Hi guys,
Emory is my ideal pre-med university. I was wondering how hard it is to get a 3.8 GPA at Emory for med school with a lot of parallel research and volunteering.
Is it humanely doable? I know GPA is one of the prime factors. Has anyone achieved it? Did anyone get into med-school from Emory?
Thanks. How hard would I have to work for it?
Thanks again guys.
Please try to reply guys!
@SBSapphire Yes–it is doable. Just make sure to do your research when selecting classes (balance difficult ones and easy ones). People definitely have achieved it. And yes–people have gotten into med school from Emory. How hard it will be for you to go to med school doesn’t necessarily depend on how hard you work. I would advise working smarter over working harder. That is what will get you through classes like Orgo.
@TheTennisNinja : I guess it depends on the course: Courses that involve critical thinking and problem solving usually do involve working smarter perse because it is really just about learning about how to think and less whether you know the material in a simplistic manner. Memorization based classes (only but so useful for MCAT prep), simply doing what they tell to do or know at a superficial level is enough, so not being lazy will get you a good grade. Either way, most of the elite schools have a decent amount of folks over the 3.8, even the less grade inflated among them (such as Emory). It requires either high talent (which is usually assumed, but let us recognize that some are so talented that they can take any type of schedule and any type of teacher and do really well), some balancing, hard work, and adaptability. I think this is really where “work smart” comes into play- Really need to feel out what type of STEM class it is. Is the teacher even good. Do they emphasize memorization or do they ask students to analyze? They require different styles of studying. Furthermore, if you procrastinate, you may want to stay away from classes with heavy graded workloads and maybe do only those with quizzes and tests and minimal assignments. I honestly think that for pre-meds, it is a matter of “choosing your battles”. OP should want to earn good GPA, but also need to ensure they the proper thinking skills (which will include reading scientific passages and data analysis) for the MCAT so that they avoid a GPA/MCAT mismatch.
More a matter of choosing some key courses/teachers where you can risk a sub-A/A- and it really be something that builds lasting knowledge and skills and then being more 'picky" with other courses ensuring they have good instruction and make an A doable for a large chunk of the class if they put in the work. There are also classes that stress the skills needed for the MCAT that may have like a B+ mean because the tests may be hard, but other work and components comprise like 25-30% of the grade and are graded leniently. Hell, evolutionary biology with Gerardo even gives take-home exams (well-written too). All she wants folks to do is learn how to think about science without worrying about their grades. Not even all STEM classes are “hard”.
Speaking of that, how is the QSS major (aren’t you doing that?) since you are basically about to finish? Does that have any fire or anything interesting about it?
@bernie12 No–I’m majoring in Econ and Math. I’m a sophomore so I am around halfway done. I can’t say for the QSS major but I do think that some of the Econ and Math courses could be more rigorous (though the teachers generally do a good job).
But yeah @SBSapphire listen to Bernie–he is the Emory guru.
@TheTennisNinja : Wait, so you went over to main already right? That would explain a lot. Math has lots of multi-section courses at at least the intermediate level. So if you want rigor you can find it through picking whoever (I know that new lecturer Garcia is apparently a bit different, bringing the rigor of Urbana-Champagne math/CS to Emory). Econ. beyond intermediate is luck of the draw, but I suppose that when there are electives with a standard option and a CWR rendition (sometimes offered in same semester), choose the CWR option. Free CWR credit and maybe more engagement with the material.
@bernie12 yeah I’m at main. What’s CWR?
@TheTennisNinja : Continued writing requirement. You may have finished that GER at Oxford, but nonetheless, economics offers renditions of certain upper divisions courses with a “W” after the number because they fulfill continued writing requirements. But honestly, I just interpret it as an honors version of the normal version of the course where they may work in more interesting assignments and things like that. The popular class money and banking sometimes offers a “W” version for example.
I did the research: If you go back to the fall course atlas, econ. offers a W and a regular version of 411 simultaneously. And you could look at the syllabus for the W version to observe the difference.
@bernie12
What’s the average gpa of premeds at Emory
@twnz19 : That is an unreasonable question. There is no way to know that. Seriously. They all major in different things and take different classes outside of the 8 or so required medical school courses. Many do not even claim that they are pre-med, and others unseriously consider it. Pre-med STEM courses at Emory usually adhere to “standard” (courses with enrollment above 50ish, aim for C+/B- B-, B-/B, or B course GPAs depending on whether the course is introductory versus intermediate/upper division. Introductory is a less selective and larger group so is usually C+/B- or B-. Intermediates- B-/B
or B course GPAs are more common) grading norms, but pre-meds will take far more courses than those required by medical schools and also have different strengths so not even an “average” pre-med will get the average/median grade for each pre-med course. Too much variation to even be concerned about an “average”. Just know that most will be challenged, but stuff is fair and those who work and think hard as well as seek help when they need are likely to do very well. Assume Emory is like most elite privates/publics that fall at the bottom end of the grade inflation scale (I say that these are: Cornell, Penn, Vanderbilt, Emory, UCLA, Berkeley, and Hopkins, Princeton. Students at 3-4 of these schools claim “grade deflation” when it is actually just “less inflation than some other schools” or “harder than usual courses and standard grading for STEM”) and has some very challenging(but popular) professors in key areas usually taken by pre-meds.
@bernie12
V new to this (premed )
Sorry if this is a silly question
But I was trying to understand how this works
@twnz19 : Well, it seems you are confused and was ready to fall into a trap. Do note that pre-med is NOT a major and do not feel pressured to major in anything that encompasses several pre-med courses. Do what you wanna do, but just be sure to take courses that medical schools require AND perhaps additional courses that help with the MCAT (note that completion of the pre-med requirements hosted by each STEM department is usually sufficient to get you access to any intermediate or upper division courses in the same department. So you can major in a non-STEM subject and still take upper division STEM courses). For MCAT prep., focus on courses that deliver useful/aligned content as well as those that stress the sort of thinking skills and testing styles that will make you successful. But yeah, being “pre-med” merely means “am taking the specific requirements for medical school and may apply”. It means nothing with relation to a major or other courses taken while in college.
@bernie12
Would you know how the curriculum is taught differently at Emory and WashU? Like at one, is it more memorization based, the more “traditional method,” or more problem solving focused and application based?
Trying to understand an older post
Thanks
@twnz19 : They take after each other and tend heavily towards problem solving versus many other schools (even among some top tiers). Emory’s chemistry curriculum changed in content versus every other high ranked private research university to have even more of a problem solving/conceptual bias. Biology has always kind of done that (especially in the second semester). Either way, you don’t want “traditional”. “Traditional” isn’t helpful for the MCAT. You’ll fail to retain the content and you’ll have to reteach yourself content and then also learn how to handle the MCAT’s stress on critical thinking and data analysis. If you are good at memorization or more comfortable with it, best to go to a school where a majority or large chunk of STEM professors have migrated away from it as the primary emphasis in things like biology or neuroscience. It may feel uncomfortable or “unfair” initially, and you may blame some of the instructors for being “too hard” or “testing stuff deviating from what was covered in class”, but you can thank them later, and will get good at it. I recently talked to a mentee who met quite a few surprises on the MCAT that pre-med courses typically don’t cover (even at top schools), but he was able to just reason himself through most of those situations because he took a lot of instructors who got him used to that. Less memorization is also better for transitioning to undergraduate research opportunities.
@bernie12 : As a point of clarification. The main differences are in biology and neuroscience. Most place were always kind of problem solving/conceptually oriented in things like chemistry, but some schools take it to another level. What has been slow is biology faculty migrating away from rote memorization at most places. This could be a problem for freshmen used to biology courses being mostly about memorization or applied memorization versus experimental biology, cases, mechanistic models, and conceptual understanding. Sometimes even those who took and did well on AP have a hard time adjusting to that because they were mainly taught to memorize content (and perhaps take instructor designed midterms that asked for it) and then were heavily coached prior to the AP/IB exams that placed less emphasis on it. The introductory sequences will retain and require a decent amount of memorization (bio 1 more so than bio 2), but a lot of the intermediate biology courses at an Emory or WUSTL (and maybe a couple of other places) will teach you content, but also ask you to read, discuss, and/or present the primary literature associated with the field either in the lecture or in a separate section outside of lecture. And then the tests will allocate significant weighting towards experimental design or research based questions in said courses (if they give exams). Some classes use something like pbl (problem based learning), and also give tests that are heavily data/experiment based. Most upper divisions have migrated towards a heavy research focus (incorporate literature, simulations, writing, etc, and some are straight up labs). Not even the few heavily pre-med frequented courses that mainly demand rote memorization have run of the mill “sit there, passively listen, and take notes” style of instructors. Most of them incorporate lots of active learning or give extra projects/work as well.
@twnz19 Is this for your daughter or your niece? In the Emory group you are saying that it’s for your niece and here you’re saying it’s for your daughter.
whoops, must have still been sleepy @ myself.
For my daugter this one
@twnz19 It’s odd to me because you are in the Emory Facebook parent group asking these same exact questions for your niece. Repeatedly. Do you have a student who is committed to Emory as well?
The question here is for my daughter only
My neice is same age as my kid