<p>As of now I get really good grades and my ideal school would be Cornell. In addition to that I would like to be able to get into med school after college. At the moment I have a very small social life, almost none, because I’m studying all the time, and I hate that, I want college to be the best time of my life. If I go to a less “smart” school, would that mean I would be able to spend less time studying and still maintain an equally high GPA?</p>
<p>No. Not necessarily. I’m at Bowdoin College, an extremely elite school filled with smart kids, and I came from a regular public school and I did really well during my first year, I even got a 4.0 second semester while taking physics and a biopsych/physiology class. If I had gone to my state school, UMass, my professors wouldn’t have been as accessible and committed or as engaging as my Bowdoin students. It really depends on the nature of the school. Although, a girl from my high school who was a bit of an idiot got a 3.9 at Umass (which kinda made me and my other friends at harder schools mad). I have other friends at UMass though who say that their professors grade on a curve so even if you have a 93 in the class, that could end up as a B because they only want a certain amount of A’s, etc.</p>
<p>So…I think it really all depends. One the other hand my brilliant ex boyfriend went to Lehigh, a good though not elite school, and he went from a 3.9 to a 3.0 from first to second semester and it mostly had to do with the structure of his science and math classes. So… it’s not that cut and dry. What “easier” schools are you referring to?</p>
<p>and also fyi, grad schools know that a B at a school like Bowdoin or Cornell is not the same as a B at a school like UMass, UNH, or any other safety.</p>
<p>The real truth is that you want to go to a school with high grade inflation. You can look around and find them. It is often said that grad schools know the difference in grades, but when it comes to rankings in US News your undergrad GPA admittance score is figured into your ranking… Some schools take their ranking very seriously, i hear that others do not really care.</p>
<p>You are going about this the smart way, I did as well. I went to an undergrad that is widely known for grade inflation and have a 3.914 undergrad GPA. If it wasnt for those pesky MCATs I would have been a shoe in.</p>
<p>The thing is, there have been many discussions on the Pre-med forum about whether which undergrad school you go to matters, and if they care about how much grade inflation/deflation there is. The general consensus was that they either don’t care or don’t care very much. Due to this, it seems stupid of me to try and go to one of the most elite schools, where I could be in the bottom half for grades, and instead I should go to a, still good, but less elite school where I would be in the top half/ quartile.</p>
<p>I completely agree! There seems to be very little proof that going to a college that typically grades normally or deflates grades would offer any value to you. I personally would look at the high grade inflation schools and enjoy my good grades!</p>