How bad is a bad grade?

General Med Student Discussion
1

In the view of adcoms, how bad is a B+? What about a B or B-. At what point do they say, “This kid is all heart and no gut.”?

2

I can’t speak to everywhere… but A’s and B’s with the emphasis being on the former were good enough for me. I even got ONE “C” in the present age in Physics II (I took it in one HELLISH summer), but I turned around and SMOKED Organic Chemistry… A “D” would be more troubling.


Richard

3

One? No biggie at all. Your overall GPA figures into the picture, as well as MCAT scores. You don’t need a 4.0 to get into med school.

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  • Dazed Said:
In the view of adcoms, how bad is a B+? What about a B or B-. At what point do they say, "This kid is all heart and no gut."?



Sorry to be so blunt, but are trying to be funny? B+ does NOT equal a "bad grade" by any measure...even from a CC. Furthermore, there are few isolated things that are truly a death sentence to your application outside of a felony conviction or taking a dump on the Dir of Admissions desk during the interview.

A more germain question might be: how do I overcome academic underperformance? Yes, a few less-than-stellar grades will not help your application, nor will they guarantee your app being tossed into the 'round file'.

Or, how do I address my prior academic indiscretions? You do this by making an academic statement now with your current scholastic regimen. Then, in the course of your PS, use the crappy old stuff to underscore how strong & shiny your new grades are.

Believe me, I can say this from first-hand experience! I left college in 87 to avoud academic expulsion with a cumGPA of ~1.2 on over 90 Ugrad hours. In August of this year, I completed my residency in anesthesiology at Dartmouth where I am also doing a fellowship in critical care medicine. Did I create many academic hurdles...MOUNTAINS for myself that I had to clear. You bet yous @$$ I did. Were they easy to rectify? No. Can it be done? Yes, if you want it badly enough...
5

Dr Kelley,


I gotta agree with you on this one!


Red herring… The B- is not the problem… the D’s and the W’s are…


Richard