<p>Hey guys, I was just accepted ED to CAS earlier this month and wanted some insight on the rigor of courses at Penn.
I'm not too sure about my major, but I'm thinking about a Premed track, but I'll probably have to take the core classes for the first couple semesters. So, with respect to other schools, I'd appreciate if you guys could answer a few questions.
Does every grade for the first semester go directly to your overall GPA or is it pass/fail?
How much grade inflation is at penn compared to other schools such as Duke, Emory, or
HYPS? Is it easier to get a higher GPA at Penn?
Obviously classes at any Ivy are going to be difficult, but is the premed track at Penn as intense as a Hopkins or a Berkely?
I'm not too sure about premed/going to med school- is Penn a good school for me to keep my options open?
Thanks guys.</p>
<p>I’m not really sure, but from reading the forums, usually 30% of the class gets As. Does anyone have a sample grade distribution for premed classes?</p>
<p>
yes .</p>
<p>Most of the science/math classes that you are going to be taking for pre-med are going to be curved to around a median of B-. I don’t know how other schools do things, but this means that getting As in these classes is going to be difficult, especially since you will be with all of the other pre-med students that also want A’s.</p>
<p>Your GPA though will be predominantly affected by your major. If you are sticking with science, the classes tend to get curved easier as you move up in difficulty, such that you may find the average to be a B+ or even A- in some instances. If you are looking for humanities/social sciences major, it probably depends on the specific major. Generally, though, my observation has been that upper-level seminars, while requiring far more work, are generally graded much more leniently than the large lecture courses (esp. in the social sciences). So while the average for an introductory course in polisci might be a B, in upper level courses the average is substantially higher. I’m not sure how generalizable my own experience is, but this is my observation.</p>