I heard only 10-15% of the students get A’s in each class?? I want to do premed and the average GPA for a med school to even consider you is a 3.8. Will this be hard to maintain at UW-Madison?
My highschool is a private college prep school which has a history of preparing kids well for college. I work hard in high school and I’m willing to work hard in college. I really want to go to madison& am in love with it but I might go to a smaller school if it will mean it will be easier to get a better gpa. As of right now, I am thankful cost is not an issue
Premed is an intention, not a major. You need to approach college as an opportunity to learn a field in depth with a future perhaps in medicine. The number of students getting top grades depends on the course. Students do not sign up for honors chemistry, math or physics sequences unless they are stellar students and I suspect a high proportion deserve an A.
If your sole intention of an undergrad degree is becoming a physician you are likely best off at a school where you are likely to shine. However, this can backfire if you don’t study hard enough. I was a UW honors chemistry major eons ago and then chose medical over grad school for various reasons. I had classmates from various schools. They did, and I suspect still do, give more weight to UW than any other instate school for good reason. But- some people thrive at other schools and attend them for various reasons, such as finances.
Even today less than half of those with premed intentions will get into medical school. Some change their minds as they discover other interests. Some don’t get the grades. You need to have a plan B and a major you truly like. Choose the college you would most like to get your degree from. You will do best in the “best fit” environment.
Your college gpa will be so dependent on not only your knowledge base and ability but the courses you take. Use your undergrad experience to become educated, not just get into a medical school. Including art history, symphony and other nonscience electives was good for me.
Figure out what your college major will be. For most it is the sciences because those subjects are interesting. But- if you have a passion for another field go for it. UW has a fantastic array of courses outside those you likely heard of in HS. Do not make getting good grades your focus. Instead, make learning the material your focus and the good grades will come.
The curves where there’s a limited quota for A’s are getting less common in grading—most professors will curve your grades up when the averages are too low, and if the average is normal, they will default to a set grading scale. I think Chem 344 (ochem lab) was the one class I had at UW as a premed where A’s were limited to only ~20% of the people in your lab section.
The percentage of A’s therefore can vary a lot from class to class, but I would say it’s typically between 15-25% for a regular science class (eg. Chem 103 had about 25% A’s last Fall, Bio 151 had ~20%). The percentages are sometimes higher for honors-only courses, partly because the students who choose to do honors are, on average, more studious, partly because the grading can be more forgiving (not always though!)
Premed is difficult regardless of where you go, so you might as well go to a college that you love and will be happy at. I will say that Madison, being a large, well funded university with an attached academic hospital, will have an unlimited range of opportunities to choose from.
So, do you think honors is a mistake for premed students? My DD is in that boat, and I’ve been trying to convince her to avoid honors programs for this reason.
I just lost my long post. NO! to avoiding honors for premed. That H shows up on your transcript with your course grade. Often the classes have so much more, get the best TA’s for discussions and may not be any harder than the regular version- eg chem 103-104 vs the chem115-116 version. Never try to downgrade your D’s education. There will be strengths and weaknesses- do not do honors in weak areas but certainly do so in areas of interest/ability. A mistake to NOT do honors when practical.
Do not try to game the system. Never a guarantee better grades will be had at the easy school- it can backfire and a student may not study as hard. Go to college for an education.
There are no standard grading systems in college- thankfully. Some of the best courses will have exams (blue book essay style chem problems were the norm for me) where the top student’s score could only be in the 80’s% with a few in the high 60’s- all deserving an A. It is good to realize how much more there is to learn and to be challenged. My honors labs involved doing some of the time with nonstandard project or in a grad lab. Took no more time but more interesting.
@octrojan
This is all dependent on the student. As a premed, I took chem 115-116, honors only ochem, and Biocore (another honors only course sequence) because I was interested in learning more material at greater depth, and I don’t regret those decisions at all. There is a lot more support for students in these smaller classes due to a lower student:instructor ratio—for example, my ochem class was 30-40 people TOTAL compared to 200 person lectures for regular ochem, and Biocore offers lots of chances to get close mentorship. It’s also easier to find study groups and friends—I know several people in my chem 115 class who are still close friends with each other years later, and I myself have some very good friends from Biocore.
That being said, these were some very challenging classes (cried for the first time over academic-related stuff in chem 115 lol!) I took them knowing they would be challenging, but was confident in my own ability and motivation to put in the appropriate amount of work to do well. From my perspective, college was a time for me to take charge of my own education and take the classes I was interested in taking. It IS sensible advice to take the easier route as a premed considering how competitive admissions is, and you should definitely self-evaluate your willingness to put in more hours into studying, but at the same time I believe you shouldn’t totally sacrifice your own academic interests for the sake of gunning for a high GPA.
Also, taking honors ochem and Biocore personally helped me a lot on the MCAT, content-wise. Take that as you will.
EDIT: I am also currently a senior at UW, so my opinion of these honors courses should be relatively up to date with their present form.