sultanator Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Hi everyone, As I understood through the many threads, most of the non-Quebec med schools have a pass or fail grading system, while in Quebec, the French Universities applied the usual letter grade evaluation. I was wondering if anyone knew how Programs across Canada (besides Quebec) would treat a Quebec student application in comparison with others if, per say, one transcript would be in letter grades, while the others would only show P, F (and H in some cases). Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yalta Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Email some program directors they will tell you. In my opinion they will look at preclinical grades. Why wouldn't they ? The class average is listed on your record. If they see it filled with A+ they will certainly give you an advantage over someone with only P/F in the preclinical portion. If it's filled with Cs well it ain't looking good... If it helps I know a Quebec grad from a french med school who matched in neurosurgery in Ontario and he wasn't on the dean's list at the end (So less than A- average, - than 3,7/4,3) ... Preclinical grades are important but they aren't everything. Try to ace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sultanator Posted March 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Email some program directors they will tell you. In my opinion they will look at preclinical grades. Why wouldn't they ? The class average is listed on your record. If they see it filled with A+ they will certainly give you an advantage over someone with only P/F in the preclinical portion. If it's filled with Cs well it ain't looking good... If it helps I know a Quebec grad from a french med school who matched in neurosurgery in Ontario and he wasn't on the dean's list at the end (So less than A- average, - than 3,7/4,3) ... Preclinical grades are important but they aren't everything. Try to ace it. Thanks for the feedback -- Your comment is quite relevant as Neurosurgery is also the field I'm interested in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebouque Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 . If they see it filled with A+ they will certainly give you an advantage over someone with only P/F in the preclinical portion. Hmm... I'm not too sure about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yalta Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 Hmm... I'm not too sure about that. Neither am I. It was just my personal opinion as I said. Sultanator, you can take a look at this document : http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/careerplan/docs/2010_Canadian_Medical_Residency_Guide.pdf On page 194 there is survey among program directors at UofT about academic standings and their impact on applications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sultanator Posted March 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 Thank you guys for the input.... !! To me, it was kind of odd to see programs compare letter grades to P or F grades -- kinda comparing apple to oranges... I'm sure that having straight A+s can only help (which is not my case !) -- but it would rather be unfair to give an advantage to one or the other... I guess I'll continue to look for some info across Canadian programs... Thanks again ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mona_lisa Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 I don't know why the french schools don't switch to a pass/fail grading system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebouque Posted May 2, 2011 Report Share Posted May 2, 2011 I don't know why the french schools don't switch to a pass/fail grading system. Because they want to keep some objectivity in their system! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinase Posted May 3, 2011 Report Share Posted May 3, 2011 I don't know why the french schools don't switch to a pass/fail grading system. Because it can be used for selecting the best, brightest students over the less ''intelligent'' as MDs in academia see it. This is what they have been saying for 2 years now in my med school. If two students have equivalent CVs, interviews and rotations, the program director will choose the A student over the B student. A = intelligent B = normal intelligence C = lower than average intelligence As the dean of University of Montreal once said some years ago at graduation : '' I'm pleased to see that most of the students on the dean's list (A- and better as a GPA) are getting into a specialty ((instead of family medicine)) ! '' Et voilà ! Don't forget, MDs aren't regular people, they live on another planet. Specialists live in other galaxy and mds in academia they are in another universe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavrik13 Posted May 3, 2011 Report Share Posted May 3, 2011 Hasn't it been established that arbitrary grading doesn't predict physician quality/skills? We all know that if we retested students using the same test only 1 month after writing the initial test, the majority fail (i.e. why assign a grade for short term memory?) I'm in favour of a P/F system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinase Posted May 3, 2011 Report Share Posted May 3, 2011 Hasn't it been established that arbitrary grading doesn't predict physician quality/skills? We all know that if we retested students using the same test only 1 month after writing the initial test, the majority fail (i.e. why assign a grade for short term memory?) I'm in favour of a P/F system. This is right but the average disconnected MD in academia at a french school doesn't think like that. You have high grades, well you are very intelligent. You have bad grades, well you are less intelligent. The more evolved MD professor might throw in the hard-work factor but they are few. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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