UM Honors LSA for Pre-Meds?

Yes, “everyone” should just “go” to Harvard or Stanford. Just go.

Harvard and stanfor do not technically inflate, they just dont bell curve. How to get an A is given to everyome the first day on the syllabus and harvard/dtanford kids are all very capable of getting A’s. Inflation/deflation is not considered at all because the rankings do not consider it either. Unfair, maybe, but thats just the way it is. Umich does not have much deflation eithet btw. Unless like 50% of the class is getting an a, umich rarely bell cutves either and they stick to the syllabus

Why does umich have to bell curve if 50% of the class is getting a’s? Curves are supposed to help you not hurt you. Most umich students are a students anyway so I don’t understand why they are trying to limit the number of students that get a’s while harvard and Stanford don’t have a limit and like 80% of the class gets a’s. My friend at umich said that professors curve to a b even in honors classes where everyone is capable of getting an a.

^IMO the curve is more often used when the highest grade is, say 72%. Meaning the highest scorers barely passed.

No uncommon as they teach in a different way and often ask things on tests that are not covered in the materials or require you to apply what you learned at the next level. Their intent is not to fail everyone, just to see who learned it vs. who can learn and apply it.

Math and sciences are naturally deflationary in this way. Whomever you need to “show” this grade should know that. I would hope they would see a GPA full of math and science in a better light than one full of less analytic (i.e., less objective right answer) courses.

It also highly depends on where you want to go to med school. If your goal is a top 10 or 20 med school, you should not be going to a school unless ypu’re certain you can be in the top 10% or achieve 3.8+ since a low gpa, regardless of school/major/grade scale, will end your chances

I heard at umich it is very difficult to get a 3.8+. harvard and stanford would be easier to get a 3.8+ gpa

The level of difficulty between the schools is very similar, its just that Harvard/Stanford are a bit more forgiving. Regardless, med schools do not care whatsoever, what they care about is the number and even if you go to a school with deflation, the applicant with the better looking number wins every time. Maybe a little unfair and flawed but that’s just the way it is

then how come undergraduate schools look at grades in your high school context but medical schools don’t look at grades in your undergraduate context?

The undergraduate context is not much. The difference between Harvard and a place like Michigan State is marginal at best as in a 4.0 MSU student would still like achieve a a 3.8+ at Harvard. Additionally, the rankings are largely based on GPA and MCAT score. This is less the case for undergrads as there is so much disparity in GPA systems while med schools recalculate and make it easier to rank. The numbers based med school admissions system is a well known concept, if you ask any current med student you will hear the same answer from them.

But very few msu students are accepted into umich med school

Yes but that speaks more to the typical student that goes there as few of them have the potential to get into a school like umich med. But a 4.0 at MSU and a high MCAT is enough to get you anywhere because after around a 3.9 and high MCAT, your med school admissions at the top are then all based on chance. Also, i think you’re underestimating a 4.0 at Harvard/Stanford. It’s not like high school 4.0 easy, its still very hard to do well. the difference in difficulty between umich and harvard/stanford is very very hard and very hard, its not significant at all. If you can’t get a high gpa at umich, you are almost certainly not able to get a high gpa at harvard/stanford either