Pre-Medicine Program

<p>Hello all, I am a student who will be attending Boston University this coming fall. I know this topic has been posted several times, but I’m afraid my questions and concerns haven’t really been dealt with. </p>

<p>My first question is how true is the rumor about Boston University’s grade deflation? I hear one side or the other, but never any support for either. If one worked very hard and studied a great deal without partying and etc., would a 3.8 GPA be feasible? I am not much better than the average accepted student at Boston University, but I am positive I want to get into medical school and become a pediatrician.</p>

<p>My second question is whether or not there is data of how many people in Boston University who have gained admission into top medical schools. I would like to have a comparison between those students and myself.</p>

<p>My last concern is whether or not being in Boston University for the undergraduate college helps with admissions to Boston University School of Medicine. Do they prefer students from Boston University or do they prefer students from other schools?</p>

<p>Thank you very much to those who can help relieve my anxiety. I have been stressing about Boston University and medical school since acceptance into the school. I am majoring in Biology at the College of Arts and Sciences. It would be a problem for me to look for a job if I do not gain admission into a medical school. I apologize for any typos or grammatical errors. Thank you again in advance!</p>

<p>Please help</p>

<p>The grade deflation thing is true. Speaking to a BU Pre-Med rep, he says grade deflation occurs, but not to worry because (some) medical schools take grade deflation in consideration when analysing their applicants. Just work hard and do what you can do.</p>

<p>Also, he said the Boston University students do very well in getting into the BU medical school (considering they accept about 140/12,000 BU/Non-BU students), and if there were two equally capable applicants, with one being a non BU student and the other a BU Student, the latter would most likely be accepted into the school.</p>

<p>Thank you for the information! That does sound reassuring, but only to an extent. There are very good known schools out there that have grade inflation, Harvard being one of them. The problem with this is that I feel as if medical schools will always prefer the higher gpa from Harvard compared to the 3.5 at Boston University, which may perhaps be even harder to get than a 3.8 or so at Harvard.</p>

<p>In the hypothetical situation you described, the applicant from Harvard with the 3.8 would be chosen over the 3.5 at BU - regardless of whatever grade inflation is present at Harvard - this being the case at most medical schools expect perhaps BU - though that is because I am unfamiliar with how much they cater to their own undergrad population. While prestige of undergrad has a negligible impact on medical school admissions, the .3 GPA disparity is way too significant to disregard as simple grade deflation. Some medical schools may gives places like UChi the benefit of the doubt when it comes to grade deflation, but BU isn’t really UChi…</p>

<p>(It’s also logical to assume that a pre-med student at Harvard would probably have access to better research opportunities, internships, general extracurriculars, etc than a BU student which would also contribute to the predicted outcomes in med school admissions.)</p>

<p>I agree with your statements; however, Harvard does have a much higher average GPA than BU. Grade deflation just does not seem fair and I do not see a point in it. I feel like BU does have a lot of research opportunities and etc. The only disparity for me is the GPA.</p>

<p>

Harvard students are more brilliant than BU students to start with. This sounds harsh but it is true. </p>

<p>@TheWorriedOne - There are far more disparities between BU and Harvard than simple GPA distribution. </p>

<p>OK so a few things about grade deflation and pre-med…Grade deflation varies depending on the department/ school/ etc at BU. It is the worst in STEM classes, especially intro ones. They make a point of weeding out people who aren’t really committed to it. People will say that grade deflation is not a BU policy because it isn’t. But it is the policy of many academic programs and professors. As for getting a good GPA (3.8, 3.9, 4.0) of course it’s POSSIBLE. But every single pre-med student at BU comes in thinking that they will be able to do that with no problem and almost all of them are wrong. As a COM major my pre-med friends’ schedules look like living hell to me with how many lectures, labs, pre-labs, etc that they have. That being said, some people do manage it, but just as many drop out of the program by the end of their freshman year. I have zero idea about what Med Schools will think about it, but if you want to have a stellar GPA in pre-med at BU it’s going to take a lot of work and some actual skill at science (you would be surprised how many BU students get their best test scores on English and History but for some reason chose to be pre-med because their parents say they should)</p>

<p>The most important thing is to have experience taking hard science classes in high school that will prepare you for the intro classes at BU.</p>