<p>Lemaitre1 - I find it interesting that both of your examples of a Med School going above and beyond the call of duty to prevent withdrawal are women. I have no idea what year we’re talking about, but I wonder if the same effort would have been given to men or if this has more to do with Women in medicine vs medical school retention in general. </p>
<p>As for GPA… we can all safely assume that a 3.8 is a great GPA, but I contend that one does not need such a high GPA if they attend an elite institution undergrad. There has been many recent discussions about grade inflation at certain schools of a chicken and egg nature. If their applicant pool has boosted their numbers in terms of HS GPAs and standardized test scores, whose to say that the reasons the average grade has gone up in the last decade is not due to the fact that the kids are just smarter? If the average IQ in a room is higher, it stands to reason the grades would rise. It does not have to be that less is expected or that how grades are calculated has changed. Historical grade info from professors having taught the same courses for a long time confirm that with all else the same, kids are just doing better. In fact, some professors have said point blank that their standards have actually increased due to the fact that the school has retained an increasingly talented student body.</p>
<p>Along with this, without a doubt some schools academic rigor is just plain harder than others - even when it comes to the same exact class in a course syllabus. I took microeconomics at a small private LAC and could barely do the math… took it at a large well respected state U to get into a grad program (it was a prerequisite for the program) and it was a cake walk with nary half the work. Same intro class. S has confirmed that what’s required of him compared to some of his friends at other schools just doesn’t seem “fair.” (Well, S, life aint fair is what I tell him). </p>
<p>This has been true for intro classes, Organic Chem AND some of the humanities depending on school. Therefore I don’t agree that where one goes to undergrad doesn’t have recourse when it comes to appeal to graduate and medical schools. While not knowing the exact numerical equivalent, the 3.5 would be considered equal to that 3.8 at a decent state school. But, of course, you’d also need the MCAT score to be high enough to corroborate this conclusion. Much like SAT and ACT, the MCAT is going to be the great equalizer.</p>
<p>And the reason you can’t just get a score on a test and get into Med school is that there is more to being a successful doctor than having the brain power to do the work, just like there is more to being a successful college student, than simply getting good grades in HS. I wouldn’t assume it as holistic a process as some colleges, but it takes more than just being smart to actually earn success in Medicine.</p>
<p>Seems to me that everyone wants the system to work in a way that serves their strengths or gives advantage to their own path (or their kid’s) - and I am no exception. But let’s face it… given that the best avenue to Med School might be a 3.8 from Harvard with a 35 MCAT, when you start replacing Harvard with Podunk U, the equation changes considerably. And if you change the 3.8 to a 3.5, it changes again. And a 3.5 from Podunk even with a 35 MCAT is not gong to get you the same level of choice as a 3.5 from Harvard or similar.</p>