Things you wish you knew in university

[Cerena]

Matt,

that is a great list! Could you explain your 14th tip:

 

Do everything you can to keep every class above 80. If it means taking a significant hit in a class in which you are sitting at a 93% (i.e. even down to a 83%), just to pull a 79% up to an 80%, it is worth it.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "taking a significant hit in a class which you are sitting at 93%." I'm just trying to understand what you mean by this, thnx.

[Cerena]

Matt,

that is a great list! Could you explain your 14th tip:

 

Do everything you can to keep every class above 80. If it means taking a significant hit in a class in which you are sitting at a 93% (i.e. even down to a 83%), just to pull a 79% up to an 80%, it is worth it.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "taking a significant hit in a class which you are sitting at 93%." I'm just trying to understand what you mean by this, thnx.

[Cerena]

Matt,

that is a great list! Could you explain your 14th tip:

 

Do everything you can to keep every class above 80. If it means taking a significant hit in a class in which you are sitting at a 93% (i.e. even down to a 83%), just to pull a 79% up to an 80%, it is worth it.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "taking a significant hit in a class which you are sitting at 93%." I'm just trying to understand what you mean by this, thnx.

[mattg]

Matt,

that is a great list! Could you explain your 14th tip:

 

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "taking a significant hit in a class which you are sitting at 93%." I'm just trying to understand what you mean by this, thnx.

 

All I'm saying is that it is more important to bring up / salvage any lower marks (i.e. below 80%) than it is to maintain your higher marks (i.e. above 90%). Obviously, you ideally want to be able to have high marks in all courses and maintain these high marks. But I'm saying if you ever have to make a choice between the two, it is more important to salvage your lower mark. Because the difference between an A+, A, and A- isn't much (just 0.3 on the gpa scale), despite covering a 20% range (80 to 100). However, once you get below 80%, the gpa gradient falls at a much steeper rate (i.e. A- to B+ drops 0.4, B+ to B drops 0.3, B to B- drops 0.3... so thats already a full 1.0 gpa point, while only covering 10%)...

 

so the ultimate goal is obviously having all marks be as high as possible... but the most important thing is to do everything you can to keep each mark above 80% - even if it means you may not be able to do quite as well as you would otherwise in your other classes... as a more tangible example, if you are going into three exams and have a 75% in one class, and 91% and 92% in the other two... even though the two classes are on the brink of falling off of A+, it is much much more important to pull the 75% up to an 80% then it is to keep the other two above 90%... even if it meant you had to devote almost all of your studying time to bring your lower mark up to an 80%, such that your other two actually both fell to A-, that is still better (gpa-wise) than maintaining the two A+, and not bringing up the B

 

a lot of people are overly seduced by an A+ that they will do anything to keep it, even if it means devoting less time to their other classes... when in reality, there is almost no difference between an A+ and an A, and they should have the opposite attitude: to take advantage of the leeway they have with their current A+(s) and devote much more time to the classes they aren't doing as well in

 

not sure if that made sense lol

[mattg]

Matt,

that is a great list! Could you explain your 14th tip:

 

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "taking a significant hit in a class which you are sitting at 93%." I'm just trying to understand what you mean by this, thnx.

 

All I'm saying is that it is more important to bring up / salvage any lower marks (i.e. below 80%) than it is to maintain your higher marks (i.e. above 90%). Obviously, you ideally want to be able to have high marks in all courses and maintain these high marks. But I'm saying if you ever have to make a choice between the two, it is more important to salvage your lower mark. Because the difference between an A+, A, and A- isn't much (just 0.3 on the gpa scale), despite covering a 20% range (80 to 100). However, once you get below 80%, the gpa gradient falls at a much steeper rate (i.e. A- to B+ drops 0.4, B+ to B drops 0.3, B to B- drops 0.3... so thats already a full 1.0 gpa point, while only covering 10%)...

 

so the ultimate goal is obviously having all marks be as high as possible... but the most important thing is to do everything you can to keep each mark above 80% - even if it means you may not be able to do quite as well as you would otherwise in your other classes... as a more tangible example, if you are going into three exams and have a 75% in one class, and 91% and 92% in the other two... even though the two classes are on the brink of falling off of A+, it is much much more important to pull the 75% up to an 80% then it is to keep the other two above 90%... even if it meant you had to devote almost all of your studying time to bring your lower mark up to an 80%, such that your other two actually both fell to A-, that is still better (gpa-wise) than maintaining the two A+, and not bringing up the B

 

a lot of people are overly seduced by an A+ that they will do anything to keep it, even if it means devoting less time to their other classes... when in reality, there is almost no difference between an A+ and an A, and they should have the opposite attitude: to take advantage of the leeway they have with their current A+(s) and devote much more time to the classes they aren't doing as well in

 

not sure if that made sense lol

[mattg]

Matt,

that is a great list! Could you explain your 14th tip:

 

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "taking a significant hit in a class which you are sitting at 93%." I'm just trying to understand what you mean by this, thnx.

 

All I'm saying is that it is more important to bring up / salvage any lower marks (i.e. below 80%) than it is to maintain your higher marks (i.e. above 90%). Obviously, you ideally want to be able to have high marks in all courses and maintain these high marks. But I'm saying if you ever have to make a choice between the two, it is more important to salvage your lower mark. Because the difference between an A+, A, and A- isn't much (just 0.3 on the gpa scale), despite covering a 20% range (80 to 100). However, once you get below 80%, the gpa gradient falls at a much steeper rate (i.e. A- to B+ drops 0.4, B+ to B drops 0.3, B to B- drops 0.3... so thats already a full 1.0 gpa point, while only covering 10%)...

 

so the ultimate goal is obviously having all marks be as high as possible... but the most important thing is to do everything you can to keep each mark above 80% - even if it means you may not be able to do quite as well as you would otherwise in your other classes... as a more tangible example, if you are going into three exams and have a 75% in one class, and 91% and 92% in the other two... even though the two classes are on the brink of falling off of A+, it is much much more important to pull the 75% up to an 80% then it is to keep the other two above 90%... even if it meant you had to devote almost all of your studying time to bring your lower mark up to an 80%, such that your other two actually both fell to A-, that is still better (gpa-wise) than maintaining the two A+, and not bringing up the B

 

a lot of people are overly seduced by an A+ that they will do anything to keep it, even if it means devoting less time to their other classes... when in reality, there is almost no difference between an A+ and an A, and they should have the opposite attitude: to take advantage of the leeway they have with their current A+(s) and devote much more time to the classes they aren't doing as well in

 

not sure if that made sense lol

[mattg]

Matt,

that is a great list! Could you explain your 14th tip:

 

 

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "taking a significant hit in a class which you are sitting at 93%." I'm just trying to understand what you mean by this, thnx.

 

All I'm saying is that it is more important to bring up / salvage any lower marks (i.e. below 80%) than it is to maintain your higher marks (i.e. above 90%). Obviously, you ideally want to be able to have high marks in all courses and maintain these high marks. But I'm saying if you ever have to make a choice between the two, it is more important to salvage your lower mark. Because the difference between an A+, A, and A- isn't much (just 0.3 on the gpa scale), despite covering a 20% range (80 to 100). However, once you get below 80%, the gpa gradient falls at a much steeper rate (i.e. A- to B+ drops 0.4, B+ to B drops 0.3, B to B- drops 0.3... so thats already a full 1.0 gpa point, while only covering 10%)...

 

so the ultimate goal is obviously having all marks be as high as possible... but the most important thing is to do everything you can to keep each mark above 80% - even if it means you may not be able to do quite as well as you would otherwise in your other classes... as a more tangible example, if you are going into three exams and have a 75% in one class, and 91% and 92% in the other two... even though the two classes are on the brink of falling off of A+, it is much much more important to pull the 75% up to an 80% then it is to keep the other two above 90%... even if it meant you had to devote almost all of your studying time to bring your lower mark up to an 80%, such that your other two actually both fell to A-, that is still better (gpa-wise) than maintaining the two A+, and not bringing up the B

 

a lot of people are overly seduced by an A+ that they will do anything to keep it, even if it means devoting less time to their other classes... when in reality, there is almost no difference between an A+ and an A, and they should have the opposite attitude: to take advantage of the leeway they have with their current A+(s) and devote much more time to the classes they aren't doing as well in

 

not sure if that made sense lol

[naspec]

Did the same thing happen to you?

 

I actually went the other way, i.e. taking courses that interested me but were known to be difficult, so my GPA wasn't as high as it could have been. But I've met so many high school students who are about to make the mistake that you described, and their well-intentioned but misinformed parents are pressuring them to take a life-sciences related degree even though they're really passionate about something else.

 

Matt,

that is a great list! Could you explain your 14th tip:

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "taking a significant hit in a class which you are sitting at 93%." I'm just trying to understand what you mean by this, thnx.

 

mattg is right, let's say your 93% drops by 4 points after your final, and ends up as 89%. Your OMSAS-converted GPA has only fallen from a perfect 4.0 to a 3.9. But if a course that you have at 83% drops by 4 points to 79%, then your OMSAS GPA drops from 3.7 to 3.3, which is a much bigger hit!

 

Conversely, if you work really hard and get that 83% course up 4 points to an 87%, then you've taken it from a converted 3.7 to a 3.9. But if you instead put all that effort into the 93% course to get it up to a 97%, then it's gone from a 4.0 to... 4.0. Which has zero effect on your OMSAS GPA*, and all your effort was wasted.

 

While it could still make a small difference for Calgary, Saskatchewan, and other med schools that don't use the OMSAS conversion scale, it would still be more worthwhile to allocate your efforts to the lower-graded course.

 

*Note that OMSAS will convert a GPA for each individual course that you take, and then take a weighted average of those converted GPAs to come up with their final number.

[naspec]

Did the same thing happen to you?

 

I actually went the other way, i.e. taking courses that interested me but were known to be difficult, so my GPA wasn't as high as it could have been. But I've met so many high school students who are about to make the mistake that you described, and their well-intentioned but misinformed parents are pressuring them to take a life-sciences related degree even though they're really passionate about something else.

 

Matt,

that is a great list! Could you explain your 14th tip:

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "taking a significant hit in a class which you are sitting at 93%." I'm just trying to understand what you mean by this, thnx.

 

mattg is right, let's say your 93% drops by 4 points after your final, and ends up as 89%. Your OMSAS-converted GPA has only fallen from a perfect 4.0 to a 3.9. But if a course that you have at 83% drops by 4 points to 79%, then your OMSAS GPA drops from 3.7 to 3.3, which is a much bigger hit!

 

Conversely, if you work really hard and get that 83% course up 4 points to an 87%, then you've taken it from a converted 3.7 to a 3.9. But if you instead put all that effort into the 93% course to get it up to a 97%, then it's gone from a 4.0 to... 4.0. Which has zero effect on your OMSAS GPA*, and all your effort was wasted.

 

While it could still make a small difference for Calgary, Saskatchewan, and other med schools that don't use the OMSAS conversion scale, it would still be more worthwhile to allocate your efforts to the lower-graded course.

 

*Note that OMSAS will convert a GPA for each individual course that you take, and then take a weighted average of those converted GPAs to come up with their final number.

[naspec]

Did the same thing happen to you?

 

I actually went the other way, i.e. taking courses that interested me but were known to be difficult, so my GPA wasn't as high as it could have been. But I've met so many high school students who are about to make the mistake that you described, and their well-intentioned but misinformed parents are pressuring them to take a life-sciences related degree even though they're really passionate about something else.

 

Matt,

that is a great list! Could you explain your 14th tip:

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "taking a significant hit in a class which you are sitting at 93%." I'm just trying to understand what you mean by this, thnx.

 

mattg is right, let's say your 93% drops by 4 points after your final, and ends up as 89%. Your OMSAS-converted GPA has only fallen from a perfect 4.0 to a 3.9. But if a course that you have at 83% drops by 4 points to 79%, then your OMSAS GPA drops from 3.7 to 3.3, which is a much bigger hit!

 

Conversely, if you work really hard and get that 83% course up 4 points to an 87%, then you've taken it from a converted 3.7 to a 3.9. But if you instead put all that effort into the 93% course to get it up to a 97%, then it's gone from a 4.0 to... 4.0. Which has zero effect on your OMSAS GPA*, and all your effort was wasted.

 

While it could still make a small difference for Calgary, Saskatchewan, and other med schools that don't use the OMSAS conversion scale, it would still be more worthwhile to allocate your efforts to the lower-graded course.

 

*Note that OMSAS will convert a GPA for each individual course that you take, and then take a weighted average of those converted GPAs to come up with their final number.

[naspec]

Did the same thing happen to you?

 

I actually went the other way, i.e. taking courses that interested me but were known to be difficult, so my GPA wasn't as high as it could have been. But I've met so many high school students who are about to make the mistake that you described, and their well-intentioned but misinformed parents are pressuring them to take a life-sciences related degree even though they're really passionate about something else.

 

Matt,

that is a great list! Could you explain your 14th tip:

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "taking a significant hit in a class which you are sitting at 93%." I'm just trying to understand what you mean by this, thnx.

 

mattg is right, let's say your 93% drops by 4 points after your final, and ends up as 89%. Your OMSAS-converted GPA has only fallen from a perfect 4.0 to a 3.9. But if a course that you have at 83% drops by 4 points to 79%, then your OMSAS GPA drops from 3.7 to 3.3, which is a much bigger hit!

 

Conversely, if you work really hard and get that 83% course up 4 points to an 87%, then you've taken it from a converted 3.7 to a 3.9. But if you instead put all that effort into the 93% course to get it up to a 97%, then it's gone from a 4.0 to... 4.0. Which has zero effect on your OMSAS GPA*, and all your effort was wasted.

 

While it could still make a small difference for Calgary, Saskatchewan, and other med schools that don't use the OMSAS conversion scale, it would still be more worthwhile to allocate your efforts to the lower-graded course.

 

*Note that OMSAS will convert a GPA for each individual course that you take, and then take a weighted average of those converted GPAs to come up with their final number.

[thatonekid]

7. If you find a professor whose style you really like, take as many of his/her classes you can over the years.

 

13. A huge criteria when choosing classes should be the layout of the class, so look into that beforehand. For example, if you are an AWFUL presenter, look to see if classes have a significant allocation in grading to presentations. If you aren't the best at writing essays, look to see if the class requires essays. For me personally, I would always try to take classes that had all or most of the grading allocated to tests, because I was most confident in getting top marks via test taking more so than anything else.

 

26. If you are just saying to yourself you can't wait for undergrad to be over, you aren't doing it right

 

29. Don't hold the test tube in orgo lab for your partner while he tries to pour chemicals into it with his unsteady hands

 

30. Depending on your program, avoid classes heavy on group projects - especially in lower level courses with a more diverse class. There are too many morons in university; you don't want your mark to rely on their work. And if you're anything like me, you'll volunteer to be the 'editor' and just end up just redoing everyone's parts the night before because they're garbage, or even not bad but still not up to your standards.

 

31. Get to know one doctor well if you can. Shadow him/her if you can for as long as he/she will let you. Apparently it's difficult to find doctors that will let undergrads shadow them nowadays, but I guarantee there are still a fair number that will. While it's not necessary by any means, it's always nice to have a staff doctor working in a university-affiliated academic centre write you a strong reference letter.

 

33. While keeping up would be ideal, unless you are well-trained, realistically, learn to cram well.

That was an amazing list. I just picked out a few of your points, because I think they're things that most people don't consider, but are so true.

[thatonekid]

7. If you find a professor whose style you really like, take as many of his/her classes you can over the years.

 

13. A huge criteria when choosing classes should be the layout of the class, so look into that beforehand. For example, if you are an AWFUL presenter, look to see if classes have a significant allocation in grading to presentations. If you aren't the best at writing essays, look to see if the class requires essays. For me personally, I would always try to take classes that had all or most of the grading allocated to tests, because I was most confident in getting top marks via test taking more so than anything else.

 

26. If you are just saying to yourself you can't wait for undergrad to be over, you aren't doing it right

 

29. Don't hold the test tube in orgo lab for your partner while he tries to pour chemicals into it with his unsteady hands

 

30. Depending on your program, avoid classes heavy on group projects - especially in lower level courses with a more diverse class. There are too many morons in university; you don't want your mark to rely on their work. And if you're anything like me, you'll volunteer to be the 'editor' and just end up just redoing everyone's parts the night before because they're garbage, or even not bad but still not up to your standards.

 

31. Get to know one doctor well if you can. Shadow him/her if you can for as long as he/she will let you. Apparently it's difficult to find doctors that will let undergrads shadow them nowadays, but I guarantee there are still a fair number that will. While it's not necessary by any means, it's always nice to have a staff doctor working in a university-affiliated academic centre write you a strong reference letter.

 

33. While keeping up would be ideal, unless you are well-trained, realistically, learn to cram well.

That was an amazing list. I just picked out a few of your points, because I think they're things that most people don't consider, but are so true.

[thatonekid]

7. If you find a professor whose style you really like, take as many of his/her classes you can over the years.

 

13. A huge criteria when choosing classes should be the layout of the class, so look into that beforehand. For example, if you are an AWFUL presenter, look to see if classes have a significant allocation in grading to presentations. If you aren't the best at writing essays, look to see if the class requires essays. For me personally, I would always try to take classes that had all or most of the grading allocated to tests, because I was most confident in getting top marks via test taking more so than anything else.

 

26. If you are just saying to yourself you can't wait for undergrad to be over, you aren't doing it right

 

29. Don't hold the test tube in orgo lab for your partner while he tries to pour chemicals into it with his unsteady hands

 

30. Depending on your program, avoid classes heavy on group projects - especially in lower level courses with a more diverse class. There are too many morons in university; you don't want your mark to rely on their work. And if you're anything like me, you'll volunteer to be the 'editor' and just end up just redoing everyone's parts the night before because they're garbage, or even not bad but still not up to your standards.

 

31. Get to know one doctor well if you can. Shadow him/her if you can for as long as he/she will let you. Apparently it's difficult to find doctors that will let undergrads shadow them nowadays, but I guarantee there are still a fair number that will. While it's not necessary by any means, it's always nice to have a staff doctor working in a university-affiliated academic centre write you a strong reference letter.

 

33. While keeping up would be ideal, unless you are well-trained, realistically, learn to cram well.

That was an amazing list. I just picked out a few of your points, because I think they're things that most people don't consider, but are so true.

[thatonekid]

7. If you find a professor whose style you really like, take as many of his/her classes you can over the years.

 

13. A huge criteria when choosing classes should be the layout of the class, so look into that beforehand. For example, if you are an AWFUL presenter, look to see if classes have a significant allocation in grading to presentations. If you aren't the best at writing essays, look to see if the class requires essays. For me personally, I would always try to take classes that had all or most of the grading allocated to tests, because I was most confident in getting top marks via test taking more so than anything else.

 

26. If you are just saying to yourself you can't wait for undergrad to be over, you aren't doing it right

 

29. Don't hold the test tube in orgo lab for your partner while he tries to pour chemicals into it with his unsteady hands

 

30. Depending on your program, avoid classes heavy on group projects - especially in lower level courses with a more diverse class. There are too many morons in university; you don't want your mark to rely on their work. And if you're anything like me, you'll volunteer to be the 'editor' and just end up just redoing everyone's parts the night before because they're garbage, or even not bad but still not up to your standards.

 

31. Get to know one doctor well if you can. Shadow him/her if you can for as long as he/she will let you. Apparently it's difficult to find doctors that will let undergrads shadow them nowadays, but I guarantee there are still a fair number that will. While it's not necessary by any means, it's always nice to have a staff doctor working in a university-affiliated academic centre write you a strong reference letter.

 

33. While keeping up would be ideal, unless you are well-trained, realistically, learn to cram well.

That was an amazing list. I just picked out a few of your points, because I think they're things that most people don't consider, but are so true.

[Cerena]

All I'm saying is that it is more important to bring up / salvage any lower marks (i.e. below 80%) than it is to maintain your higher marks (i.e. above 90%). Obviously, you ideally want to be able to have high marks in all courses and maintain these high marks. But I'm saying if you ever have to make a choice between the two, it is more important to salvage your lower mark. Because the difference between an A+, A, and A- isn't much (just 0.3 on the gpa scale), despite covering a 20% range (80 to 100). However, once you get below 80%, the gpa gradient falls at a much steeper rate (i.e. A- to B+ drops 0.4, B+ to B drops 0.3, B to B- drops 0.3... so thats already a full 1.0 gpa point, while only covering 10%)...

 

so the ultimate goal is obviously having all marks be as high as possible... but the most important thing is to do everything you can to keep each mark above 80% - even if it means you may not be able to do quite as well as you would otherwise in your other classes... as a more tangible example, if you are going into three exams and have a 75% in one class, and 91% and 92% in the other two... even though the two classes are on the brink of falling off of A+, it is much much more important to pull the 75% up to an 80% then it is to keep the other two above 90%... even if it meant you had to devote almost all of your studying time to bring your lower mark up to an 80%, such that your other two actually both fell to A-, that is still better (gpa-wise) than maintaining the two A+, and not bringing up the B

 

a lot of people are overly seduced by an A+ that they will do anything to keep it, even if it means devoting less time to their other classes... when in reality, there is almost no difference between an A+ and an A, and they should have the opposite attitude: to take advantage of the leeway they have with their current A+(s) and devote much more time to the classes they aren't doing as well in

 

not sure if that made sense lol

 

Thanks for explaining this! I understand what you mean now. Something about the way it was written before didn't click with me. Your tip totally makes sense, I fell into that trap a couple of times in undergrad.

[Cerena]

All I'm saying is that it is more important to bring up / salvage any lower marks (i.e. below 80%) than it is to maintain your higher marks (i.e. above 90%). Obviously, you ideally want to be able to have high marks in all courses and maintain these high marks. But I'm saying if you ever have to make a choice between the two, it is more important to salvage your lower mark. Because the difference between an A+, A, and A- isn't much (just 0.3 on the gpa scale), despite covering a 20% range (80 to 100). However, once you get below 80%, the gpa gradient falls at a much steeper rate (i.e. A- to B+ drops 0.4, B+ to B drops 0.3, B to B- drops 0.3... so thats already a full 1.0 gpa point, while only covering 10%)...

 

so the ultimate goal is obviously having all marks be as high as possible... but the most important thing is to do everything you can to keep each mark above 80% - even if it means you may not be able to do quite as well as you would otherwise in your other classes... as a more tangible example, if you are going into three exams and have a 75% in one class, and 91% and 92% in the other two... even though the two classes are on the brink of falling off of A+, it is much much more important to pull the 75% up to an 80% then it is to keep the other two above 90%... even if it meant you had to devote almost all of your studying time to bring your lower mark up to an 80%, such that your other two actually both fell to A-, that is still better (gpa-wise) than maintaining the two A+, and not bringing up the B

 

a lot of people are overly seduced by an A+ that they will do anything to keep it, even if it means devoting less time to their other classes... when in reality, there is almost no difference between an A+ and an A, and they should have the opposite attitude: to take advantage of the leeway they have with their current A+(s) and devote much more time to the classes they aren't doing as well in

 

not sure if that made sense lol

 

Thanks for explaining this! I understand what you mean now. Something about the way it was written before didn't click with me. Your tip totally makes sense, I fell into that trap a couple of times in undergrad.

[Cerena]

All I'm saying is that it is more important to bring up / salvage any lower marks (i.e. below 80%) than it is to maintain your higher marks (i.e. above 90%). Obviously, you ideally want to be able to have high marks in all courses and maintain these high marks. But I'm saying if you ever have to make a choice between the two, it is more important to salvage your lower mark. Because the difference between an A+, A, and A- isn't much (just 0.3 on the gpa scale), despite covering a 20% range (80 to 100). However, once you get below 80%, the gpa gradient falls at a much steeper rate (i.e. A- to B+ drops 0.4, B+ to B drops 0.3, B to B- drops 0.3... so thats already a full 1.0 gpa point, while only covering 10%)...

 

so the ultimate goal is obviously having all marks be as high as possible... but the most important thing is to do everything you can to keep each mark above 80% - even if it means you may not be able to do quite as well as you would otherwise in your other classes... as a more tangible example, if you are going into three exams and have a 75% in one class, and 91% and 92% in the other two... even though the two classes are on the brink of falling off of A+, it is much much more important to pull the 75% up to an 80% then it is to keep the other two above 90%... even if it meant you had to devote almost all of your studying time to bring your lower mark up to an 80%, such that your other two actually both fell to A-, that is still better (gpa-wise) than maintaining the two A+, and not bringing up the B

 

a lot of people are overly seduced by an A+ that they will do anything to keep it, even if it means devoting less time to their other classes... when in reality, there is almost no difference between an A+ and an A, and they should have the opposite attitude: to take advantage of the leeway they have with their current A+(s) and devote much more time to the classes they aren't doing as well in

 

not sure if that made sense lol

 

Thanks for explaining this! I understand what you mean now. Something about the way it was written before didn't click with me. Your tip totally makes sense, I fell into that trap a couple of times in undergrad.

[Cerena]

All I'm saying is that it is more important to bring up / salvage any lower marks (i.e. below 80%) than it is to maintain your higher marks (i.e. above 90%). Obviously, you ideally want to be able to have high marks in all courses and maintain these high marks. But I'm saying if you ever have to make a choice between the two, it is more important to salvage your lower mark. Because the difference between an A+, A, and A- isn't much (just 0.3 on the gpa scale), despite covering a 20% range (80 to 100). However, once you get below 80%, the gpa gradient falls at a much steeper rate (i.e. A- to B+ drops 0.4, B+ to B drops 0.3, B to B- drops 0.3... so thats already a full 1.0 gpa point, while only covering 10%)...

 

so the ultimate goal is obviously having all marks be as high as possible... but the most important thing is to do everything you can to keep each mark above 80% - even if it means you may not be able to do quite as well as you would otherwise in your other classes... as a more tangible example, if you are going into three exams and have a 75% in one class, and 91% and 92% in the other two... even though the two classes are on the brink of falling off of A+, it is much much more important to pull the 75% up to an 80% then it is to keep the other two above 90%... even if it meant you had to devote almost all of your studying time to bring your lower mark up to an 80%, such that your other two actually both fell to A-, that is still better (gpa-wise) than maintaining the two A+, and not bringing up the B

 

a lot of people are overly seduced by an A+ that they will do anything to keep it, even if it means devoting less time to their other classes... when in reality, there is almost no difference between an A+ and an A, and they should have the opposite attitude: to take advantage of the leeway they have with their current A+(s) and devote much more time to the classes they aren't doing as well in

 

not sure if that made sense lol

 

Thanks for explaining this! I understand what you mean now. Something about the way it was written before didn't click with me. Your tip totally makes sense, I fell into that trap a couple of times in undergrad.

[medhopeful64]

I wish facebook never existed.

 

LOL! if its too distracting just deactivate your account, or delete it altogether.

[medhopeful64]

I pretty much agree with everyone's posts above...especially with:

 

- going to a university you think you'll love and will have a great time at

- take advantage of all the things offered at your school, like free movies, trips, and lots of other fun social events

- volunteer in places you like, not what looks good for med school. I don't really have much ECs that are related to med directly, except for research, but i love them.

- you never know unless you try. I thought I'd hate research. I started volunteering this year in a lab and its such a great learning experience to finally do the techniques you read about, like PCR, or Western blotting. Also, designing your experiment can be tricky. And, of course, not everything goes according to plan. I almost burned the centrifuge in the lab the other day (was quite terrifying actually)

- get to know your profs and TAs. One thing I wish I had done is to go to their office hours, or ask more questions during class.

- take courses that are outrageous and you think you'll enjoy. Try new things

- most important piece of advice I could give (and others have mentioned): know the rules of med BEFORE you start undergrad. I didn't know how heavy a 79 on your transcript was until halfway through second year, when the damage had been done.

- get connected to people: this can be hard, but if you volunteer in a variety of places, it can happen. ie, one volunteer activity can open up doors to many opportunities you didn't know existed.

- use your summers wisely. Take a summer course, or volutneer/work in a lab. The one summer course I took I absolutely loved, since the class was so small, and the prof knew everyone's names. It was a blast.

- one last, very important thing: I wish I had found this site earlier. I've learned so much and found so many helpful resources from this forum. Recommend it to your premed friends

[md-equation]

When it comes to undergrad I tell people what I feel are the biggest lessons I learned during that time:

 

Major in something you like - not in Biochemistry because it may "look good" or in Medical Sciences because it will make medical school "easier." There is no correct undergrad program.

 

Work hard on your GPA in first year, do not take on any SUPER time consuming EC's during first year until you get the work-life balance figured out.

 

Go out, have fun, make friends (in many faculties, from many backgrounds, from different hometowns). A hundredth of what you will truly learn in life comes from the classroom.

 

There is no secret to getting into medical school....live your life, work hard and if you **** it up....fix it.

 

Don't give up because of one bad test, one bad class, one bad semester, one bad year, or because of one round of rejections.

 

Go out, have fun, make friends (this is probably the most important fact....).

 

If you can move out (i.e. you can afford it, want to, or do not have any major familial reason not to), move out....again life = growth = experience = challenging yourself.

 

Only do research if you are truly interested in research.

 

You do not need to go to Africa to get into med school.

 

Being a member of the premed club will not get you into med school.

 

Being the President of the premed club will not get you into med school.

 

Keep your ego in check.

 

Spend time on what you are passionate about whether that's singing, guitar, soccer, rugby, social policy, environmentalism, water skiing, youth group, cars.

 

And once again, go out, make friends, have fun....you're 19-22 once.

 

I couldn't have said it better... So many people here think that sitting in the Pre med club or being a president of it is going to get them in. They have the biggest ego...

[DocT7]

I couldn't have said it better... So many people here think that sitting in the Pre med club or being a president of it is going to get them in. They have the biggest ego...

 

Some don't....

[render]

In no particular order:

 

- learn to cram. I don't give a **** how smart you are, some exams are so goddamn specific that there is no way you will remember that **** if you learned it 2 months ago in your 'steady reading schedule' without CRAMMING LIKE A MAD MAN.

 

- Do your MCAT once. Don't be a little ***** and do a half ass job the first time. Study long, hit it once, hit it hard. A second or third summer spent preparing for a test makes you obsolete.

 

- keep your gpa balanced. 1 grade in the 70's will destroy a term full of 3.9's and 4.0's. DESTROY.

 

- **** medical school. find something you are interested in (that might even yield a career outside of medicine!) and do that LIKE A MAD MAN. at the end of the day, you will achieve WAY MORE, win MORE AWARDS, get BETTER REFERENCES, and be way more RECOGNIZED than the premed who logged 4000 hours volunteering in a goddamned emergency room. Try that stuff out a bit too, but if you want a kick ass interview and life in general, do something kick ass.

 

- Do not take bird courses. That **** is a disservice to you, your mother, and society in general. I mean some courses you take will be easy, but don't go for stuff just because its easy. Take stuff that builds on past work and makes you a smart cookie. I ****ing hate premeds.

 

- Be serious about school and your involvements outside of school, but when its time for exams, **** YOUR INVOLVEMENTS OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL and do your tests well! as others have stated, no amount of ****ing girlscout leadership **** will ever rescue your loser GPA. now I dont mean you need a 4.0 or anything, but make sure your GPA is consistently strong, and ESPECIALLY IN THE LAST 2 YEARS DON'T **** UP NEAR THE END!!!!!

 

- be an interesting and serious mother****er because the problems the world faces are interesting and serious. and NONE OF THEM will be solved by 4000 hours of nursing home volunteering.

 

- take on the big problems in your undergrad. Poverty, disease burden, quality of care, medical errors, cost of medical care, etc. Stop ****ing selling goddamned cupcakes and patting yourself on the back for raising $100 for the ronald mcdonald house. A ****ing monkey can do that. If you come up with a iphone app that sells like mad and raises money for the ronald mcdonald house, thats a different story.

 

Now GO GET SOME!!!!!!

 

And for the record, I did not have a 4.0 gpa, I only applied 1 time, got many interviews, have won many awards (NOT A DAY OF HOSPITAL VOLUNTEERING), have been accepted early, And I'm nowhere near a genius, I just have the attitude that there is important work to be done. NONE OF WHICH INVOLVES PAINTING THE SIDE OF A ****ING SCHOOL IN PERU. THEY ALREADY HAVE PAINT AND PEOPLE WHO CAN PAINT. If this is your version of saving the world, **** your ****.

[xkittens]

In no particular order:

 

- learn to cram. I don't give a **** how smart you are, some exams are so goddamn specific that there is no way you will remember that **** if you learned it 2 months ago in your 'steady reading schedule' without CRAMMING LIKE A MAD MAN.

 

- Do your MCAT once. Don't be a little ***** and do a half ass job the first time. Study long, hit it once, hit it hard. A second or third summer spent preparing for a test makes you obsolete.

 

- keep your gpa balanced. 1 grade in the 70's will destroy a term full of 3.9's and 4.0's. DESTROY.

 

- **** medical school. find something you are interested in (that might even yield a career outside of medicine!) and do that LIKE A MAD MAN. at the end of the day, you will achieve WAY MORE, win MORE AWARDS, get BETTER REFERENCES, and be way more RECOGNIZED than the premed who logged 4000 hours volunteering in a goddamned emergency room. Try that stuff out a bit too, but if you want a kick ass interview and life in general, do something kick ass.

 

- Do not take bird courses. That **** is a disservice to you, your mother, and society in general. I mean some courses you take will be easy, but don't go for stuff just because its easy. Take stuff that builds on past work and makes you a smart cookie. I ****ing hate premeds.

 

- Be serious about school and your involvements outside of school, but when its time for exams, **** YOUR INVOLVEMENTS OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL and do your tests well! as others have stated, no amount of ****ing girlscout leadership **** will ever rescue your loser GPA. now I dont mean you need a 4.0 or anything, but make sure your GPA is consistently strong, and ESPECIALLY IN THE LAST 2 YEARS DON'T **** UP NEAR THE END!!!!!

 

- be an interesting and serious mother****er because the problems the world faces are interesting and serious. and NONE OF THEM will be solved by 4000 hours of nursing home volunteering.

 

- take on the big problems in your undergrad. Poverty, disease burden, quality of care, medical errors, cost of medical care, etc. Stop ****ing selling goddamned cupcakes and patting yourself on the back for raising $100 for the ronald mcdonald house. A ****ing monkey can do that. If you come up with a iphone app that sells like mad and raises money for the ronald mcdonald house, thats a different story.

 

Now GO GET SOME!!!!!!

 

And for the record, I did not have a 4.0 gpa, I only applied 1 time, got many interviews, have won many awards (NOT A DAY OF HOSPITAL VOLUNTEERING), have been accepted early, And I'm nowhere near a genius, I just have the attitude that there is important work to be done. NONE OF WHICH INVOLVES PAINTING THE SIDE OF A ****ING SCHOOL IN PERU. THEY ALREADY HAVE PAINT AND PEOPLE WHO CAN PAINT. If this is your version of saving the world, **** your ****.

 

Are you my longlost brother?

i think so