what is the point of getting A's in med school?

[cooldreams]

If most of what controls your residency position are board scores and LORs or where you did rotations, then what is the point of gunning for straight A's??

just wondering....

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[pakijiga]

alot of schools dont really have a letter grading system.. most have just pass, fail, honors..

but gunning for A's i feel is worth it, espeically comming from a osteo school, if you want a impossible residency like ortho, derm, or optho...

most of the people who grad with honors, are the peopel who do the best on boards, who have the best letters, and who get the hardcore residencies..

if u wana do internal med, peds, FP, surgery even.. dont worry about the A's.. dont kill urself if u dont have to.. i know its not the greatest advice.. but thats my motto!

 

[JP2005]

you do not need honors for great LOR's.......

 

[Buster Douglas]

Originally posted by cooldreams
If most of what controls your residency position are board scores and LORs or where you did rotations, then what is the point of gunning for straight A's??

"The best indicator of how one will do on Step I of the COMLEX/USMLE is the student's Preclinical GPA."

 

[Idiopathic]

It actually correlates as much with your MCAT score, according to the data. I think you just help to set yourself up for down the road if you learn how to bust your ass early. I didnt know how when I got to med school and I had to learn how. Now I fight and claw and scratch on every exam, because I think that someday that sort of thing will make me a better doctor, like maybe it will translate into Px care. I am also trying to get a good residency tho, so maybe I just always have that in the back of my mind.

For instance, straight A's wont get you in somewhere, but a 2.5 might keep you out. (especially i think this way as a DO)

 

[raspberry swirl]

from everything i have read and heard, having straight A's makes no difference in the long run, and isn't directly correlated to much in the end. it seems like your hard work, motivation, dedication, and treatment of patients and staff during your third and fourth year is the single most important factor for success. that said, if you bust your a$$ for those A's now, life might be that much easier when boards roll around, (or you could be completely burnt out by the middle of your second year). I wouldn't create mountains of stress over your grades- you just want to make sure that your grades aren't bad. however, some of us (like myself) have to study like we want 100's on everything just to fall safely in the B range . . .
but there is no point in being a gunner just for the grades themselves, basically, thats my conclusion😛

 

[stomper627]

Be aware that more important than grades is class rank. However, do note that most schools only rate #1. Beyond that you will be divided into quarters (or some other form). Lecom, divides us into quarters. So out of the 200 in my class, #10(high A avg) is the same as #49(mid to high B), #51 is the same as #100 etc..... Keep that in mind while you study. BOARDS IS BY FAR MORE IMPT. But the most important thing to get that residency.....who do you know?
stomper

 

[daveyboy]

I think it is nice to try to the best you can in any endeavor you undertake. However, from my limited experience thus far, medical school exams seem to test over trivial minutiae rather than a global understanding. The downside to this is that it is possible to excell without having the greatest comprehension of the actual material covered in class. I find that to be a bit offensive to my asthetic sense of what medical education should really be. But, how else are you going to test a group of exceptional students?

Will getting good grades help in practicing real medicine? I don't know first hand. But I do know that every physician I know personally thinks that it won't.

All that being said, I still find myself trying to get better grades, even though I know that grades aren't that important.

 

[azcomdiddy]

I have straight A's in medical school and I can assure you I'm not going to be a better doctor because of it. You can essentially know everything for an exam and get a B on it. Getting the A requires memorization of additional tedious details and knowing the material so well that you can't be fooled by any question. That has more to do with gamesmanship and competition than it does with learning.

I agree with the others, gunning for A's is only required if you want an ultra competitive residency. That's the only reason why I gun for all A's. Do you think I would sacrafice my social life and sleep if I was seeking some of the less competitive residencies? Heck no! If you want Fam, IM, Peds, General Surgery and Anesthsiology, you don't need straight A'.s

But you are correct, board scores are more important than class rank. I could be ranked first in my class but if I score poorly on the boardsI, I will be excluded from some of the most competitive residencies available.

 

[daveyboy]

Originally posted by azcomdiddy
I have straight A's in medical school and I can assure you I'm not going to be a better doctor because of it. You can essentially know everything for an exam and get a B on it. Getting the A requires memorization of additional tedious details and knowing the material so well that you can't be fooled by any question. I agree with the others, gunning for A's is only required if you want an ultra competitive residency. That's the only reason why I gun for all A's. Do you think I would sacrafice my social life and sleep if I was seeking some of the less competitive residencies? Heck no! If you want Fam, IM, Peds, General Surgery and Anesthsiology, you don't need straight A'.s

But you are correct, board scores are more important than class rank. I could be ranked first in my class but if I score poorly on the boardsI, I will be excluded from some of the most competitive residencies available.

I seriously wonder if I could get all A's no matter what I did!

 

[azcomdiddy]

Originally posted by daveyboy
I seriously wonder if I could get all A's no matter what I did!

You won't know until you try.

 

[ckent]

You should definitely aim to get the best grades that you can irrespective of which specialty you think that you will be pursuing because your chosen specialty will probably change, and you may want to work in a certain geographical location for whatever reason after you graduate and that's much easier to do if you are a competetive applicant. Besides preparing you better as a doctor, it just gives you greater flexibility with your post-graduate plans. And usually, good LOR's do correlate with good grades. People who will write a good LOR should also give you a good grade in the rotation, and LOR writers frequently ask to see your other grades (I imagine that it can sometimes turn them off if they are asked to write a letter for someone who they see has barely passed med school). Anyways, I'm not saying to stress out about grades either, because I don't think that you should stress too much about pre-clinical grades at all, but I'm just saying that you try your best and not go in there with an attitude that P=DO/MD.

 

[Wo1verine7DO]

I'd don't think you should be concerned with getting A's, if you are, you'll stress yourself out. I'd be concerned with learning as much as you can, so you know or have some vague idea what's going on 3rd and 4th years. However, getting an A gives you more options...if you had great board scores and exceptional rotations, there might be a point when your equal with another candidate for a residency (same board score, and exceptional rotations, but the difference is GPA), then that's when it matters.