I attended a seminar given by adcoms for the Vanderbilt School of Medicine earlier this year, and they mentioned that for students at schools like Vanderbilt, students generally get a little more leeway in terms of GPA (.1 or .2). My take from this was that if you apply to medical school with a 3.7-3.8 at Vanderbilt, it would really look like a 3.8-4.0 at a school with less GPA deflation.
I have also heard from outside sources that going to a school like Vanderbilt doesn’t really change how medical schools look at your GPA, and that if you have a 3.7 at Vanderbilt, it looks the same as a 3.7 from a state school.
What is the more common trend (do Vanderbilt students actually get a “boost” for their GPA)?
Unrelated to above but relevant:
Would anyone know where I could find average GPA by race for accepted applicants for medical schools like Vanderbilt?
I’m sure that is the case for the Vanderbilt School of Medicine. They are naturally fond of Vandy students, and are much more familiar with the grading standards here.
I don’t know that other schools give Vandy leeway. To my knowledge, Vanderbilt doesn’t really deflate grades. I think the average GPA here is pretty normal. It’s just that many of Vandy’s peers are notorious for inflating GPA. A medical school would certainly be more impressed with a 3.7 from Vandy than a 3.7 from lower-tier universities just because of the difference in caliber of schools, not because the difference in grading policies. How a Vandy 3.7 would compare to 4.0 from a lower ranked school – who knows. I suspect its different in every admission office.
I don’t think schools publish academic statistics by race.
*Some grad schools have an objective and well defined adjustment to GPA’s, some have subjective adjustments, and a few have neither. Most recognize an average student at a top university would set the curve at most other universities.
*Most med schools accept 90% of their class from the top 10% of undergraduate universities and 10% of their class from the other 90% of universities.
*Some med schools have a mission to provide primary care doc’s to under served regions in their state and will make adjustments for applicants with similar career goals. Each school is different.
*A high GPA from a mediocre university without a MCAT score to back it up means nothing.
*Sophie posted a nice report on VU’s success in placing students into med school.
Vandy students with >3.3 GPA and >30 MCAT have an 83% acceptance rate into med school. Note, the average GPA at VU is a 3.4 and the average MCAT score for VU students is 30.7.