<p>How much will grad schools (I am looking into PhD programs in the biomedical sciences) care? Is A+ any different from an A?
thanks</p>
<p>Grad schools will often ask you to recalculate your GPA according to their scale, so if the school doesn’t assign a higher point value to an A+, it won’t make a difference.</p>
<p>It’s a nice accomplishment, but getting an A+ in two classes isn’t going to get you into a PhD program.</p>
<p>It’s a nice accomplishment, but getting an A+ in two classes isn’t going to get you into a PhD program.</p>
<p>…yeah, I am aware of that :)</p>
<p>Hey delusion - most schools assign GPA on a 4-point scale - this means that an A+ is not recorded differently than an A. My school (and most others as far as I am aware) do not even award the A+ grade, only A and A-.</p>
<p>If your school does award A+, it will show up on your transcript, and I’m sure it will look impressive. If your school only awards A’s, that’s the standard, and it will look impressive.</p>
<p>But having an A- won’t make anyone look less impressive either. And its okay to have Bs, some Cs, or even Ws. Graduate schools probably see the A+ as an “oh! +!” and then quickly forget about it as they go through the rest of your application.</p>
<p>“And its okay to have Bs, some Cs, or even Ws”</p>
<p>well i guess it all depends on where you are applying… and how good your research is…</p>
<p>Yeah, but if your research isn’t pretty good, the A+ will be meaningless.</p>
<p>agreed…and thats the way it should be</p>
<p>I have 2 Cs, 1 W in molecular biology, and almost half my major classes are Bs. I went to a state school (ranking somewhere in the 100s, if its even ranked), didn’t participate in extracurriculars, and have no publications, posters, nor attendance to any conference or summer program. I still managed to get into 3 top-10 biomed sci schools, with my program being molecular biology. I think its ironic and hilarious in an unbelievable type of way.
It’s not fruitful to stress over a minor detail when theres so many other things to consider. This isn’t necessarily directed to you, delusion, but more to the other phd hopefuls that worry about how much damage their sub 3.9 GPA and only 2 summers of research will do to their chances.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity then, sydneya, what is it you think you did to get into those top schools?</p>
<p>@ sydneya:</p>
<p>Wow, sorry to be blunt here, but you’re a disgrace. With your record, I wouldn’t even have the gumption to apply to a highly ranked school and thereby taking the spot of someone who actually deserves to be there. You also seem so smug about your “accomplishment”.</p>
<p>In my estimation, you’ve got to be the beneficiary of affirmative action, probably racial and economics. </p>
<p>And as a side note: Just because a program is ranked high doesn’t mean it’s hard to get in. For example, let’s say a program at Harvard is ranked 25th and a program at Purdue is ranked 2nd. The program at Harvard probably has an acceptance rate in the low teens while the one at Purdue could be in the high 40’s and the caliber of applicants is definitely much lower.</p>
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<p>i find this hard to believe</p>
<p>also, no need to be so rude.</p>
<p>wow, I have a friend who only wants to go to either Harvard, UCSF, or UPenn for PhD in Immunology, but he’s GPA is like a 2.7 in molecular bio from University of Nebraska. He doesn’t have much research experience, and he’s adviser said he wouldn’t get in. I told him the same, but I guess now he should really give it a shot. I think this will be VERY encouraging to him.</p>
<p>bo: Not to be discouraging, but a 2.7 is probably too low to get into those schools even with great research (unless junior and senior years were 4.0 or something). Without much research, then there’s really not much of a chance at schools were the average applicant has 2+ years of research experience and a GPA a full point higher than 2.7. I mean, you never know, and if the application money/time isn’t an issue then it can’t hurt to apply, but I wouldn’t get his hopes up too much.</p>
<p>(Also, I’m not sure what you’re referring to that will be “VERY encouraging”. If it’s sydneya, then half Bs means like a 3.4-3.5, not a 2.7; and no posters/publications doesn’t mean no research.)</p>
<p>If he wants to get into those schools he’s going to need to spend a couple years building up some experience that will overshadow his GPA.</p>
<p>LOL I would not call myself a disgrace just because I don’t have perfect grades or a padded CV. I called it ironic because I realize how lucky I am to be in the position that I am. I am absolutely grateful for my opportunities. I don’t know why you think my imperfect STATS should make me less of a candidate.</p>
<p>What it comes down to is that I WORK HARD. Just because I didn’t make a 4.0 doesn’t mean I slacked off. As far as that affirmative action shot, phD programs don’t know your economic background. And I don’t know what schools you visited, but my recruitment groups were pretty diverse, though lacking in Hispanics and Native Americans. I am neither. My post wasn’t meant to say “HAHA look at me, I’m a slacker and tricked you all!!” but rather as encouragement to the students who love and do well at science, but don’t have the CV to back them up (yet!).</p>
<p>I wasn’t good enough to worry about an A+ over A, but I have a passion for what I do, even if an absence of certain things on my CV belie that. I was one of those students that got down because they didn’t seem to be doing as well as their peers (OMG, B!). It is those people that I am trying to reach in my post. Having a ‘blemished’ record does not mean you don’t deserve to go to a better school. Being proud that you overcame other people’s expectations for you does not make you pretentious. If you work hard, you deserve to be rewarded.</p>
<p>CaseSpartan -
I’m a technician. I do the same work and hours as a (hard working) student or postdoc. In my position, I have multiple projects in addition to attending daily lab needs. I have done or contributed something to 90% of the experiments going on in my lab (small lab :)). I know lots of protocols for different assays in multiple model systems, as well as practical lab skills that most students don’t learn. Because of this, my recommendation letters were stellar. While I think my letters were my strongest point, I wouldn’t have had those were it not for my work ethic/experience.</p>
<p>bo435 & sarbruis -
Ah, wise post sarbruis :). I am glad you didn’t jump to conclusions. I agree with everything you said. For those schools bo, your friend will have to pick up his GPA and have solid GRE marks to get initial consideration. My GPA was about 3.6 (3.0 is probably the lowest cutoff for initials) and he should definitely get over 700Q/500V on the GRE. He doesn’t need to worry so much about coming from Nebraska though; not sure how it compares but I know a guy at UCSF who came from Ohio. I wasn’t interested in any of those schools so I can’t say how far I would have gotten there. If he’s in his last year, he should seriously consider tech’ing, and depending on what his lab teaches him, possibly a Master’s.</p>
<p>Please excuse the threadcrap!</p>