<p>Your A+ will be recorded as a 4.3 by Cornell but AMCAS will convert them to A's and 4.0's. It's only fair because many schools don't give out A+ or extra grade points for +'s.</p>
<p>Your cumulative and science GPA's will be most important if you're premed. Your science GPA will probably be substantially lower than your cum GPA. Every single one of my A-'s and B's have been in bio or chem classes.</p>
<p>that's ****ed up then. what the hell is the point of the 4.3 then?</p>
<p>It's so you can come on random message boards and brag to strangers that you got over a 4.0 at Cornell.</p>
<p>In all seriousness, I think that making A+'s 4.0 is fair since students at many other universities don't have the opportunity to get A+'s. Considering I have two A+'s on my Cornell transcript, this means that my AMCAS GPA is actually lower than what is shown on the transcript. But I still think that it's fair to everyone.</p>
<p>The problem lies in the fact that if you do well, you are not necessarily rewarded. Or at least you are made to believe you're rewarded. However, it doesn't work the opposite way. If you do poorly, there is no safety net that Cornell uses to help you. If the GPA out of 4.3 doesn't mean anything, then why have it at all. Sometimes I'm baffled by how many students at our institution are screwed over by the disadvantageous intricasies (sp) of the system. I was under the impression that the 4.3 was used as an adjustor; every school knows getting a good GPA at Cornell is hard. </p>
<p>Basically it comes down to the fact that if i had to work my ass of for an A+ and some kid gets an A at another school, the GPA is the same. Sure, one might say that Cornell's name holds weight. I highly doubt it when it comes to GPA. If you don't have the grades, you're not getting in. Pretty simple. And people brag about Cornell's 80% success rate wrt med school admissions. That stat is absolute bull-****. Who cares about getting into A med school. I would like to see the % of Cornell students that get into the top 10 med schools. Why would i want to go to from a Cornell degree to any med school. If I wanted to do that, I would have gone to a less expensive institution. </p>
<p>/rant</p>
<p>because not everyone wants to go to a top 10 med school. i've seen countless people turn down top 10 med schools for state school because they don't want 250K in debt. and you will here this anywhere, the difference between school "rank" number 1 (and being at cornell, we know how bs ranking can be) and a no rank school is minimal, even cornell dean will say that. go to the career service library and listen to the tapes. getting into A medical school is a HUGE feat. damn, i might even choose an osteopathic school OVER an allopathic school because I like their philosophy better, and even the health advisor said she ONLY goes to osteo docs. what does that tell you? If you would like to see the % of cornell students that get into the top 10 med school, again i suggest you go to the career library, this this HUGE binder with acceptances to ALL med school, and you will be surprised at the number of people that got accepted to the top schools at cornell. that 80% success rate applies ONLY to juniors and seniors 1st time non-minority applicants, they do not include non-trads, alums, reapps, and minority who actually do BETTER than these people. do your research before complaining that cornell doesn't have the stats. cornell doesn't hide anything, nor does it discriminate against anyone who wants to go to med school like many schools who boast high numbers because they already reject many applicants that they feel are not "worthy."</p>
<p>I agree with what quynh said.</p>
<p>Yes, we know getting a 3.8 at Cornell is harder than getting a 3.8 at a state school. Med schools will acknowledge this during the admissions process. How much of a boost this will give you will depend on the individual med school. It is certainly not right for Cornell to apply it's own "adjuster."</p>
<p>Lastly, while it's good that you have so much confidence in yourself, you have to realize that just getting into a med school is tough beyond just the 50% national acceptance rate. Intro bio and first semester orgo classes are typically 600+ students large and yet if you look at the stats, only around 200 Cornellians apply each year, meaning 400 decide ultimately to do something else. While, like you, I also aspire to get into a good med school (UCSF is my dream school), I also recognize that with acceptance rates around 3-5%, you would be damn lucky to get into just one top 10 med school. Cornell will provide you with numerous research opportunities, approachable professors, and the training to get a good MCAT score. Those things will get you in the door but alone will not get you into a top 10 med school. What ultimately separates similar applicants are interviews, personal statements, EC's, and recommendations. Those are more a product of yourself than your undergraduate institution.</p>
<p>i did well the first three semesters...but damn..this one messed me up badly. dont take grad level classes if you're not really interested in the subject...all i have to say...</p>