P=MD

Greetings to all of those who may or may not still be with me. I have returned once again to discuss a topic very dear to my heart. This week marks the passing of my very first exam (anatomy) in medical school. I did well (as most did), but what really made the experience different from undergrad was the fact that my medical school does not grade or rank students beyond the simple Pass or Fail policy. It was a far less stressful process than when I was neurotically protecting my 4.0 GPA and my dreams of ranking first in undergrad. As people discussed the exam, realizing a mistake did not send people into a panic. It was just a matter of a shrug and a lesson learned. And yet, we all still learned the material despite the need to only get a 66. As I stated above, everyone did well and this exam was by no means a walk in the park. The drive to learn and do well is embedded into us, but the stress of failure is far less. I have to say that I am enormously pleased at having made the right decision of going to a medical school that has a pass/fail AND an unranked policy for the first two years (a ranked pass/fail class is not truly pass fail. There is still an incentive to out do everyone else and thus the temptation of competition and cut-throat behavior). As far as some people worrying that not having grades the first two years hurts their students, do you really think schools like Harvard, Yale, and other top 10 schools would be doing it if this was the case?

In other news, I had a very unique experience with an applicant today. She has yet to get an interview and so showed up for the tour of the school that is given to applicants. I can only assume that she hoped to impress the adcom by her dedication and initiative. I must confess that it crossed my mind to do the same thing when I was applying. However, now that I am on this side of the fence I can not stress enough that it only makes you look silly, not impressive. Besides, the admissions office (which granted her request to join the tour) is NOT the admissions committee proper, nor are they likely to pass on the information of such a "daring" stunt. My advice to applicants, don't try this. At the very least you are going to garner the ill will of the other applicants, who might be your classmates someday.