<p>Or do they grade like they did in High school?
And do all Med Schools grade on P/F scheme, or are there variations?</p>
<p>Generally, the more highly ranked med schools will be P/F (although that’s not universal) the first two years while the lower ranked med schools are more likely to have letter grading (not every school with letter grading will grade on a curve). </p>
<p>Generally, almost all med schools have some form of honors/high pass/pass/marginal pass/fail grading for the third and fourth years. It may not always be graded on a curve per se. For example, my school has a set of criteria/performance standards for honors/high pass/pass, etc. so theoretically everyone can get honors. But, the standards are clearly set so that around 25% get honors, 25% get HP, and 50% get pass.</p>
<p>And obviously for AOA purposes, that is graded on the curve since each med school can only elect up to 16% of its med school class for AOA.</p>
<p>This then begs the question, should you attend a lower ranked school in order to get better grades? I don’t know. And before people say that all med schools are good and all med students are equally smart, that’s just not true. We have visiting med students here on audition rotations all the time and there are definitely differences in the quality of students. My school’s USMLE average is 240 (my graduating class). Clearly, trying to outscore 75% of my classmates on the shelf and on the wards is different than if I attended a school with a USMLE average of 215.</p>
<p>I heard that AOA at some medical school is announced only AFTER the application cycle for residency is over (so the residency director will not have a chance to see it during the application process.)</p>
<p>However, I am not sure whether this is true. This is just a rumor I heard.</p>
<p>I also heard that the ranking of residency programs could be quite different from that of medical schools. For the latter, the school can just hire more high power PIs and postdocs to get more research money in order to boost its ranking. I do not how a residency program can boost its ranking (maybe being in a big/desirable city will help? Is it mostly the ranking of hospitals rather than PIs/researchers? Is it likely that the general public or future patients would not know or care much about it.)</p>
<p>I go to a state med school in the midwest. First year is pass (70%)/fail (below 70%) for written exams and satisfactory/unsatisfactory for clinical elements of exams. Second year it’s honors (90%)/pass (70%)/fail (below 70%). Third and fourth years the grading’s slightly more complicated and I don’t completely understand it yet!</p>
<p>What exactly is AOA?</p>
<p>AOA is the medical school honor society. You are chosen based on your grades, USMLE scores, research, medical school awards, EC’s. Only the top 16% of any medical school class can be chosen. I personally think it has significant effect on the competitiveness of your residency application although some of the surveys done with residency directors show that it is only as important as attending a top med school so maybe that aspect balances itself out (going to a top med school vs. going to a less competitive med school and getting AOA).</p>