understanding med school grading schemes

[asdasd12345]

someone please tell me if i understand this correctly. for either undergrad, postbac, or graduate level courses there are 3 GPA's : science, non-science, and cumulative so you could have 9 gpa's. so a person who majors in biology and does well will have a better chance of getting into med school because they will have taken more courses to possible increase their science gpa. but a a humanities major, would have to take extra courses to increase their science gpa, if their grades on gen bio, ect werent that great?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[No Egrets]

You are correct in that the bio major will count all his/her bio courses in the science GPA and therefore could more easily fit in opportunities to "compensate" for poor performance in basic science courses with more science along the way.

Non-science majors, on the other hand, would have to "squeeze in" extra science classes to help bring up that BCPM (bio/chem/phys/math) GPA outside of their regular schedule of humanities classes if they want to make that compensation. I know people major in humanities and make up for low orgo grades by taking blow-off bio seminar courses.

 

[jlee9531]

there are three gpas basically...

bcpm, nonsci and cumulative.

each is broken down into grade level as well.

but you are assuming science gpa is more important than the rest which is not necessarily true.

a high percentage of humanities majors get in to med school over science majors.

med schools want well rounded individuals who have knowledge outside of science.

if you are a humanities major, all you need to do is take the basic prereqs and maybe biochem for the few schools that require that as well. if you do well in them then you are good to go. taking more science classes can also mean more chances to do poorly. thus having more units and making it harder to increase that sci gpa. if your interpretation of not doing that great is a B then I think you are worrying too much. Even if you get Cs, there have been many students that get Cs and still get into med schools no problem. even though i say this... it is almost essential to have at least a scigpa of over 3.0 tho.

im a science major but with a 3.1 sci gpa. i had 2 minors in the humanities which around a 3.8 gpa. my low sci gpa was at least somewhat alleviated by an upward trend in my grades which the schools like to see if you have a low sci gpa. they were very interested in my minors seeing how it was always a topic of conversation in my interviews.

 

[patzan]

GPA is an average. The only way more classes would help you is if you took more easy classes. To me, it would seem that humanities majors would have the advantage having generally easier and/or less competitive classes. Taking more classes does not increase your GPA unless you do well in them.

 

[hakksar]

so a person who majors in biology and does well will have a better chance of getting into med school because they will have taken more courses to possible increase their science gpa. but a a humanities major, would have to take extra courses to increase their science gpa, if their grades on gen bio, ect werent that great?

Yes, this would be true if they did poorly in gen bio. However, I have found the opposite to be true. If you are a humanities major there will only be a few science classes that you will need to take and therefore you can focus on them and do very well. If your a science major (Biochem/Bio/Chem/Micro etc) you take a lot of science classes and therefore have a lot of science classes to focus on. It is a lot easier to have a bad semester and lower your science GPA as a science major.

 

[asdasd12345]

i am one of those peopel who floundered around when i first got my BS and ended up with a poor gpa of 2.9. i wrote to some med schools and they told me to retake the core premed courses and apply. however i dont trust them all too much, i figure i would try and go above and beyond and do a BS in biology so they can see i definetly have a good enough science background and can cope with pressure.

 

[jlee9531]

Originally posted by asdasd12345
i am one of those peopel who floundered around when i first got my BS and ended up with a poor gpa of 2.9. i wrote to some med schools and they told me to retake the core premed courses and apply. however i dont trust them all too much, i figure i would try and go above and beyond and do a BS in biology so they can see i definetly have a good enough science background and can cope with pressure.

hmm..id just do what they said...do a postbacc or something and retake your core classes cause thats whats important. an extra A in microbio or genetics or whatever isnt going to impress them as long as you do well in your core prereqs.

 

[gsx56]

Yes. But it is your choice what you can major in. i don't feel sorry for science majors with low gpas because they could have just as easily been a humanities major.

Originally posted by patzan
GPA is an average. The only way more classes would help you is if you took more easy classes. To me, it would seem that humanities majors would have the advantage having generally easier and/or less competitive classes. Taking more classes does not increase your GPA unless you do well in them.

 

[patzan]

College Cum Magna Summa
Architecture 3.639?3.712 3.713?3.835 3.836?4.000
Business 3.716?3.857 3.858?3.943 3.944?4.000
Education 3.877?3.941 3.942?3.969 3.970?4.000
Engineering 3.820?3.914 3.915?3.973 3.974?4.000
Fine Arts 3.858?3.920 3.921?3.976 3.977?4.000
Health 3.789?3.887 3.888?3.968 3.969?4.000
Humanities 3.842?3.926 3.927?3.982 3.983?4.000
Medicine* 3.569?3.774 3.775?3.838 3.839?4.000
Mines* 3.614?3.756 3.757?3.882 3.883?4.000
Nursing 3.857?3.907 3.908?3.968 3.969?4.000
Pharmacy* 3.673?3.844 3.845?3.897 3.898?4.000
Science 3.894?3.959 3.960?3.991 3.992?4.000
Soc & Beh. Science 3.779?3.888 3.889?3.966 3.967?4.000
Social Work 3.725?3.834 3.835?3.837 3.838?4.000
*graduate programs


Copied and pasted the honors ranges from the University of Utah's web site if anyone is interested. Are smarter people in science or is this a result of grade inflation?

The answer would be interesting in light of this thread.

 

[twinklz]

To me, it would seem that humanities majors would have the advantage having generally easier and/or less competitive classes. Taking more classes does not increase your GPA unless you do well in them

Are smarter people in science or is this a result of grade inflation?

As a humanities major, I rather resent the implication that humanities classes are easier or that the people aren't as intelligent.

But anyways, my take on the situation is that science classes might indeed be harder but it is much easier to get a good grade. Sure, I can write a paper, not spend much time on it and end up with a B. But I found it to be virtually impossible to get an A on a paper despite the extra work I put into it.

For my science classes, the work I put into the subject was directly proportional to the grade I recieved. If I worked hard, I did well. If I sorta blew it off, well my grade suffered. As a result my science GPA was significantly higher than my non science GPA.

 

[asdasd12345]

you must have gone to a hard school, at UF i did nothing on papers and got A's. in fact in my film course i entirely BS'd 2 essays and got perfect scores on them both.

 

[gsx56]

Oh, I was a humanities major.

It's just a different kind of intelligence... not inherently easier. However, it depends on the school you go to and the classes you take (survey courses v. grad level seminars, etc) for sure.

 

[tautomer]

Originally posted by jlee9531
hmm..id just do what they said...do a postbacc or something and retake your core classes cause thats whats important. an extra A in microbio or genetics or whatever isnt going to impress them as long as you do well in your core prereqs.

Is this true? I hope not. I screwed up my freshman year and got a C and a C+ in my semester chem 2 and bio 1 classes. Now I'm on the up and up with my other pre reqs, but I'm relying on advanced classes to boost my BCPM even further. I think it would impress them if I was getting a C in Intro to Bio but A's in cell bio and genetics, but if not, then I'm screwed.