Fieser Poll Shows Students Stress Marks Too Much

"Students are perhaps placing too much emphasis on the grades they make in specific courses," Louis F. Fioser, professor of Chemistry, told the CRIMSON yesterday.

Fieser commented on a survey he has just completed of the grades made in his Chemistry 20 course by students who asked him to recommend them for medical school admission. Out of 112 students who last year asked him for recommendations, only nine failed to gain admission.

The average Chemistry 20 grade was B for those admitted to all schools, but students got into even Harvard Medical School, the overwhelming first choice, with C grades if their other qualifications were good enough. Broken down into percentages, the average grade for those getting into Harvard was only two points higher, 85, than the 83 for those admitted to other schools.

"Well-rounded Man"

Fieser said he felt that medical schools are as much interested in a well-rounded man as one who, due to a disproportionate amount of time spent on specific courses, made high grades in them at the cost of sacrificing his other studies.

He recommended that the University assign some office the task of assembling similar statistics for all courses, to dispel the myth that a pre-med student must concentrate entirely on his studies, at the expense of other interests.

Fieser cautioned against drawing too broad generalizations from the results of his survey.