<p>HaHa thanks. I dont mean to be rude, but I wasnt looking for "an easy school" or an "easy way out". First of all there are "easy" schools- I dont believe community college curriculums to be too tough- and secondly, I was just asking the difference to med schools btw a 4.0 at a nice state and a 3.6 at an elite like Hopkins or Cornell.</p>
<p>idk, Hopkins and Cornell ( i would know) are reallllllllly harsh on the grades, ruthless competition.</p>
<p>Why don't you look for a happy medium?</p>
<p>I thought something like 95% of cornell pre-meds get into med school. or some ridiculous percentage like that.</p>
<p>"Ruthless competition" </p>
<p>haha hyperbole</p>
<p>And I would know. I'm a junior premed bio major at Cornell University. What are your qualifications, bball, besides being a disgruntled first semester freshman?</p>
<p>norcal, you are also the person who has like an A science average, and a 35+ on your MCAT, if i recall correctly, you definetely are not a good indicator of the competition at Cornell. You would obviously be at the top in the sciences at any school.</p>
<p>Please, Please there is no reason to fight on this thread. Bball if there is a problem make a thread in the cornell board and im sure it will be sorted out quite quickly.</p>
<p>what fight, he is the one picking the fight, i was the one said that he is an absolutely bright dude. I feel that his experiences would not match those that an "average" student at Cornell would have. I mean the dude got a 35+ MCAT score. Therefore, he is obviously extremely smart.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I thought something like 95% of cornell pre-meds get into med school. or some ridiculous percentage like that.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think it was 95% who get above some GPA (don't remember what that GPA is). But obviously not everybody at Cornell can get that GPA. Far from it, in fact.</p>
<p>look at page 18 for those stats if interested : <a href="http://www.career.cornell.edu/downloads/Premed/premed.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.career.cornell.edu/downloads/Premed/premed.pdf</a></p>
<p>My own stats (GPA/MCAT) has nothing to do with this conversation. You first insult Cornell and Cornell students as being beneath you and then you end up with a lower GPA than you would like in your first semester at Cornell. Your only excuse is to blame Cornell's "ruthless" grading system. Perhaps you aren't as smart as you think or (gasp!) Cornellians are smarter than you give them credit for.</p>
<p>I'm simply pointing out that while Cornell is competitive, it's not ruthless nor cuthtthroat. </p>
<p>Median grades for classes at Cornell:
<a href="http://registrar.sas.cornell.edu/Student/mediangradesA.html%5B/url%5D">http://registrar.sas.cornell.edu/Student/mediangradesA.html</a></p>
<p>Accepted/applied charts for Cornell (for those who didn't want to download the full 19-page pdf file; also includes data for years beyond 2004):</p>
<p>I was in the top decile at every singe class besides intro to bio (which is def not my strongest area). I have nothing to prove to you. In addition, I never refuted the point that some Cornellians are extremely bright. When you have 13,000 undergrads, obviously, you are going to find some extremely bright kids in the mix. </p>
<p>BTW, norcalguy, you say Cornell is not cutthroat in the sciences, really. Why don't u look up the median grade given out in intro bio and chem. You don't think curving intro science classes to a B-/C+ makes for a cutthroat environment where your competing against everyone around you for points on a test. I thought that the bio course I took was cutthroat, that was my opinion. I did encounter some students on my floor (some friends, gasp!!!) who got very weird when it came time to sharing notes or working on web quizes. Good luck with medical school admissions, no hard feelings as you can see. I have never insulted you, but u continue to insult me.</p>
<p>I'm sorry, I'm new to this curving thing. Can someone please explain to me what it means to be curved to a B? Does that mean 50% of the people get less than B and 50% of the people get greater than B?</p>
<p>Theslowclap, you got the right idea.</p>
<p>What most high school students don't understand is that college grading is usually not determined by how much you know all by itself. Rather, it's determined by what you know relative to what everybody else knows. If you know a lot, but everybody else knows more, than you may end up with an F. Conversely, if you know very little, but everybody else knows even less, then you may end up with an A. Curved grading standards are therefore extremely arbitrary.</p>
<p>I would say it is better to get a 3.6 or 3.7 at a more difficult school than a 4.0 at an easy state school. Here's my reasoning:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Med schools know that the school is harder, and they adjust GPAs, whether or not this totally compensates, that's up for debate.</p></li>
<li><p>Harder classes = more motivation to study = HIGHER MCAT</p></li>
<li><p>It is so much easier to stay motivated if you're in a group of motivated people.</p></li>
<li><p>If something were to happen, and you decide not to go to med school you have the most options open to you with a better undergraduate degree.</p></li>
<li><p>Hard schools are typically "hard" for premed because their sciences are strong. Usually if a school is strong in the sciences it has other strong departments as well. . .in case you ever were to change your major.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>YA...I totally agree with Stplay!!! I've been told on this forum that the higher GPA always wins. I beg to differ. If I was an employer looking for the best employees (no offense), I'd choose the ones that came from private schools, more than likely. All the factors that StPlay declares leads me to believe so. Go to the elite college. You'll regret it. I know I would.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I would say it is better to get a 3.6 or 3.7 at a more difficult school than a 4.0 at an easy state school. Here's my reasoning:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Med schools know that the school is harder, and they adjust GPAs, whether or not this totally compensates, that's up for debate.</p></li>
<li><p>Harder classes = more motivation to study = HIGHER MCAT</p></li>
<li><p>It is so much easier to stay motivated if you're in a group of motivated people.</p></li>
<li><p>If something were to happen, and you decide not to go to med school you have the most options open to you with a better undergraduate degree.</p></li>
<li><p>Hard schools are typically "hard" for premed because their sciences are strong. Usually if a school is strong in the sciences it has other strong departments as well. . .in case you ever were to change your major.
[/quote]
</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
[quote]
I've been told on this forum that the higher GPA always wins. I beg to differ. If I was an employer looking for the best employees (no offense), I'd choose the ones that came from private schools, more than likely. All the factors that StPlay declares leads me to believe so.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>All of this analysis presumes that it is the state school that is the 'easy' school, and it is the private school that is the 'hard' school.</p>
<p>I would argue that in many cases, the reverse is true. Sometimes, it is actually the state school that is actually the 'hard' school and it is the private school that is the 'easy' school. </p>
<p>The classic example I would use is Berkeley vs. HYPS. I would argue that it is actually probably harder to get a higher GPA at Berkeley than at HYPS, despite the fact that Berkeley is public. </p>
<p>So this turns the entire analysis right on its head. You guys have talked about how the harder school will motivate students to study harder and how employers will prefer students who came from harder schools, and that will keep your motivation levels up and so forth. Well, if that were really true, then you would think that the Berkeley students would be more motivated to study than the HYPS students, and employers ought to be preferring the supposedly harder-working Berkeley students to the supposedly lazier HYPS students. Is that really true?</p>
<p>It seems as if the OP is either choosing between a really easy college or very elite one. That is all.</p>
<p>By elite I dont mean HYPS, I meant schools that are comparable to Berkeleys work load (Cornell, Hopkins) and by state I meant Stony Brook or Binghamton which arent easy, but compared to those two schools the two state schools are much easier. This is more a question of "whether medical schools care where you attend schools", then a question of "where should I go to undergrad." I fully understand the argument that I might 1.change majors 2. change careers 3. be influenced by the people at the school, but I am just looking for the answer to one question and thats whether med schools care where you go to school and significantly bump your GPA in accordance to the schools status, etc.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know, but I think you must agree that for a theory to hold, it has to hold in all cases. So if it's really better to go to a more difficult school, then one could say that it is actually better to go to a difficult state school like Berkeley than to an easier private school, like perhaps Stanford.</p>