I’m currently a first semester freshman at UNC Chapel Hill and I’m freaking out a little… I know that I sound over dramatic, but I honestly don’t know what the norm is for premed classes. Should I be getting straight As? Is it ok to get a couple Bs? I just tried to calculate my grade for chem 101 lab for this semester and I initially thought that I was going to be able to pull off at least an A-, but it looks like it might end up being a B. Is this ok? I feel like I somehow just ruined my chances of getting into med school. I’ve heard that you need a close to 4.0 GPA (around 3.8 or 3.9) to be accepted to med schools, so now I’m getting really worried. Please help!!
Also, I was wondering how med schools look at UNC as a school? I know that a slightly lower GPA from some schools is seen as ok because they are more rigorous. Where does UNC place on this spectrum?
Take a deep breath. A B in a 1 credit course isn’t going to destroy your chance for a med school acceptance. (For that matter, neither is a C or even a couple of Cs.)
The average GPA for allopathic (MD) med school matriculants is around 3.7, not 4.0. Strive to do your best, but don’t make yourself crazy.
If you want to see the GPA/MCAT acceptance grid for your ethnicity, go here:
[MCAT and GPA Grid for Applicants and Acceptees by Selected Race and Ethnicity, 2013-2014 through 2015-2016](https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/factstablea24.html)
If you want a more granular view of GPAs and MCATs scores at specific med schools-- purchase access the MSAR. It lists the 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles for GPA and MCAT for every med school.
This is pretty much a myth. It’s one of those stories pre-med like to tell themselves to make them better about their academic performance. Everyone thinks their own school is “more rigorous” than some other school their friend attends. (I’ve never yet heard a pre-med say “I go to really easy school. Will the adcom lower my GPA?”)
The truth is there is no universal list of “more rigorous” schools. Adcom members will see transcripts from several dozen, perhaps even several hundred hundred different colleges each year. Adcom members cannot be expected to know the grading policies of all of them. In the end grading policies differences fall into the category of “noise”-- i.e. signals that are random (unpredictable) and carry no useful information.
And besides, that’s what the MCAT is for. The MCAT is the great equalizer for the varied and diverse grading policies at several hundred different colleges across the US and Canada supplying med school applicants.
@WayOutWestMom Thank you so much! I was really freaking out, but this made me feel a lot better.