<p>Im asking this question from a purely GPA stand point</p>
<p>Ive heard only one bad thing USC premed. is that USC grading curve in Premed classes is just like a public school E.G.- 20% A's, 20% B's, etc... </p>
<p>unlike most private school who are grade inflated</p>
<p>is this true? if not what is the grading curve? again im just asking about the premed classes</p>
<p>im really want to attend USC but im afraid that it is going to be very cutthroat and i would d much rather compete for the 20 % A's at a "middle" UC then USC (or UCB, UCLA) where argueably the students are smarter</p>
<p>PS- I know theres is more to medical school acceptance than GPA but i just wanna know the GPA curves in the premed classes at USC just so i can know what to except i havent been getting much information</p>
<p>Med schools also consider the difficulty of the school that you attended for your undergraduate career. Pick the school that you feel most comfortable at when you walk around on campus.</p>
<p>bump? any other insights?</p>
<p>According to my D who has several pre med friends at USC, the general atmosphere is not one of cutthroat competitiveness. Rather, there seems to be a lot of collaboration between students…study groups, helping each other out etc. Professors and TAs are also pretty available for help if needed. D also has a few friends at Berkeley…much as they love the school, things are much tougher there regarding competition.</p>
<p>I don’t know about the grading curves in premed subjects, but I do know that a couple of the more demanding neuroscience courses D has taken are curved to one’s advantage when the average grade is lowish.</p>
<p>Uhh. Sorry to cut in, b/c I don’t go here. But I have to set the record straight. Most private schools do not inflate introductory science/pre-med courses. In fact the amount of A/A-s is normally less than 20% in biology, chem., orgo., physics, and many upperlevel biology/neuroscience courses. The inflation typically occurs in the humanities and natural sciences. Just like every other school, grading is harshest in the natural sciences at privates. We, like USC for example probably curve up to even get close to that distribution in harder classes. However, we may be worse, b/c unlike most schools, no matter how low averages are in gen. bio, intro. phys., and gen. chem, they won’t curve. And in orgo, normally A-grades are less than 15%, and people are lumped at the B- and maybe 55% % are that (remember B-=2.7)and below.</p>
<p>first of all i now im about to revive a 3 week old thread</p>
<p>Sequoia: see that is what i have heard about it being collaborative. but no one is giving me a straight answer. Is UC like Publics that only give 20% A’s or is it like some grade inflated private Ivies who give out like 35% A’s? </p>
<p>I mean i love USC but i dont wanan go there if it will mean a subpar GPA. when i could just go to a mid tier UC like davis, Irvine, or UCSB where it will be less competitive. Im going to go in a biology/premed and i read that i need on average a 3.66 overall GPA and a 3.5 science GPA.</p>
<p>Professors set strict quotas for as, bs, etc. A friend of mine got a 90% in an intro bio class and earned a B-. And it is actually VERY cutthroat.</p>
<p>bmanbs2: thank you for the information</p>
<p>For intro chem class, classes are curved. The class average is curved to a C+/B- I think. I got 90s on my first two tests, 80 something on 3rd, 70 something on 4th. I got a 115/200 on the final… which was ABOVE the average (average was 109/200 I think?) I ended up with a B+.</p>
<p>^ Chem classes are much more forgiving then bio classes, as they are full of engineers and other non-premed types. It really sucks for the people who want to become biologists, having to compete with the pre-med people.</p>