPA is sub-par.

 

[XmedBarney]

Which only makes my advice more golden that it already is.

If you guys choose to go to these "tougher" schools or major in engineering, just don't get upset when nobody cares enough why your GPA is sub-par.

Your'e right, but it won't happen.

Reason#1: Many people don't plan to go into medicine, and they find their passion during college.
Reason#2: Many people ditch medicine, and then you have a useless degree from podunk u. that has no value(relatively).
Reason #3: People tend to overestimate how smart they are(especially in high school), and when they get to these big name schools they find out they're really middle of the pack and unfortunately by then, they don't have the study habits to get 4.o's.

 

[moisne]

Not really. Harvard is notorious for grade inflation, whereas Princeton which has about the same caliber of students is famous for grade deflation.

In general, engineering schools tend to be misers about giving out A's everywhere and the public ivy's can wreak havoc on your GPA if you don't stay on top of your game.

I believe the typical engineering school (I've only looked at about 20 schools) has an average GPA of 2.85.

 

[sourdoughllama]

Is it just me or is that horse packing some serious heat below the belt. That's just terrifying.

I studied the video, and it's his cell phone (watch him walk in and the phone outline). It does subsequently start looking like a 5-legged horse if you don't see the phone in the beginning though

 

[lazyindy]

SUNY Stony Brook
UMich
UCLA
Princeton
Univ Chicago
Swarthmore
Harvey Mudd
Cornell
Purdue
Boston University

 

[TotalDomination]

UCHICAGO

 

[medschoolmyname]

SJSU, if your doing engineering that is. http://blogs.sjsu.edu/today/2013/u-s-news-rankings-sjsu-eighth-overall/

Let's pretty much throw out lower division (basically the same for all schools ), and btw key to doing well in most classes during undergraduate years is to try to find the professor who fits you.

 

[boomshaketheroom]

Isn't there a ranking system some med schools use to adjust GPA? It was mentioned somewhere in this forum but I forgot what it was called.

Found it, maybe, its called Barron's I think.

 

[A7X]

Isn't there a ranking system some med schools use to adjust GPA? It was mentioned somewhere in this forum but I forgot what it was called.

Found it, maybe, its called Barron's I think.

I'm not sure about Medical Schools, but I know top law schools definitely have some kind of adjustment formula.

 

[walkitoff]

I literally dont want to hear it. I went to Gettysburg College as a Biochemistry & Molecular Biology major and just barely made it out with a 3.2 overall. I then went to JHU for graduate school BMB and laughed my way out of there with a 3.91. The undergrad students taking our courses complained how hard it was. What a joke.

 

[911 Turbo]

Cooper Union.........

 

[xroc]

Palomar Community College
25% graduation rate.
http://www.collegemeasures.org/2-ye...alomar-College-CA/scorecard/graduation-rates/

My undergrad state university had a 4 year graduation rate around 9% ...

 

[Plue00]

My undergrad state university had a 4 year graduation rate around 9% ...

That doesn't mean your undergrad was hard. It probably means your undergrad had low quality students.