<p>Hi everyone! So i know this question has been asked, but I didn't find any of the responses sufficient so that's why I'm asking again. I would really appreciate it if current harvard students or grads answered this. So I was accepted SCEA and I am currently planning on being premed. So i have also been accepted/interviewing for multiple combined bs/md programs. Next week I will be going to WashU for their university scholars finalist weekend. I don't know if I'll be one of the 12 selected out of the 20 but the requirements for staying in require you to maintain a 3.8 GPA and 36 MCAT. This doesn't really make the process any less stressful, but it does let you into a top 5 med school. I feel if I did this at Harvard, I would also be able to get into a top tier med school. My heart is set on Harvard, but I don't want to get into a low tier med school after going to Harvard because I am unable to get a good GPA. I know college is a lot more than a GPA, but unfortunately GPA is extremely important for med school, and the few premeds I know from Harvard did not get into good med schools. So I would like someone to tell me very honestly how difficult maintaing a 3.8 is at Harvard if I'm planning on majoring in a hard Science, namely Human, developmental, Regenerative Biology.</p>
<p>I think a 3.8 is a very reasonable GPA to maintain. But it depends a lot on what classes you take. HDRB as a concentration requires that you take orgo, but doesn’t require that you take serious physics classes, serious math classes, etc. So basically if you’re reasonably diligent, choose your classes (gen eds, electives) wisely, etc, a 3.8 should be fairly easy to come by. </p>
<p>That said, I would urge you NOT to choose your courses based only on how easy they are if you do choose to enroll here (or anywhere else). Harvard has a fantastic med school placement record, and I can assure you that not everyone who gets into great med schools has a 3.8. As I said in another thread, many of the premeds I know who aim only to maintain a certain GPA are very stressed out, unhappy, and dissatisfied with their coursework, because they don’t take good or interesting classes and it eventually wears them down.</p>
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<li><p>Medicine is a field in which where you went to medical school matters a lot less than it does in other professions. For 99% of MDs, where they went to medical school is irrelevant. That’s one reason why it is really common for students coming out of a place like Harvard to choose an in-state public medical school, for far less tuition, rather than pursuing a “top 5” medical school. Unless you are seriously committed to an MD/PhD and a career in academic research, a few points, or a few dozen points, of difference in the rank of your medical school will not make a difference in your life. If you ARE seriously committed to a career in academic research, you should be reading very carefully about the current funding crisis in medical research.</p></li>
<li><p>In most situations, my advice to students making college choices is grounded in this: Do what makes you the best person. Strategies can succeed or fail; there’s lots of luck involved in life, especially life at the top of the academic food chain. But if you do what makes you the best person, you will always have that for yourself, no matter what, and what’s more that is what will make you the best candidate for the honors you crave.</p></li>
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<p>Now, that principle does not resolve your choice between WashU’s University Scholars program or Harvard for college, because either choice is great, and you can waste your opportunities either place, too. But it does tell you not to make decisions based on the ease of getting a GPA, and it does tell you not to make decisions out of fear, generally. That’s not how you make yourself into the best person you can.</p>
<p>If you were accepted at Harvard SCEA and are a finalist for the program at WashU, you are obviously someone with great talents that others understand immediately. For crying out loud, have some confidence in yourself! You are not just scraping by, you have the tools to succeed in a big, important way. Where you go to college, within this set of choices, will have a lot less to do with your ultimate success than how you approach college once you get there. And starting by asking “How is it easiest to maintain a 3.8 GPA?” is the wrong way to approach it.</p>
<p>@JHS, maybe ‘lifeismygame’ got into Harvard SCEA by having that “easy way out” mentality throughout high school.</p>
<p>Given the OP’s alias is “lifeismygame,” I think we can infer that the OP treats life as a game, and therefore cares more about the effectiveness of his/her approach than whether or not it is acceptable or the “right way,” as you would describe it.</p>
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I disagree. Taking the easy way out is a recipe for NOT gaining admission to a top school. </p>
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I disagree with this too. The only inference I’m prepared to make is that the OP is, as JHS put it, “someone with great talents that others understand immediately.”</p>
<p>Sorry to be so disagreeable today.</p>
<p>@Elanorci thank you so much for your response, I really appreciate it! </p>
<p>@JHS I really appreciate your sentiments. So I am not looking for an easy way out at all. Thats the reason I’m leaning towards harvard over any of the bs/md programs. Harvard’s classes are just fascinating and seem to be incredibly interesting, and I can’t wait to take them. So I’m not GPA obsessed, part of the reason I’m asking this question is to assuage my parents relevant concerns. I also don’t want to look back four years from now and regret my decision, so I’m just trying to get as much information as I can from people. I unfortunately only have acquaintances at Harvard, so everything I know about the school is pretty much from the internet.</p>
<p>@Orange Mellow: lol sorry about my username. So I actually made this account while some friends were around me. I couldn’t come up with a username and a friend chose it, and I went with it. That being said, I guess I consider life to be a “game” but that’s because I have fun living it!</p>
<p>@Sherpa: Thanks for the defense! You are obviously a very nice person :)</p>
<p>If anyone else has any comments/advice I would really appreciate it!!!</p>