bluewind

This might be the wrong forum to post knowing that some may be biased, but does its premed program live up to its hype? I've heard there is grade deflation in this school and that the undergraduate program is not as good as it seems. The only way, I've heard, that it will help you is that you will get some preference come the time when its med school accepts people. Any comments?

AdmissionsDaniel

Do a search ... there have been a ton of discussions over the last year on the Johns Hopkins sub-forum of College Confidential about all things "Pre-med" related. You aren't going to get a response because everyone has already answered these questions multiple times. You should also search the discussion forums on the Hopkins Forums site: Hopkins Forums.

Here I'll help your search a little:

Hopkins Forums -> Future Interest in Medical School
Hopkins Forums -> Pre-Medicine

cdz512

Grade deflation can't really hurt you, med school knows how each school grades pretty much. They know Harvard, Stanford, Duke, JHU, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Rice, Caltech, and a lot of the top school will have students who are lower GPA average than some state schools and less challenging schools (Private and public).
To tell you the truth, there is no definite answer, I can't say that JHU pre-med is better than Duke or Stanford and vice versa.
Just don't go into JHU expecting that you are definitely going to get into/guaranteed to get into the best Med Schools, that's no true at all. And that applies to all schools. Even going to Harvard doesn't mean you are going be guaranteed to get into the best med schools and sometimes even your dream med school.

mmmcdowe

Grade deflation doesn't hurt, to an extent. Remember, every time that a school accepts a low GPA student, that lowers their average GPA. This factors into some ranking systems. Med schools will lie through their teeth that they don't care about rankings, while working feverishly to raise their rank. So a little grade deflation isn't going to hurt you, but don't expect a 3.0 from JH to beat out a 3.8 at another school either. The medical adcom folk that I have chatted about this have told me that, at most, where you went can add no more than .3 to your GPA, and usually much less. The reason for this is because medical schools take GREAT pains to obtain detailed records of the average GPA and MCAT scores of medical applicants from schools. There are companies that sell this information as well,and schools might use this to supplement their own records. So lets say the average GPA/MCAT is a 3.6/34 at JH and a 3.7/34 at another school. Based on this information, medical schools will favor a 3.7/34 student from JH more than a 3.7/34 from that school, based on the fact that it is harder to get a 3.7+ at JH.

_idk_

i wouldn't call it grade deflation here at hopkins. instead, it's just not lollipops and rainbows as it is at schools like stanford and brown.

to me, grade deflation is a college saying: "... ok usually we get 40% A's but we are trimming the fat and will only allow 15% A's"

that is not hopkins. work hard and you have a shot for an A, but profs dont give them out like it's a birthright.

there is no premed program here, really. hopkins doesn't breed pre-meds in a special program. you still have to go out and take advantage of resources, do well in class, etc. i think our strength is the wealth of resources available from research to clinical to clubs and ECs to advising. many of our peers have these things, but i dont think any institution can match jhmi (school of medicine, the hospital, bayview campus and sinai campus... and soon, science and technology park: http://www.scienceparkjohnshopkins.net/) in terms of wealth of resources in all things medically related. the only thing that is on the same level may be the texas medical center.

at the end of the day, you need to do well academically and you need to find the experiences that will make you competitive for med. be proactive, do things you love, and forge good relationships with peers and faculty/staff along the way...

oh.. yea.. and nail the mcat. you NEED to nail the mcat, but at the same time grades and stats wont guarantee you a med seat. you need to have a balanced app and hopkins does a great job of giving great advising and providing the resources to do just that: JHU Pre-Professional Advising

our advising is one of the best in the country. no question about it. im sure you can ask around med school adcom and you would hear the same thing. dr. verrier and co. know their stuff!

BengieBean

I agree with _idk_'s entire post. No grade deflation here--just no grade inflation. Which is a good thing, IMO. Dean's List here actually means something, because no matter the major or dept., you have to work for an A. And A's are very, very possible. Professors aren't like "Ok, only 10 people in my 165 person lecture can get A's." If some are then oops. But from my experience profs want you to get an A, but you must demonstrate understanding of the topic and have the hard work to go with it.

With the exception of a couple of chemistry professors who are absolutely amazing, I would honestly say that premed courses here are good and very rigorous, but there is no magic bullet in them. As was stated, the advantages IMO are the vasssssssssssssssssssssssst amount of resources we have. But you have to go out and get them, rather than them come to you.