Grading?

Hey,
Would anyone like to provide insight into the grading system at William and Mary? I’m a prospective premed student and I would like to know about premed culture, the grading system, and if the rumors I hear about grade deflation at William and Mary are true.
Thanks for your time

Hey 153ethand! Glad to hear that you might be interested in William & Mary. I am currently a student here and although I am not premed I will try to help you out the best I can.

Most premed students I know are collaborative rather than competitive, which means that it is easy to find people to study in groups and it creates a sense of community that William & Mary is known for. Professors are generally also helpful and welcome students into their office hours, which is great for asking questions or just general life advice. If you are an incoming student I recommend you talk to Professor Sher, the pre-med adviser, and look out for the PLUS-S program.

In my personal opinion, the grading here is not unlike that of many other schools. The average GPA last year is comparable to that of the University of Virginia and other similar institutions. According to the most recently released data set, 49.8% of all the grades awarded here are in the “A range.” That is close to 50% of all grades awarded, which imo is a pretty big amount. You can find the official breakdown here: https://www.wm.edu/offices/registrar/studentsandalumni/studentrecords/transcripts/transkey/index.php

Now does that mean it will be easy? No definitely not. Premed will be challenging anywhere and I think here will be no exception. Nevertheless something I do want to suggest is that perhaps other schools (I’m looking at you Harvard) inflating their grades says more about them rather than it does about WM.

Best of luck! If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Average graduating GPA is 3.3. Lower than Ivys because they give all A’s but this is well known to graduate schools.

Get A’s in all Med Pre-reqs ( Bio 1+2 incl lab, Chem 1+2 including Lab, Phys 1+2 including Lab and Organic Chen 1+2 including lab)and score in top 10% of MCAT and you will get in