Med School Grading System

[dshnay]

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Hey, does anyone know which schools have Pass/Fail grading system. I know UCSF has it but is it the only school?

 

[clayito]

Duke has a pass/pass with honors/fail policy for most classes from what I have heard and read.

 

[dave613]

stony brook has a pass/fail/honors system too.

 

[efex101]

Mayo is pass/fail for sure for MS1

 

[drguy22]

i have always been curious of this..there are a few schools that use honors/high pass/pass/fail....but why? y cant they just use the A,B,C scale? i think its just wierd

 

[katiekate]

You can search all of the grading systems of US and Canadian medical schools on the AMCAS website at http://services.aamc.org/currdir/start.cfm. it's really great information all at one website. Good luck!!

 

[dshnay]

i have always been curious of this..there are a few schools that use honors/high pass/pass/fail....but why? y cant they just use the A,B,C scale? i think its just wierd

Pass/Fail system reduces competition and lets you actually have a life. You get a P grade wheter you 95% on the exam or 75%.

and thanks to everyone who replied.

 

[drguy22]

Pass/Fail system reduces competition and lets you actually have a life. You get a P grade wheter you 95% on the exam or 75%.

and thanks to everyone who replied.

ya i agree with the pass fail system..but some school have honors/high pass/pass/fail.....so tats just like ABCF

 

[gildas]

Yale, no grading for the first two years

 

[drguy22]

Yale, no grading for the first two years

awwwww man i wish my school had that 🙁🙁 lucky bast*rds

 

[dshnay]

So a total comes up to 5 out of 125 schools, that have pass/fail system?

 

[prettyslick]

I think Emory is on number scale

 

[morganlefay]

Ewww, yeah Emory is ABCDF, and it sucks cause I want to go there....but I hate the idea of dealing with grades in med school. 🙁

 

[beanbean]

UCONN is pass/fail. No honors or low pass/high pass; just pure and simple pass/fail.

 

[Bones2008]

UMich has pass/fail for the first year at this point. potential shift to pass/fail for the second year is in the works.

 

[ucjffj]

Pass/Fail system reduces competition and lets you actually have a life. You get a P grade wheter you 95% on the exam or 75%.

and thanks to everyone who replied.

yeah, but they secretly keep track of grades for ranking purposes later

 

[mshheaddoc]

yeah, but they secretly keep track of grades for ranking purposes later

exactly ... no purpose to the pass/fail grading scales. Whether they are public or not ... they are still there.

 

[taehong81]

I really don't think grading system matters all that much. They heavily rely on your board score rather than your first two year grades. I go to a school that has A-F grading system, it is not a big deal. They say that all your first two year grades combined are about equal to one your grades from one of your rotation in the third year.

 

[Bones2008]

yeah, but they secretly keep track of grades for ranking purposes later

This is not a blanket rule but depends on the school. For example, at UMich the actual scores from pass/fail are never used for ranking. In fact, the school doens't even release rank to residency programs anyways.

 

[MNgrrl]

UVM is Honors/Pass/Marginal Pass/Fail, but the percentages are skewed such that Honors is >93%, Pass is 75-93%, MP is 70-74%, and Fail is <70%. I think most schools that have a similar system will have skewed percentages as well. The MP is to make sure you aren't squeaking by - if you get 2 MPs in a year, you have to go before the advancement committee, and I think if you get a 3rd you have to repeat the year.

 

[dshnay]

Alright to those who think that schools somehow keep your grade in secret, that's totally not true. Everything depends on how well you do on your USMLE exams. In addition there's a usually new type of grading system which begins during your clinical years (3rd and 4th) (During clinicals ucsf has High pass/pass/fail system). However during the first two years some schools have Pass/Fail grading system without having to assign their students high honors or marginal pass as their grade for the class. I know this for a fact that UCSF has it. It's either you pass a class or you fail it. I think UCLA might also have the same grading system, but i'm not too sure.

 

[Mongo]

I know for a fact that UCLA does rank their students and gives out "recognition" to people who does well on the different blocks. It really is a graded school.

As for grades adding to the stress level, it does a ton. My friend who is the same year as I went to a different school that had grades. Comparing the level of stress we went through it was like night and day. He pushed himself every day of the first two years because it was something that perminantly went on his record. I was able to relax until our year end tests because I knew that those were the only things that mattered. I focused more on the important information. He had to focus on the minute stuff to be sure that he got all of the trick questions. And in the end, I beat him (and my school beat his) by a long shot, even though he had higher grades and MCAT's than I did.

Granted, totally anecdotal, but he told me then he wished he was at my school all the time.

 

[Taurus]

Case is strictly pass/fail for years 1 & 2. Honors/high pass/pass/fail for years 3 & 4.

 

[WatchingWaiting]

If the school has an AOA honor society, it is highly probable that your first and second year grades are being tracked internally and will be given at least some weight in determing whether or not you are admitted. The weight is generally quite small though relative to clinical grades. Same goes for being designated top 1/3, middle 1/3, bottom 1/3 designation in the Dean's Letter, which most schools also do. A lot of schools have Pass/Fail for the preclinical years. I think Stanford is currently unique is not merely having pass/fail for all four years, but also including only narrative comments in the Dean's letter (ie: no top 1/3, middle 1/3 designation).

 

[Mongo]

I think Stanford is currently unique is not merely having pass/fail for all four years, but also including only narrative comments in the Dean's letter (ie: no top 1/3, middle 1/3 designation).

I wouldn't believe that for one second.

 

[dshnay]

If anyone is still interested, and wants to know which school offers pass/fail, there's the site.

http://services.aamc.org/currdir/section1/grading1.cfm

 

[lattimer13]

so schools have pass/fail, some honors/pass/fail, some honors/high pass/pass/fail...etc.

even though youre not getting grades, most still have a way rank you.

 

[lynnetm]

From what I gleaned from the MSAR, it seems that the majority of schools either already have or are going towards a pass/fail system to reduce competition and emphasize learning for it's own sake--in my experience pre-meds are ridiculously competitive! Graded schools seem to be dwindling...Are most people also under this impression?

 

[bmischen]

So, Duke is pass fail...here are the details:
they have a new curriculum that has 3 blocks during your first (and only classroom year)
Block 1: Molecules and Cells (cell, biochemistry, genetics): 6.5 weeks: Pass/ Fail
Block 2: Normal Body (anatomy, physiology, neuro, behavioral science, micro anatomy): 15.5 weeks: Honors/ Pass/ Fail
Block 3: Body and Disease (micro, immunology, path, and pharmacology): 20 weeks: Honors/ Pass/ Fail
Practice course: doctor/patient relationships, interviewing, physical exam, basic counseling skills: Pass/ Fail

we heard rumors that the entire first year was going to be straight Pass Fail, but they turned out to be only rumors....things could still change, but I doubt it.
At the end of the first year you will have 4 grades (including practice course)...that's it
BTW: you better come prepared and ready to hit the books hard....there is not much breathing room (except to campout for Duke B-ball tickets (luckily not the weekend before a test this year!!!)

 

[velo]

wash u is P/F for M1 👍 👍

 

[TommyGunn04]

Duke has a pass/pass with honors/fail policy for most classes from what I have heard and read.

Yes, this is true. Duke is actually COMPLETELY pass/fail for the first block of courses (about 1/3 of the first year), and then H/P/F for the rest of the first year. They actually planned on making the entire first year, meaning the entire basic science curriculum, pass/fail only, but the basic science professors apparently were offended and felt that their contribution to medical education was thereby being undervalued. So it doesn't look like it'll ever be totally pass/fail, but it's definitely closer now than when I was a Duke first-year in 2002.

The grading system for the clinical years is honors/high pass/pass/low pass/fail, however the only things that show up on your transcript are honors/pass/fail. The high pass/low pass are for internal purposes, to help with deans letters, etc. I just finished my clinical year, and I think it worked pretty well as a grading system; despite the similarities, in my mind it definitely was NOT the same as an A/B/C/D type of system.

 

[Blake]

A to E system here. Considering we have 2 exams the first semester, it's very important to get a good grade, since you can't catch up with another exam...

 

[patzan]

If anyone is still interested, and wants to know which school offers pass/fail, there's the site.

http://services.aamc.org/currdir/section1/grading1.cfm

I go to Vanderbilt and this website is not accurate for Vandy. We have P/F first year, H/P/F second year, and H/HP/P/F for clinical years.

 

[nasdr]

stanford seems to have the most chill grading system from what i can tell...plus, being in palo alto would be tight. now, if only i would hear from them.

 

[TommyGunn04]

I go to Vanderbilt and this website is not accurate for Vandy. We have P/F first year, H/P/F second year, and H/HP/P/F for clinical years.

Yeah, that website is completely inaccurate for Duke as well. I wonder where they got that info???