<p>Cause I don't think I can get an A in economics. When people say the average GPA of a med school is 3.65. Are they referring to overall GPA or just science GPA?</p>
<p>Med schools look at BOTH your GPAs–your overall GPA and your science GPA. The 3.65 you mentioned is an overall GPA. It’s expected that your science GPA will be close to your overall GPA.</p>
<p>If you make it thru college with only one B in economics and the rest are A’s, then your cum GPA is still going to be very high.</p>
<p>^ I seriously doubt that’ll happen. lol</p>
<p>^You should never doubt yourself. Bad idea.</p>
<p>Sherlock Holmes was fond of saying that false humility was as great a vice as arrogance. One should have an accurate opinion of one’s abilities, and errors of underestimation are just as severe as errors of overestimation.</p>
<p>(On the other hand, he was a fictional character.)</p>
<p>I disagree. Everybody should do their best to get where they want to be. To doubt yourself and set lower goals will definitely result in failure.</p>
<p>^^^ Underestimation AND Overestimation of your abilities can have significant problems. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Overestimating your abilities can also be a negative thing. If you overestimate your abilities and then don’t reach your goals, you are more likely to become discouraged and lose motivation to work harder in the future. </p></li>
<li><p>Overestimating your abilities may also cause you to become complacent in your classes because you think you are too smart.</p></li>
<li><p>Overestimating your abilities may also result in you taking a much harder course load than you can handle and your gpa will get screwed.</p></li>
<li><p>I could go on, but you should be getting the point by now. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>BDM wasn’t saying that you should underestimate yourself, he was just saying that overestimating your abilities can have just as severe consequences as underestimating yourself.</p>
<p>^All UG courses are designed for average people. If you set high goals, you will achieve high results. If not, you might not get where you want to be at all. We are not talking about super human athletes who do need a combo of certain body compositions and yes, still have to have work ethic to perform at super human levels. We are talking about UG classes, designed for very average people. There is no overestimating of your abilities in this, just work reasonably hard and enjoy other aspects of your life. GPA=4.0 is a very reasonable goal, no genius brains, no super physic needed. However, everybody is free to set whatever goals they want.</p>
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<p>You sure about that? Schools where the average Sat score is a 1500/2400 have courses that are designed for “average people”, since the average sat score in the US is around a 1500/2400. Top 10 elite schools where the average sat score of the incoming students is higher than 99 percent of the country are going to have courses that are designed for kids who score higher than 99 percent of the country on standardized test. If the courses at elite top 10 schools were designed for “average kids” { kids who score 1500/2400), then almost everyone (80%+) of the kids at these top schools would be making As. This is not the case. So you can’t just say “All UG courses are designed for average people.” It varies a lot from school to school.</p>
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<p>Doesn’t grade curving come into play here, where only a certain few would make As according to how ‘harsh’ the curve is (as the test is easy)?</p>
<p>“the kids at these top schools would be making As”</p>
<p>-If kid with 2400 study the right way (studying hard does not always mean long hours), yes, they will be making all As. Even kids with lower SAT will have all A’s if they realize soon enough that adjusting to college level is a must. In regard to curving, in lots of classes, profs exclude A+ (100%+ or 100% or the highest grade). Some kids are all to ready to “feel their freedom” at college and it will cause problems. Adjustment to college level is required, but not everybody see it sooner vs later. While, one does not need 4.0 to get to Med. School, goal of having 4.0 is desirable.</p>
<p>Your science GPA is more important to Med. schools that your Overall GPA. Economics won’t really help in Med. School.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>That might be true up to a point. But a student with a 3.8 science GPA and a 3.4 cum GPA is going to have problems with admissions.</p>
<p>While you may not “need” economics (or some other class) in med school, demonstrating the ability to well in a variety of situations (i.e. classes) is a indicator that this is a potential med student who can learn and do well in a variety of areas. </p>
<p>Doing “avg” or worse “poorly” in other areas can be a “red flag” that suggests that you don’t care about areas that aren’t your specific interest or that your ability to learn is very narrowly focused.</p>
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<p>Most intro classes? The majority of all classes? Sure.</p>
<p>There are, however, a good number of undergraduate courses which are not the kind of thing that anyone could do well in just by putting in the effort.</p>
<p>It will not help to think that amount of effort will not bring you results. You should be much more positive. If you are going with positive attitude it will force you to seek help when you feel it is needed. If somebody is successful in class, then there is no reason for you do poorly in this class. Some people do not want to ask (pride…or whatever).</p>
<p>Hard work is generally necessary for all classes in college but not sufficient to get an “average” person through any college course. Working hard, having a positive attitude, and asking for help when you need it will allow you to get As in all your intro courses regardless of subject matter. By the time you’re done these, you should have an idea where your talents lie. There are certain 400-level science courses that I got As in and others in the class were barely managing to pass despite putting in 5x the effort as measured in hours, dedication, and stress. Along the same lines, there are 400-level courses in other departments which I would struggle to pass while people with a better aptitude for those subjects would manage to excel relatively easily compared to me. Saying that “all undergraduate courses are doable for the average person” is ridiculous. Courses get harder as you go along and are not meant for the average person but rather for people with strong skills in certain areas. Sure, poor work ethic is probably the leading cause of failure in college. But when you’re interested in medical school and grades are important, there’s also something to said for being realistic, learning what your strengths and talents are in the first year or two of college, and studying subjects which you have an aptitude for rather than assuming you can get through anything just by putting in a superhuman amount of effort.</p>
<p>All UG courses are designed for average people.</p>
<p>That may be true for “frosh” 100 level classes, but not true for courses in “harder” majors once you get to the 200+ levels. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that Cal III or OChem II is designed for “average people.” If they were, than an average student could get a C in those classes, and I don’t think they can without tons and tons of study/tutoring or super inflated grading. And, I certainly would NOT say that my son’s 400 level math classes were designed for average people. Those classes were 400/500 level combo classes and I would suspect that to pass those classes (without ridiculous inflation) an IQ of at least 125 would be needed…and a 125 IQ is in the 95th percentile. Even if a 120 IQ is needed, that would be almost 90th percentile…certainly not average. </p>
<p>But, again, I do think that the 100 level “Intro to XXXX” courses are designed so that the average person can pass them.</p>
<p>^But then you start limiting yourself, not taking some classes that you are interested but afraid to get a lower grade. It is not what UG school is for. You should be able to try classes outside your comfort zone. Planning too safe and not being confident will backfire at the end, IMO. Well, apparently, one can only make conclusion based on personal experience and ours are vastly different. I definitely do not consider person with all A’s to be a genius. There are plenty of pre-meds who are graduating with GPA=4.0.</p>
<p>The most extreme example in the country of not all undergraduate classes being for “average people” is this one :D</p>
<p>[Math</a> 55 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_55]Math”>Math 55 - Wikipedia)</p>