<p>I am heavily considering attending Bowdoin next year. I want to go on to med school. How hard is it to get an A on science and non science courses? How many average students per course get an A? Are courses graded with a curve? If yes, is the grading curve harsher than a curve in a bigger university? How difficult is it to get a 3.7+ GPA? Which major is better at Bowdoin and which is harder: Biology or Chemistry?</p>
<p>I think you should take a look at this link: <a href="http://www.bowdoin.edu/healthprofessions/preparation/index.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.bowdoin.edu/healthprofessions/preparation/index.shtml</a></p>
<p>Hey iantheman. In general, it is pretty hard to get A's in the sciences; however, there is a great benefit to being graded hard, it results in good preparation for the MCAT. People testify that because orgo is sooooo hard at Bowdoin, they virtually ace every single orgo question on the MCAT. In terms of curves, most science courses don't have a curve, except orgo since its very hard (i.e. if you get a B avg. in the class for the semester, your overall grade will get curved to an A). As for non-science courses, the ability to get an A depends on the following: 1) Which department the class is in (e.g. economics is ALOT harder than sociology), 2) Who is teaching the class, and 3) what is expected for the class (i.e. if a class asks you to read 300-400 pages between classes, and then tests you on the reading, then you'll probably have a diffcult time in getting an A). Most classes don't post a grade distrubtion, except for larger lectures, and on average depending on the class, usually in a class of 50 students there will be between 6-10 A's. So to answer your question, alot of students don't have 3.7.</p>
<p>Just as a warning, if I were you I would not be JUST concerned with GRADES entirely for med school. First and foremost you should learn material in science classes for the sake of learning, not just to get an A. Every one of my friends who is pre-med, appreciates their classes for the enjoyment and the engagement they get from them, but they DON'T ever say, "I NEED TO GET AN A in this class because I need it for med school"! So my advice to you is to learn for the sake of learning and the grades will come naturally. And if your truly dying to know, the avg. gpa for accepted med school students is around a 3.5. Med schools are well of Bowdoin's rigor, so I wouldn't be concerned about grades.</p>
<p>On the note of majors, Biology is much easier than chemistry, since chem requires that you take pChem. The bio major also has only 8 required classes within the department. The classes include intro biology, one class from physiology distrubtion, one class from molecular and cell bio distrubtion, and one from the ecology distrubtion. Your also requried to take 4 elective courses, in which 2 must be above the intermediate level, and the other 2 must be above the introductory level.</p>
<p>Chem and bio actually both have a similar number of required courses, if you count Bio's required Organic chem, math, and physics, along with chemistry's required physics and math.</p>