Preclinical Grade Goal

[LondonVibes]

If we are attending a graded school, what preclinical GPA should we aim for to stay competitive in specialties like IM, rads, and gas?

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[LondonVibes]

@Goro

 

[Redpancreas]

If we are attending a graded school, what preclinical GPA should we aim for to stay competitive in specialties like IM, rads, and gas?

Not a DO and my school didn't have GPAs but if you want to match competitive IM or Radiology, try to stay in the top half of your class. Matching Anesthesia is a little harder overall, but matching the better Anesthesia places is much easier than matching the better IM places.

 

[DameJulie]

As high as you can. With P/F step, you don't know what screening tools PDs would use other than Step 2. GPA could be a filter. But keep your mental and physical health a priority!

 

[Goro]

If we are attending a graded school, what preclinical GPA should we aim for to stay competitive in specialties like IM, rads, and gas?

PDs don't care about your pre-clinical GPA.

It's always good to be > 3.5

 

[LondonVibes]

PDs don't care about your pre-clinical GPA.

It's always good to be > 3.5

So if the high GPA recommendation is not for PDs, would it be more for one’s own board readiness, or is the GPA needed for other things?

 

[Ho0v-man]

Supposedly doesn’t matter at all what your preclinical rank is. If possible, I’d stay in the top half just for some cushion to avoid remediation.

 

[deleted1079620]

Your school may offer some stats on students who stay above a certain percentage and how well they did on boards, how they matched, etc. Check with the office of medical education after you start if that info isn’t given out at orientation.

For example, my school has tracked every class and put together a model showing that if you stay above 77% on preclinical coursework, that correlates to a 99+ percent pass rate on boards. Because every school has a different curriculum, those minimums will be different for each school. Once I start clinical coursework, they’ll show us a model about clinical grades and COMAT scores, & how those correlate with step 2 scores and matching.

 

[Goro]

So if the high GPA recommendation is not for PDs, would it be more for one’s own board readiness?

This

 

[El-Rami]

You should get as high of a GPA as possible, really. Even if it is overkill for the field you want to go into. It affects your baseline when you are prepping for boards, and you want to make sure you have plenty of buffer in order to pass/get as high of a score as possible. Just be a gunner and you will be okay.

As far as what PDs will use to stratify applicants, it's anyone's guess. Definitely there will be a huge focus on COMLEX Level 2 and Step 2 (the CS exam has been permanently cancelled last I checked). Things like volunteer work, research, publications, etc., can also play a factor. Make sure you do very well in your clerkships.

 

[drducky.]

This

You should get as high of a GPA as possible, really. Even if it is overkill for the field you want to go into. It affects your baseline when you are prepping for boards, and you want to make sure you have plenty of buffer in order to pass/get as high of a score as possible. Just be a gunner and you will be okay.

As far as what PDs will use to stratify applicants, it's anyone's guess. Definitely there will be a huge focus on COMLEX Level 2 and Step 2 (the CS exam has been permanently cancelled last I checked). Things like volunteer work, research, publications, etc., can also play a factor. Make sure you do very well in your clerkships.

I’m pretty sure i wouldve scored higher on boards if i had 2 years to do board prep. The problem is that phd will teach you too much unnecessary detail while md will teach you what’s clinically relevant. You only get a few professors that will actually bother to crack open first aid and teach you what’s high yield.

 

[El-Rami]

Yup. That's the main challenge with a medical education. You have to learn how to study efficiently (i.e., recognize high-yield information and stick to a strict schedule). It can make the difference between being a student getting by with Bs and Cs and being a top student with mostly As.