The Real Deal

I was purposefully not blogging about this, because silly me assumed they would address it in the CRAPPE presentation today. Why would I ever assume that they would even think about addressing the only part of this bullshit that we're not currently aware of?

Here's the deal as NOT presented to you by Samuel L. Freeman:


"TODAY WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT VARICELLA"
So here's the deal as it stands right now: My understanding is that this has been passed by the COP and will ultimately be pursued to be the policy in place when you take your rotation. Instead of getting the regular A/B/C/D/F grade scale that really serves to pump up your GPA before ejecting you into the shittiest job market that PharmD's have faced in approximately ever, the current plan is to move to Pass/Fail/Pass-with-honors.

What has been addressed:

This is being done because apparently someone is butthurt about our GPA's being a prettier number. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little? The brunt of the new grading system is being put into place because the COP feels that the current system does a poor job of selecting students who will ultimately voluntarirly delay their entry into the workforce two years do a residency. This is true, I suppose. With the current method of everybody getting a big shiney A, I suppose we do fail to accomodate the less-than-5% of us who will do a residency.


What a goddamn shame.
What has NOT been addressed:

How is the new system going to affect our GPA? The current idea seems to be that there will be some voodoo-method of it affecting your GPA that no one that I've talked to has been able to explain without the use of showing me on the doll where it will hurt. The options are Pass/Fail/Pass-with-honors, and while the PURPOSE of the system is to identify those ready for residency with the mark of "Pass with honors," it's very unclear to me how this is going to be interpreted by employers. I.e. most people view pass/fail courses as cake classes such as "Walking". And which residency programs are even going to understand what a P* is versus a P. Are they really going to admit someone into their program because they have a shiny asterisk next to their P? Big questions. If I have to spend the majority of my interview explaining the asterisk, I feel like I've already lost half the battle.

The bottom line is that if the COP is going to drastically change the way we're being graded they should at least make half of a goddamn effort to inform us rather than relying on someone whose apartment is carpetted with empty chicken noodle soup cans and scotch bottles.

EDIT: Apparently it will not be affecting our GPA, and whatever ugly number you leave attached to you at the end of PY3 is your final GPA. Shit.

Awesome: