Will this grade trend be viewed negatively?
- Thread starter yhwapg
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AnatomyGrey12
You're fine.
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fine.
Does this also hold true for upper-mid to top tier schools where, with ECs and MCAT commensurate with being competitive for them, a 3.8/3.65 would be acceptable? For example, in the future in a "what are my chances" thread I can just say 3.8/3.65 and be fine with that in terms of assessing competitiveness? And would the trends cause you to look more deeply into the transcript or would you just say "looks fine, lets look at other parts of the app"?
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AnatomyGrey12
If you don't get accepted, it won't be because of your GPA.
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"Top-tier" applicants are judged by criteria more nuanced than this.
@gonnif Sorry, but what exactly do you mean by "take those into account"? Could you expand on that please?
And it was primarily for two reasons:
1) Sophomore year was when I actually learned how to study. Freshman year (bio/gen chem) was largely "old" material that I could master by simply putting in large amounts of study time, even if this study time was highly inefficient. Come totally new and challenging material as a sophomore, I could no longer get good grades by just working harder, but had to learn how to work smarter.
2) This was compounded by time management issues. Again, as a freshman I did well by simply spending very large amounts of time studying, and because I wasn't heavily involved in extracurricular activities at this point I had nearly unlimited study time to succeed by brute force. Come sophomore year I became much more involved in extracurriculars, and so not only did I have to learn how to study, but I simultaneously had to learn how to manage time for the first time.
Junior year I took an even heavier course load and was even more involved in extracurriculars, so the lessons were learned.
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