<p>If you do well at UVA (university of virginia), how will that compare to doing average at an ivy?</p>
<p>It’s not the school that matters. It’s what you do while you’re at the school that counts.</p>
<p>^ what Shades said. Repeat after me:</p>
<p>“I do not have to go to an ivy to get into medical school” :D</p>
<p>Oh and if you get a mediocre GPA at an Ivy, you’ve hurt your chances at med school just as much as if you get a mediocre GPA at UVA. Its not the school that matters.</p>
<p>Isn’t it much harder to get a good GPA at an Ivy? I thought colleges grade on a normal curve and so the level of student at an Ivy will make it much more difficult to excel. And if this is true, wouldn’t it be bad to go to an Ivy?</p>
<p>CC needs a “beating a dead horse” emoticon.</p>
<p>We’re past the point of “beating a dead horse.” It’s more like trying to incinerate ashes, if you ask me.</p>
<p>Oh man…imagine if the OP had posted this on SDN…</p>
<p>Grade inflation. </p>
<p>Where is the magic balance between “hard enough to facilitate a solid MCAT” and “easy enough to have a high GPA”? How can this be optimized by choice of major? </p>
<p>Answering and acting upon the answers to these questions correctly is what really determines whether you are smart enough to be a Doctor.</p>
<p>The answer: Whatever/wherever you want to do/be.</p>
<p>Well, almost.</p>
<p>
Srsly.</p>
<p>While on the topic, can someone tell me if my intro to psych counts as a sGPA? Should I take calculus, or just algebra? Will it look bad that I got a B+ in physics? Should I shadow for 100 hours, or is 80 enough? I’m in a lab washing dishes, will I get published? I’m in high school, what should I do to prepare for the MCATZ???</p>
<p>I lol’d, Emily2007.</p>
<p>emily-
are you talking about high school courses? (physics, algebra, psych, etc) you aren’t going to get published unless you are doing the research. I would get settled into college before worrying about a test that’s at least 2 or 3 years away.</p>
<p>nate, see Medwell’s post…Emily was kidding.</p>
<p>ahhh…i feel stupid</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>How difficult a class is entirely dependent on the PROFESSOR, not the school. And further, on the student. As far as I know, no school has an absolutely standardized grading policy that’s used by every single professor…and such a policy would largely be unenforceable anyways.</p>
<p>Course difficulty reflects a complex interplay between how the professor teaches, how they grade, their grading policies, how the student adapts to the teaching style, the material and effort. Certainly in classes where grades are based on your position relative to the class average, there’s a potential for Ivy caliber students to make a class difficult, but that still is just one part of the puzzle. </p>
<p>As for the “bad to go to an Ivy” question, again, far more than just grades goes into the answer. All the things that go into the atmosphere of a campus can make it a good or bad thing for a particular individual. Some people need competition to motivate them, others do better as the big fish in the small pond, so on and so forth.</p>
<p>There will always be people who end up not getting into med school because they went to an Ivy and got their teeth kicked in academically or in the competition for positions in organizations. There will likewise always be people who went to a “lesser” school who got bored and didn’t try, preventing them from getting in. There are absolutely people who made poor decisions on which schools to apply to, either because of their ego, peer pressure or poor advising, and as such they won’t become doctors. </p>
<p>All these variables are why it’s so difficult to predict med school acceptances, and also underly the importance of making smart decisions throughout the process. The only broad based general advice that will ever be acceptable all the time is:</p>
<p>go to a school that will allow you excel academically, socially, emotionally and physically;
do the best you can while you are there;
be involved in things you like doing;
get clinical experience
don’t study for the MCAT much more than 10 weeks;
apply to a wide range of schools, remembering the goal is to become a physician, not a graduate of ______ medical school;
and lastly that getting into medical school is not worth being miserable. </p>
<p>Do those things, and there’s still no guarantees but you’ll have done all you can to put yourself in the best possible position, and then hope for the best…</p>
<p>brm</p>
<p>Great post; you said everything that needs to be said.</p>
<p>Now, sadly, how long will it be before we see another which school is better post?</p>
<p>sigh, i just noticed that there was already a new one that I missed…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>hahahha yeah</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>:rolleyes: </p>
<p>sad, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Thanks BRM, you answered my question completely, and sorry if I’m beating the horse.</p>