<p>Unfortunately, at Emory there are still too many applying. You have to wonder if, after graduating. There shouldn’t be 350 people applying to med. school, especially when many/most have sub-30 MCATs.</p>
<p>Anyway, Emory doesn’t really release data about GPA by track/division (however, I can make estimates based upon some info. and my experience). I will say it like this. I think Emory is grade inflated, but not as inflated as some of our peers. I estimate that, since the graduating(senior) GPA is 3.38, the GPA for all undergraduates is probably between 3.2-3.3 which is much lower than most of our close peers (it’s grading more like JHU and places like Wake forest and perhaps some top publics), and I don’t know if I want to count it as a close peer) who have overall UG GPAs not far from our senior average (almost always the peak average at a university). I took off several points knowing that freshmen perform pretty poorly (3.0-3.15. And yes, collegestu, I know there are plenty doing extremely well, but plenty do extremely weak/mediocre and drag it down a lot, even some of the better HS students. Again, it is not uncommon for institutions to have a frosh average .2-.4 off of the graduating average), and guessed that sophomore and junior year are probably 3.25 and a low 3.3 respectively (seniors tend to get senioritis like in HS and enroll in easier/less courses since unlike UG admission, rigorous senior year matters little to employers or grad/prof. schools. Also, most have already applied and perhaps were admitted to wherever).</p>
<p>With this said, grades for key pre-med science courses probably have an interesting trend. The following reflects how Emory intro. science profs. for the most part do not curve grades in any form or fashion. They apply strict grading scales. Notice how GPAs fluctuate from year to year (normally doesn’t correlate well w/HS stats, only performance in each course, which normally makes that irrelevant. One can’t expect an SAT average of 1380 to be worse than say a 1399 as it is possible that sciences self-select anyway): [Collaborative</a> Learning | Supplemental Instruction | Learning Programs | Emory College | Atlanta, GA](<a href=“Welcome to Emory College.”>Welcome to Emory College.)</p>
<p>Now, lots of people go to SI, but I know that most don’t (and the number who regularly attend, as in even, before the vicinity of an exam, is even less), so I will tip the scales in favor of non-SI figure and say that the average is 2.9-3.1 and I’m betting frosh are performing worse than sophomores by and large (some classes like physics are dominated by sophomores, biology has a fair share as well). </p>
<p>Now, sophomore/junior level courses normally targeting pre-meds, like biochemistry and organic do weird grading and averages are often lower on exams/quizzes than intros. No matter the prof. for an orgo. section, and how easy their exams are, they always design exams (I believe the others sense the incompetence/laziness of their students, so they can design exams much easier than a hard prof., but still hard enough to sink enough students) that they have to curve grades upward. The curve almost always recenters averages at the 2.5-2.7(B-) area, in every class. Biochemistry: I see no evidence that it has any true curve or grade boosting, in fact there may be application of normal Emory scale plus deflationary tactics (like not giving a B+. 89 gets B, not B+), so they probably only yield 2.5-2.7 as well (exams average C/C+, and quiz averages range from D to B+. When the smoke clears, quizzes probably average C+/B-). Given this, you kind of get a sort of sophomore “dip” in grades given in pre-med courses. </p>
<p>However, by and large, only these few classes (mainly pre-med requirements) are ones where pre-meds need to kind of work to get an A or B grade (B+ to A is ideal). Most other science courses they take are only difficult enough at worst to yield some average between B and B+ w/o needing much of a curve (and when it is needed, it is curved to a B). The only true exception is for those taking NBB 301 where the average is a B-. Chem and bio majors are also likely to run into a couple more (okay, chem majors will run into several) courses where the average is roughly a B- (Cell bio and developmental come to mind, maybe CVA and a few special topics offerings like cancer or immunology), all others seem to be between B/B+, and I understand that some courses like evolutionary biology are so easy (teachers sucked though) that they were between B+ and A- last semester (both sections). NBB major courses and electives associated w/the major outside of NBB 301 and Psyche 103 seem to universally yield B/B+ (so they have 1 exception as opposed to several). If you only want ease as a pre-med, and also want a so called “pre-med major” (basically, do want to fall into a stereotype or not), then go for anthro or NBB. Avoid chem, bio, and psychology (this has plenty of easy courses but will put you through several that grade quite harshly and require lots more work than anthro and NBB. The intro. sequence, psyche stats., and psyche methods, are among these).</p>
<p>However, if you do this, make sure to take challenging professors and excellent teachers for the pre-med core (bio, orgo, physics, gen. chem, math. Cell bio is a nice auxillary course w/good professors. Same goes for some of the special topics and 3-400 level offerings each year) as this will increase chance of retaining and understanding enough info. to score well on the MCAT w/o worrying about the efficacy (being over-reliant upon) of MCAT prep. courses. If you don’t know the info. well already, it may be hard to truly benefit from such a regiment. If anything, it should merely be there to tell you how much you actually do know or reaffirm that you know it (and of course prep. you for getting over taking the exam itself). You shouldn’t be essentially learning (they took the courses, but did not learn it) most of the material for the first time, like I suspect many at Emory are.</p>