<p>I'm looking to go pre-dental so I am going to need at least a 3.5</p>
<p>Are all the science classes curved poorly?
How hard is it to achieve a 3.5 going pre-med?
Is the student body cut-throat?
Think I would have a easier chance of achieving a 3.5 at USC or UMich?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’ve already shown you the grade deflation web site! It has average GPA data for the bulk of universities. All the schools you are currently interested in suffer from similar grade deflation.</p>
<p>gradeinflation.com/</p>
<p>Curves generally do not hurt students at UCLA. Professors design their exams to be roughly difficult enough for the class to receive the desired curve distribution (based around a B- average) so a curve does not have to be used. Curves are mostly only used when the class is below the B- average and raises students’ grades.</p>
<p>~20% graduate with a GPA of 3.66 or above [L&S].
[UCLA</a> Office of Analysis and Information Management | AIM](<a href=“http://www.aim.ucla.edu/FAQs/classrank.asp]UCLA”>http://www.aim.ucla.edu/FAQs/classrank.asp)</p>
<p>getting a 3.5 in Biology is pretty freakin’ hard. My roommate is pre-Optometry and he is barely managing a 3.2-3.3</p>
<p>And as the above poster posted, 3.66 is the cutoff for top 20%. That should be a clear indication of how difficult a 3.5 is.</p>
<p>I’m willing to bet most of that 20% are humanities majors even; but, this isn’t highschool. A 3.5 GPA won’t be easy regardless of which public university (+ USC) you go to.</p>
<p>let me give u some raw, real data for biology</p>
<p>ONLY 15% get As</p>
<p>on my bio midterm (a core class u will have to take for predental), the average was a 100. the stand deviation was a 28. i got a 131.5 and thats not an A. talk to any other person at another university and getting one standard dev above the mean is guranteed A, not at UCL-GAY</p>
<p>Some departments are more strict about their curving requirements for the classes (LS aka biology aka life science is one of the tougher ones). Were the curves tough? Not to the degree that if you were a top student you’d be ok. However, I as an bioengineer definitely had an easier time dominating in non-engineering classes (LS, OChem, Biochem) than I did in BioE so it’s all relative. If you work hard (once you learn how to prep for exams correctly), it shouldn’t be an issue. I started with a 3.3GPA after first year, then kicked ass and ended up with practically a 3.6. I noticed that it gets easier when you get to smaller classes and upper division as far as the curve opening up (more % get As and Bs) and it also helped that I was able to pick classes I liked.</p>
<p>My advice would be, start strong, and stay on top of your game. It is really really hard to raise your GPA once it drops, especially in later years.</p>
<p>maybe for ur class it was easy but our grade is extremelly competitive…and way more competitive than other years</p>
<p>I don’t believe the BS about how competitive it is here - it will be competitive almost everywhere you go. It’s not like high school where you can cruise and get A’s (at least, early on). You make your own destiny on how hard you study or take the time to go to OH to understand the material or read the book. If you do these things, you should be able to grab an A. For the most part, I got bad grade (C’s and B’s) in chem/math/physics etc. early on in undergrad because I didn’t properly adjust and as a result, did not put enough time or thought into my studies (studying smart). Once you learn how to get over the million distractions, understand when to say no, life gets much easier. I figured it out my second year and from there on out, I was able to do a whole lot as far as extracurrics, social life, and generally having a blast with the crew at UCLA.</p>