<p>Is it relatively easy to maintain a high GPA in a premed program at USC (assuming i dedicate time and effort)? The reason im asking this is because alot of students at higher institutions end up with lower gpa's with the exact same education as someone at a lower institution. Also how well does the program support you for applications for med school, MCATs, etc.</p>
<p>USC has pretty good grade inflation as far as the “average college” is considered for premed. I know I’m going to get beated on for being so broad when using the terms “average” college and “grade inflation.” I’m assuming you are comparing USC to similar caliber colleges such as UCLA, UCSD, and to an extent Cal etc all of which USC has high grade inflation so you would be better off going to USC if GPA and lower competition is concerned. Hope that helped more than confused because I know that those terms are pretty vague but there’s no real way I can be more accurate without siting references.</p>
<p>I don’t know why UCLA ■■■■■■ are on the USC board all the time. How can the word of someone who goes to a rival school be trusted? </p>
<p>It is no walk in the park-- but that goes for the same at any big university with a significant pre-med population.
As a student who has taken general chem and bio at USC, roughly +1 standard deviation will give you an A (possibly A- if you are on border). That is about 16% A’s (not including A-). You can be the judge of whether that is inflation or not.
I received A’s in both of those classes and I am not a genius. It is definitely doable, but you will have to put in some effort.</p>
<p>I would be lying if I said that I knew what a +1 standard deviation was…</p>
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<p>The same way that someone trusts your word. Assuming that I’m a ■■■■■ simply based on the fact that I go to the other school 20 minutes away makes you seem like the exact type of kid USC is trying to distance itself from. </p>
<p>Just because I go to a rival school doesn’t make everything I say a lie and it doesn’t change the fact that many people both on the USC board and UCLA board will agree with me when I say that UCLA/Cal or other top public university premeds on average tend to have a harder time getting a higher GPA than USC. This isn’t because I’m trying to beat on your school. By saying that also I am not implying that USC is below either of the aforementioned colleges. All of them are top tier schools and the difficulty of a school doesn’t necessarily correspond to its caliber all the time. USC is private and generally private colleges tend to take care of their students better as well as on average give them higher GPAs. I am merely stating a generally accepted fact. If you still think I’m a ■■■■■ you can research this yourself or see the following:
<a href=“http://gradeinflation.com/figure2.gif[/url]”>http://gradeinflation.com/figure2.gif</a></p>
![http://gradeinflation.com/figure2.gif[/url]](http://gradeinflation.com/figure2.gif%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>I was merely trying to give the OP a general feel of what it is at USC compared to other schools. I am not saying USC is EASY, don’t misunderstand. I’m simply stating that if he were to pick between the noteworthy schools in the state and he cares about GPA as a top priority then USC would probably be a wiser decision than the top UCs or places such as Caltech. I’m not ■■■■■■■■, this is a generally accepted fact. Instead of giving the OP some anecdotal evidence about grades you received, I was trying to provide some general information that could be of use in a broader sense and more useful later on. </p>
<p>Being stuck up and calling me a ■■■■■ is the exact reason why USC sometimes gets bad rap as the snobby “above you” rich type school who no one likes. I know that’s not true when I know numerous extremely intelligent people that are attending USC currently and I know how much of a great school it is but when I come into contact with people like you online or in person it makes it that much harder for me to believe USC is amazing. Don’t bring your school’s image down.</p>
<p>I apologize if I called you a ■■■■■, but there are just very few reason I can see someone from the UCLA forum on the USC forum. Perhaps you can provide a reason? (not that there needs to be one…) I would think someone who goes to the school would be more well informed. </p>
<p>As for the grade inflation data you cite, I cite specific grading policies for pre-med classes. You are making broad generalizations about private colleges, albeit they may be true. I actually read the article that corresponds to your cited graph and I don’t believe that USC is one of the listed data points (although it may be in the aggregated data). It is hard to see where USC lies in the continuum— that gives me problems with your assumption that USC has “high grade inflation.”
For instance, the business school has an unofficial curve for core business classes at 3.00.
Your baseline for “high” has no basis besides general trends. While USC probably more grade inflation that a public school, it is difficult to say where it would be.</p>
<p>I don’t have a specific reason besides the fact that I’m just trying to help out others as well as learn myself. If you notice in my post history, I’ve posted in the Berkeley, Harvard, UCLA, USC, Deep Springs, etc etc forums while I only go to 1 of those schools. It doesn’t necessarily raise a red flag (or at least I hope not) if someone from a different school is posting and trying to help out in another school’s forum. </p>
<p>Anyways, I wasn’t trying to imply USC has extremely high grade inflation because that is a claim difficult to back up credibly. I was simply stating that the general consensus around this state is that if you were to pick between top schools (UCLA, Cal, USC, Stanford, Caltech etc), USC would probably be the place you have the highest chance of getting the highest GPA out of all those. Not because it’s easy, not because it’s not as good as the others, I was simply going by what I have continually heard and see backed up by evidence. Every school I named though is well regarded as one of the top schools in the state, USC included, so I wasn’t attempting to imply that USC is at the bottom of that list simply because I have heard others claim it is easier than Cal (that was also coming from someone from Cal who transferred to USC after not liking the Berkeley environment).</p>
<p>I am currently a rising high school senior aspiring for a future MD. My family is in that difficult spot where we won’t get much financial aid because of income but at the same time cant pay for an Ivy League education, thus im looking for reputable institutions with great premed programs such as USC, Vanderbilt, University of Miami, and WashU in St. Louis who give merit aid? Do you happen to know which of these is best for premed? any others I should be looking at? How about NYU? Since this thread talks a lot about USC, I want to ask how good the USC premed program really is as far as preparation for MCATS and med schools of the Harvard and JHU level? and hows the merit aid there? btw I am also considering UC Berkeley</p>