What does it mean to call a post-bac program competitive?

[haoran]

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In undergrad, your exam grades directly converted to your GPA and vice-versa. Getting a 100 final grade in every class meant graduating with a 4.0

What does it mean to say that a post-bac program is competitive? I don't mean acceptance is competitive, but rather graduating with a high GPA is. What do the grades of the other students in your cohort have to do with your own GPA?

 

[DrMidlife]

Neurotic pre-allo question much?

In undergrad, your exam grades directly converted to your GPA and vice-versa. Getting a 100 final grade in every class meant graduating with a 4.0

So your school didn't grade on a curve. Lots of schools/departments/courses are graded on a curve. Generally faculty will crack down on a course where more than 5% of students get 95% or higher. If you took the prereqs at a competitive school, and you're in that top 5%, congrats, enjoy. Otherwise, your GPA is inflated; good luck on the MCAT.

What does it mean to say that a post-bac program is competitive? I don't mean acceptance is competitive, but rather graduating with a high GPA is. What do the grades of the other students in your cohort have to do with your own GPA?

A program that's hard to get into, and thus has a great reputation, is full of point scoring machines. A good program gives exams that almost nobody can get 100% on, so that a 100% means something.

Most students start their postbac (or med school) thinking they'll be #1. All but one are not.

 

[haoran]

Thanks for your response, DrMidlife. How does that curve work though? I start at HES this week to get my prereqs done, and I'm sure they grade this way. I really don't get how that works, though. It seems to be dependent on students all receiving significantly different grades. And I'm not being neurotic, I'm generally interested in learning how this works.

 

[kraskadva]

http://www.wikihow.com/Curve-Grades

 

[DrMidlife]

Thanks for your response, DrMidlife. How does that curve work though? I start at HES this week to get my prereqs done, and I'm sure they grade this way. I really don't get how that works, though. It seems to be dependent on students all receiving significantly different grades. And I'm not being neurotic, I'm generally interested in learning how this works.

So you haven't taken any stats. Fix that in your postbac.

 

[musicalfeet]

Neurotic pre-allo question much?

So your school didn't grade on a curve. Lots of schools/departments/courses are graded on a curve. Generally faculty will crack down on a course where more than 5% of students get 95% or higher. If you took the prereqs at a competitive school, and you're in that top 5%, congrats, enjoy. Otherwise, your GPA is inflated; good luck on the MCAT.

A program that's hard to get into, and thus has a great reputation, is full of point scoring machines. A good program gives exams that almost nobody can get 100% on, so that a 100% means something.

Most students start their postbac (or med school) thinking they'll be #1. All but one are not.

I somewhat agree here--but don't forget that just because a class/school is tough to get an A means that you get a good education. And also just because it's possible to get A's in the class means that the class is "dumbed" down. I'm pretty sure the majority of my post-bac class scored A's in all their prereqs (if not most), but we (collectively) gained a good foundation in the prereqs as well. For example, so far the lowest MCAT score in my class is a 33 (if I don't get that..well then I'm going to be the lowest scoring post-bac..how embarassing). I wouldn't say that our classes are "dumbed" down by any means--we just had really good instructors that cared more about us learning the material than us trying to outdo each other.

 

[SN12357]

Thanks for your response, DrMidlife. How does that curve work though? I start at HES this week to get my prereqs done, and I'm sure they grade this way. I really don't get how that works, though. It seems to be dependent on students all receiving significantly different grades. And I'm not being neurotic, I'm generally interested in learning how this works.

If you mean Harvard Extension, then no, not all of the classes grade that way. When I was there gen chem, orgo, and physics all used preset cutoffs. Bio might have curved.

Grading will be clearly explained in the syllabi. Read them. And keep in mind that just because a class isn't curved won't make it easy. Lots of people don't make it through the basic prereqs at HES.

 

[chartero]

If you mean Harvard Extension, then no, not all of the classes grade that way. When I was there gen chem, orgo, and physics all used preset cutoffs. Bio might have curved.

In the 2014 HES fall bio syllabus:

"Component grades (midterm exams, final exam, and lab) will not be curved. We promote a collaborative, instead of a competitive, learning environment. "

Now, I guess the wording that "component grades" will not be curved leaves them some room to curve the final grade. But the movement is away from curving; last year, the component grades were curved.

haoran, read and understand every point in the syllabi of each course you take. The syllabus is the only authoritative guide to each course.