<p>i heard that princeton recently (maybe last year) changed the method of grading and that they now curve as to how many students can get A's. Is that true, and if so, how competitive does it get for premed students (will princeton see its med school placement drop)?</p>
<p>yup that is true, it can get very competitive with premed, I have a few premed friends and they are always complaining</p>
<p>i thought about it and i may think about premed, but im also focused in another area.</p>
<p>im just not going to worry about it because we know a B at Princeton is harder to get than a B at a state school</p>
<p>B at princeton is different from B at state school, or even a B at other grade-inflated ivies, but I heard that med school admission is so competitive that it sees grade from two different schools the same.</p>
<p>well i plan to make an A anyway</p>
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<p>Good Luck! With all the geniuses down at Princeton....you'll need it. :)</p>
<p>the premed classes haven't really changed any of their grading policies. before the grade deflation scheme was implements, natural sciences gave out something like 36% As, vs. 35ish% now (check the daily princetonian deflation series for more accurate numbers) but it's definately not a big drop at all. The place where you see grade deflation is in the humanities, especially in what used to be GUT courses, that are no longer so easy.</p>
<p>insecure101 are you just saying these things because you didn't get accepted to Princeton?</p>
<p>I have other options that just medicine. I'm really interested in computers</p>
<p>One way the grade deflation policy could effect a pre-med is in terms of the courses that are necessary to meet the distribution requirement. A lot of the introductory courses in the humanities and social sciences are where departments are lowering their grades to align with the policy.</p>
<p>but the humanities/social sciences grades do go into GPA. But are the science GPA's much more significant? </p>
<p>So, it's pretty much non-hard science courses that have deflated grades?</p>
<p>I believe Med schools compute both a science and non-science GPA for students and give more weight to science work. I wouldnt call them non-hard courses. For some science majors the toughest courses they will take from their perspective will be the ones where they have to meet their social and historical analysis or language and arts or ethics and cognition requirements. Because of grade deflation, its harder for science majors or anyone else to find gut courses to fulfill distribution requirements.</p>
<p>PDaddy, I really appreciate your help. You're very knowledgeable.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind, though, is that courses taken pass/d/fail fulfill distribution requirements. Although you can only take four courses this way, for many students it is enough to get through their week areas. I'm doing it for a math course this semester, and may do it for a science one in the fall. It takes off the pressure, and even allows you to take non-gut courses without fear of ruining your GPA.</p>
<p>how would you guys say Princeton's class sizes affect one's efficiency. If your a student who prefers slightly smaller more intimate classes are you going to have a harder time in Princeton...and would it be any better/worse then classes at other ivies like Uof P</p>
<p>U of P has more undergrads= bigger introductory classes. While intro classes at princeton (chem, mol 215, eco100 and 101) are pretty big (~100-300 i think?) they do all have sections. And once youre out of the very intro classes the class size gets smaller fast.</p>
<p>I also feell that if the class is a lecture, it doesnt really matter what size class it is, as youre sitting in a room listening to the professor talk.</p>