princeton grade deflation

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
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<p>I’m stuck choosing between princeton, yale, and northwestern’s combined medical program. All of these are such amazing choices so I’m in kind of a dilemna! My goal is to get into medical school but with a solid academic background so I could eventually pursue research in the future. NW med is obvioulsy the most stress-free route, and the both NW undergrad/medical schools are amazing. I’m looking at med school admission statistics and only a small percentage of graduates from top ivy league schools even get accepted to NW medical school. </p>

<p>Princeton, from what I understand however, would give me a solid undergrad education and an amazing undgrad experience. But my reserves about princeton is its grade deflation and its effect on medical school admissions. Graduate schools, which admits students on a more wholistic basis, would recognize Princeton for its grade deflation, but what about medical schools? Is there are place where I can find med school admission stats from Princeton? Also, can current Princeton students talk about the undergrad experience/education; what makes it so much better than schools like Yale, or even Northwestern?</p>

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<p><a href=“http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/[/url]”>http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/2005Statistics.pdf[/url]”>http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/2005Statistics.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
The second link tells you that Pton grads have a 95+ percent acceptance rate BUT after all they are Pton students.</p>

<p>It’s gonna be tough for you to go through the Princeton undergrad route, so go in ONLY IF you your confident you’ll do well.</p>

<p>Pton was a tough place and is even tougher after the grade deflation policy. :(</p>

<p>My friend was rejected an A in a class even when he had the required test scores…they need to loosen up the grade deflation policy.</p>

3

<p>Princeton has a 98% acceptance rate or around there.</p>

<p>Keep in mind, though, Princeton’s name commands respect… so, chances are, this grade deflation isn’t as bad as it’s amde out to be.</p>

<p>I’ve also read that all this does is make a normal 3.6 GPA or 3.7 GPA just a 3.5 GPA and a 3.6 GPA, respectively.</p>

<p>I’m not at Princeton, but I will be there next year… I may be going into medicine, but I’m keeping my options open</p>

<p>Also, I realize we may all want to go to med school, but interests definitely do change… that’s why a combined medical program is OK only if you are definitely sure you will be a doctor</p>

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<p>Umm…amnesia:</p>

<p>The name carries maybe a +.05 on your GPA…nothing more.
That’s what sucks about med school admissions, even I was in denial but its true.</p>

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<p>Wait…if you were accepted into Yale and your sure that your future is in research then go to Yale.</p>

<p>Its got a good background for research etc.</p>

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<p>95+% and 98%? Are we reading the same graph? Looks more like 92-93% to me. By the way, that % is only % admitted to ANY one of the med schools. If we are talking about med schools that are of comparable to Northwestern or of higher caliber, the rate is MUCH less.</p>

<p><a href=“http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/data98-03.htm[/url]”>http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/data98-03.htm&lt;/a&gt;
Harvard: 15%
Northwestern: 17%
Duke: 11%
Chicago: 4%
UCLA: 20%
Baylor: 26%
Stanford: 11%
Yale: 15%
WashU: 22%</p>

<p>So that means, even as an applicant from Princeton, the odds is against you for getting into any top med school. </p>

<p>As a HPME, you only spend 3 years for undergrad (saves a year of cost). You can also apply to other med schools if you like while having Northwestern to fall back to if you get rejected everywhere. If you are sure about med school, go to HPME. Admission to top med schools is much much tougher than many people may think.</p>

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<p>The 95% is admission to any medical school applied. That is completely consistent with a 15% admit rate to H med school. Also, if you visit the Pton HPA material the 95% rate includes all majors and even students out of undergrad a few years. Research MD programs prefer science majors. Finally, the Pton site shows that the avg. GPA of accepted is .2 below the national average, pretty significant. Can’t argue with the Northwestern sure thing but then if your only goal is med school, why raise the question? Hard to argue with a 100%.</p>

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<p>Grade deflation does not affect science and engineering classes much, so your science GPA (which counts a great deal in med school admissions) won’t really be affected. In fact, grade “deflation” is actually helping science and engineering majors because there are classes in which the professors were giving fewer than 35% As.</p>

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<p>An applicant from Princeton, as opposed to whom? It’s quite impressive that there’s a 15% acceptance rate to Harvard, when you consider that the overall acceptance rate to Harvard Medical School is around 0.3%.</p>

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<p>hey all thanks for all your comments. Yes, my goal is to get into medical schoo, but I do want a solid undergrraduate experience for future residency placement, research fellowships, etc etc. Plus the princeton and yale name is always nice. But can anyone describe to me what makes princeton undergrad better than other undergraduate schools (yale or northwestern)? Also, how does princeton med school admissions compare to those of yale?</p>

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<p>Um…like I said: Yale is better if you want Medicine-related research.
Nonetheless, Pton will be good enough too.</p>

<p>I’d pick Yale, the med-related research can’t be beaten by Pton.</p>

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<p>i’d be NW. med school is tough to get into… since NW is already an awesome med school, it would save you a LOT of grief and hard work</p>

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<p>The overall acceptance rate for Harvard Med School is 5.2%, not friggin 0.3%!
<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/med/brief/mdrrank_brief.php[/url]”>http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/med/brief/mdrrank_brief.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Where did I say it’s not impressive? You totally missed the point. 15% means that when you and 5 others Princetonians apply to Harvard med school, only one of you would get in. To get into Harvard med school or any school comparable to/better than Northwestern med school, you’d probably need to be in the top 20% of the Princeton class. That’s not an easy task given the caliber of Princeton student body. That’s why the odds is against you. If the OP is confident that he/she can be in the top 20% among Princeton peers, go for it.</p>

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<p>Just curious: anyone know what the admissions rates from princeton for engineering or physics into top grad schools is?</p>

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<p>yea i second roflcopter’s question! I know it’s not as cut-throat as MIT so i’d guess it’s a pretty good acceptance rate!</p>

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<p>1st of all, scratch Yale. They have an inferiority complex. As for Princeton’s med school statistics, it’s available. It was posted on CC. search it. You are right, ivy’s entrances to med school are not that great. If you are not sure, then don’t lock yourself into HPME.</p>

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<p>There’s all sorts of info here, including the stats you seek: <a href=“http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/[/url]”>http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;