The lack of +/-

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

<p>While Brown’s disuse of +/- in its grading is awesome in that it helps to put more focus on learning rather than competition, would a top medical school give less weight to an A achieved at Brown when the adcom is comparing that A to an A from another school/peer school?</p>

<p>Any sort of A is obviously indicative of superior understanding, but in the legendarily competitive world of med school admissions, especially those at the top, I suspect that splitting hairs is sometimes inevitable and that an A from Brown would leave an adcom a little wary because that A could very likely be a borderline A-.</p>

<p>I’m just a little worried because I am aiming for an MD/Ph.D and getting into a well-regarded (and consequently ridiculously competitive) med school actually matters for me. </p>

<p>Any insight would be greatly appreciated! :D</p>

2

<p>It doesn’t have an effect on grad school acceptances. Our top students have no problem getting into all of the top programs. It certainly has no effect mechanically the way you’re thinking.</p>

3

<p>a lack of +/- takes the pressure off and puts emphasis on learning.
To grad schools, an A is an A.</p>

4

<p>And grad schools have been dealing with applicants from Brown under the new curriculum for 40 years. I think that’s enough time for them to understand the way it works. Plenty of Brown grads get into top-notch grad programs. I don’t know why things would change now.</p>

5

<p>alright, thanks for the info!</p>

6

<p>Couldn’t someone argue the contrary? Meaning, what if you have straight A+'s, but according to Brown’s grading, they’d “only” be A’s…</p>

7

<p>Many universities have no A+ despite having the rest of the + and - grades, so I can still see the point. That said, there is zippo in the way of evidence that grad programs hold it against us.</p>

8

<p>All grad schools know better than you do about how students are graded at the various undergrad schools. I find it hilarious that you think you know more about grading than the med schools do! Think about it.</p>

9

<p>My position was entirely theoretical. I didn’t make any decisive statements, only suggested possiblities. If I had thought that med schools really treated grades this way, then I would not have asked any question.</p>

<p>And yes, of course grad schools know better than I, but the point of my post was to see if I can get any more educated opinions to gain more insight on how these grad schools think.</p>

10

<p>brown doesnt have +/-??? Christ… what a joke. </p>

<p>I don’t buy the “let’s you concentrate on learning” line. in my experience the hardest bump in grading is the A/A- divide. getting an A is hard. or should be… so, either the B/A divide becomes the new A-/A, or people are getting away with As with only A- work. </p>

<p>when hiring, I will never trust a brown degree.</p>

11

<p>^ So you’re a freshman, and already thinking about who you’re gonna blackball? Good grief.</p>

<p>Well, I DO hire, and lack of a plus or minus is about the last thing on my mind.</p>

12

<p>the point, fastfood, is that there’s more to competency in the workplace, measure of intelligence, or level of education than a plus or a minus</p>

13

<p>and did you stop to think that simple “A” (or A-) at brown is harder to attain at brown than an A or A- at another school? certainly there is a continuum, and i’m not about to claim Brown is the most rigorous school (it’s no MIT, but that is in my opinion a good thing), but it is much more intense than others.</p>

14

<p>I’m sure Brown is difficult in the grand scheme of things, but if I was presented with two applicants (all other things equal), one from Brown and one from Columbia, I would give the Columbia degree more credit. </p>

<p>How could you argue that a 3.8 from Brown is equal to a 3.8 from Columbia? It very well might be, but that extra level of hesitation could mean the difference. </p>

<p>I’m not trashing the school at large. I am simply saying that it is an inferior method of communicating the merit of students.</p>

15

<p>Someone in this thread doesn’t understand what they’re saying. How familiar are you with psychometrics?</p>

16

<p>Fastfood, since Brown doesn’t calculate GPA, that’s not a statistic you will ever have to deal with.</p>

<p>If and when you are in the situation to be hiring, and you make a blanket decision not to hire Brown grads, that your loss. And what would you do if your boss went to Brown??</p>

17

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<p>I doubt this will ever be the case. Seriously, why would a Brown grad hire Fastfood15? I know I wouldn’t trust his Columbia degree with all of his B’s and C’s bumped up to a B+'s and C+'s.</p>

18

<p>I never said I wouldn’t hire Brown grads!!! Christ. I said their degree has a level of ambiguity that makes it worth less. (Notice the space? Not “worthless”, but of diminished value compared to peer schools)</p>

<p>No GPA?? How can you compare one Poli Sci degree holder to another?</p>

<p>I hope you all can look at how overly defensive you suddenly become…</p>

19

<p>I hope you can realize how overly unprepared for this conversation you seem to be.</p>

20

<p>Umm… wasn’t that apparent at the onset? I’m asking questions about your grading policies… So it should be assumed that I don’t know the big picture. My judgements about the effectiveness of your system have been met with scorn; not rebuttal. </p>

<p>please respond to my WHOLE post so we can start having a productive discussion.</p>