<p>How hard is it to have a GPA of 3.0 or over in the freshman year?
What is the average freshman GPA at Carolina?
Current students: Any tips? Anything to avoid, that will kill our GPA?
SHould we avoid hard courses like chem, math,phy in our first semester?</p>
<p>Right now I have a 3.31. At Carolina I would say that it's easy to make a B, but HARD to make an A. So you're going to have to work for a 3.5 but it's not impossible. It will be especially hard if you're pre-med.</p>
<p>Oh no! I'm a premed!
WHy do u think its hard for premed?Is it because of the courses?</p>
<p>The bad news; there is a well known amount of grade deflation at UNC and not just in the hard sciences. The good news; med and professional schools are fully aware and take this into consideration when looking at UNC students. That said however you can't be substantially below the average GPA for admissions at any school. Just for consideration you should also note that the average GPA for admitted students at UNC Med School is a little over 3.7 with a science GPA of 3.6 plus.</p>
<p>A premed track anywhere is not an easy road with orgo being the usual weed-out class. When you consider that most med schools on average accept less than 5 percent of applicants the competition is keen. A strong showing on the MCAT can also help overcome a slightly lower GPA but unlike undergrad admissions there is no such thing as a safety med school.</p>
<p>What about the average GPA for business school students and/or liberal arts majors?</p>
<p>"there is a well known amount of grade deflation at UNC"...really.....hmmm.....I've always felt that grades have been as inflated as ever.</p>
<p>nahmytbf: What's your major?</p>
<p>Biology & Computer Science</p>
<p>nahmytbf: Well, grade inflation has been discussed innumerable times, here on CC especially. While all universities have seen grade inflation over the decades, public universities have typically suffered less from that than most privates (especially Ivy's). I think that the sciences at UNC have also typically not seen much grade inflation, and possibly grade deflation, over the years, from what I've read. I've seen some reports that in 2001 (I believe), UNC carried out a study on grade inflation and how to stop it, in the non-sciences especially. Since then, I gather there's been a real effort in that direction, which has caused (I suspect) some overall grade deflation in all depts.</p>
<p>My parents say they are going to pull me out of UNC if I don't have a 3.5 or higher first semester...eeek!</p>
<p>The grapevine I've heard is that UNC is easier than high school for IB students or those heavy into AP classes.
But then, I haven't heard whether they've been trying to make 3.5 GPAs.
For any pre-med, it appears, it's hard.
You have to face the hard classes some time.
Best way is to map it out from the beginning, and I wonder whether it's difficult to get good one-one-one advising at a school as large as UNC.
But that's why we have the Internet. Duke's web advice looks sound:
<a href="http://prehealth.trinity.duke.edu/prepare/samplecourses.html%5B/url%5D">http://prehealth.trinity.duke.edu/prepare/samplecourses.html</a></p>
<p>purplexed: Well, my daughter was in IB and also graduated with 11 AP courses. She's doing a double major, and while she does not think it's easier than high school, I think she probably does feel her days are more manageable--in the sense that she feels like she has more control over her time, I think. The courses aren't back-to-back, all day everyday, so in some ways she may feel less stressed (on a day-to-day basis). I do suspect that any student who followed a rigorous curriculum in high school, and did well in it, probably has his or her time management skills down to a science, so that surely helps-- and would help at any university. She's never had any difficulty w/regard to advising, nor with accessible faculty at UNC.</p>
<p>Thanks, Jack, for the insight.
My rising senior is still working on that whole time management thing. And I used duct tape regularly on my mouth last year, and will this year (except perhaps with applications), to give her a chance to develop her own techniques, and suffer/enjoy the consequences/rewards.
11 APs. Wow. My rising senior would have four under her belt by now, except she showed up for one test at the wrong time, and then called me at work in panic. All I could say was, "Deal with it." Maybe that was the best lesson learned.
Speaking of time management, must lead by example and sign off....</p>
<p>Jack is right about the UNC Grade Inflation study and I actually looked at it a few weeks ago. Here is the link if anyone else is interested in reading it: <a href="http://www.unc.edu/faculty/faccoun/reports/1999-00/R2000EPCGrdInfl.PDF%5B/url%5D">www.unc.edu/faculty/faccoun/reports/1999-00/R2000EPCGrdInfl.PDF</a>.</p>
<p>It is an interesting read but you must also note that it is from 2000. Since then UNC, like Princeton and others have made strides to reverse the trend resulting in actual grade deflation especially in the "hard" sciences. Most hard science classes (Chem, Bio, Physics) as well as Calculus and advanced math classes at UNC adhere to very strict curves limiting the potential for As and A minuses. My S has had more than one class where the Professor has on Day One said " I do not give A's in my class" so the best one could hope for is an A- which is a 3.75 not a 4.0.</p>
<p>My S, now a rising senior, entered UNC with 43 hours of AP credit which enabled him to bypass many entry level classes and helped him to double major with a minor as well. He attended a private prep school that has a reputation for turning out grads who routinely feel that it was harder than their first two years at any college even Ivies and certainly has them prepared for anything they might face in college. That said, he still works hard, being in premed is not easy anywhere. As I said in an earlier post, those on a premed track have two GPAs to be concerned with; overall and science GPAs. Unless one is a URM, a 3.3 average in either isn't going to get one into med school.</p>
<p>You will get a big time argument from him if you try to float the notion of ANY grade inflation at UNC because his experience has shown the exact opposite to be true. It may be the case in some intro classes that he skipped but it has certainly not been the case in either of his majors or in any science /math class he has taken.</p>
<p>eadad: There's another study that I was talking about, done in 2001, I think, where UNC--worried about grade inflation-- did institute some changes or recommendations for change, so that grade deflation does now exist, as you say, across the sciences and humanities. I'll see if I can find the link to that. </p>
<p>I think my daughter would agree with your son's assessment that she has not seen any evidence of grade inflation in her majors, either, one of which is econ. I do think that a rigorous, fairly intense, high school curriculum is great preparation/background for any university, but doesn't necessarily make the university courses any easier.</p>
<p>so...what does this new grade deflation mean for us?</p>
<p>Considering the average GPA at UNC is a 3.2, I think it is evident that some inflation exists. I'll try and find the DTH article about that.</p>
<p>Well, here's a DTH opinion piece, written in 2005, but this must be a follow-up to an earlier article. This does reference the "Turchi Report," which is what I had read online, though can't seem to find now.<br>
<a href="http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2005/02/23/OpinionsboardEditorials/No.Drastic.Action-1363519.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2005/02/23/OpinionsboardEditorials/No.Drastic.Action-1363519.shtml</a></p>
<p>GOB</p>
<p>It's not new to UNC since it has been in place since before my son matriculated in 2004. It is also a well know fact at Wake Forest....aka "Work Forest". It is new however at Princeton and a few other "elite" schools that just began implementation in the last two years.</p>
<p>As I have said before, grad and professional schools are fully aware of the rigor of the curriculum at UNC and of the grade deflation that exists which gives far more weight to As and A minuses than they might have at other schools known for grade inflation. At one Ivy they discovered that something like 70 plus percent of people in a given class were getting As because the assumption was if they are here, they must be smart to begin with. It took a major outcry from grad and professional schools as well as employers to force the change in attitude at Princeton and Harvard who have both begun to enact grade deflation policies and begin the trend at other schools.</p>