<p>I heard Princeton is not the place to go if you want to go on to medical school. With grade deflation and the competition there could someone tell me if I should go somewhere else?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t really waste time worrying about things like this. No matter where you go, there will be some things that are great and some not. There doesn’t exist any truly perfect school for any person because time will reveal imperfections in everything. </p>
<p>When approaching any important decision, it’s necessary to take a step back and consider a pragmatic point of view. First of all, I’d encourage you to apply to any school that you can imagine yourself being happy at for your four-year tenure (especially because many people discover new passions at universities anyways, making it less important what pre-professional or undergraduate degree you think you want at this point). After you’ve gotten your decisions, consider the schools holistically. Getting bogged down by details makes it harder for you to fully enjoy what is about to be an exciting new part of your life.</p>
<p>For me, I knew that Princeton was the best fit for me. It felt scary that it was the only school on my list with grade deflation instead of inflation. When I reminded myself that all the unique, awesome things about Princeton outshined the relative lower grades at Princeton than other schools like Harvard or Berkeley, it made me a lot more comfortable with my situation.</p>
<p>I haven’t forgotten the point of your question. I just felt that it was necessary for this year’s applicants to be reminded of a general suggestion, regardless of what school you apply to. (The only detail that really, really, really matters is money. Very few schools are worth the stress caused by a tuition out of your budget on your entire family.) </p>
<p>Princeton’s medical school admission rates are very high, and on par with Harvard and Yale. Keep in mind when you are doing research that statistics will fluctuate somewhat from year to year, which is the truth about any single set of data, anyways. Most graduate and medical schools understand our policy.</p>
<p>The policy of grade deflation is a noble one; there should be less emphasis on getting an easy A and more emphasis on producing high-quality work. While there may always exist special cases of students who are motivated to learn regardless of grades, it is also undeniable that there exists a general sentiment to not work as hard when you already have an A. Since grades are an arbitrary system of classification anyways, it benefits students to be able to distinguish between the highest quality work, and good quality work. The truth is, grade deflation makes life a little bit more difficult. Ideally, every school would have similar systems. Since not everyone has caught on, it is one of those situations where there is pressure to lower your standards to stay competitive in the game. This becomes a point of controversy for some people, but my personal opinion is that I like the sense of self-integrity that comes with working hard for my grades.</p>
<p>However, referring back to my original idea, comparisons are easy, but much less important than they seem. Admissions committees will evaluate you in your own context, and will evaluate you holistically as a candidate (the ones that don’t aren’t worth your time anyways… students deserve more than that). Similarly, consider your schools holistically. Don’t get caught up in the details. Ultimately, pre-med will be difficult no matter where you go to school, and once you get a better taste of it, you will be more confident in your decision either way.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
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<p>So you’re saying because no place is perfect, the OP shouldn’t care at all about which undergrad is the best for a pre-med? Worrying about which undergrad to go to as a pre-medical student is not a waste of time.</p>
<p>As for the rest of your post, I completely agree.</p>
<p>Princeton has a tough (and sometimes unfair) grading scheme, but med schools will view your grades accordingly (somewhat - a 3.6 from Yale > a 3.5 from Princeton even though a 3.5 at Princeton is much higher than the average and a 3.6 at Yale is approximately average). Our acceptance rate to medical school has remained at around 93% a year despite grade deflation, and we still get 1/3 to 1/4 of all applicants to top 10 schools.</p>
<p>Yes, I see your point. Let me clarify.</p>
<p>I meant more specifically to say that the effect of grade deflation on the pre-medical education at Princeton isn’t worth worrying about. Questions about pre-medical education should be based on ideas such as, “What types of opportunities are there for me to get hands-on experience?” “Does being a pre-med student at this university allow me flexibility to pursue other interests?”</p>