Ortho Grades

I think more importantly, you need to find out in a hurry what the HP means. It is usually very rare for someone to receive a high pass from their home or away program if they make it clear they are interested in ortho. From my experience, that would usually mean someone in the program (resident or staff) was blackballing you for some reason (valid or otherwise). I would try and talk with whomever is responsible for assigning grades for your home program and find out the reason for the high pass. A HP in psych or even medicine or surgery isn't a huge deal on an otherwise strong application, but a HP in ortho from your home program may very well be a large red flag on your application unless youa are prepared to explain it.

How can you say that a subjective grade will effect his chances. I say the grade won't count for crap because as you said they hand them out like candy at most places! He may of just had a rough grader on his rotation.
This is noted by the H in the away.
INtj

I'm not saying it is fair, and it certainly is possible that he may have just had a tough grader, but the fact that most ortho programs hand out an "H" like candy is exactly WHY he should be concerned about an "HP" and not simply blow it off. I can guarantee many of the people reviewing his application won't. Is it fair? No. Did I say I agree with it? No. But is it the reality of the situation? Unfortunately. With my experience reviewing applications, I can't remember one who had an HP in an ortho rotation. I am sure they are out there, and I am sure there are people who have matched with an HP in ortho, but it is better to have a valid explanation if asked about it in an interview than to shrug it off and be left with his pants down. I don't think it is the end of his world, but in my opinion, it is a much bigger issue than you are suggesting.

agree with earthdawg... i dont understand why one would think that a HP doesn't matter just because honors are given away very liberally. an HP, to some, is the gradeschool equivalent of a D+... That said, most people probably don't look, and if youre lucky, it wont even be on your transcript.

HA! I got you beat. I got an "S" on my home rotation. I'm gonna meet with the chairman to find out if I killed someone. That's the only reason I can think of to have this happen.

Well Sawbones is not alone. I too got a HP from my home and H from my away. I have pressed pretty much the whole department and all I can guess is the fact that I worked with a "tough grader" who does not work with students often. I asked the admissions comittee and they say it wont affect my chances.......who know it its true or not.

I do agree that I should probably have some explanation ready but I hope I dont have to use it often. So far I am 2/2 for interviews so maybe it is not the end of the world with a HP in ortho. Life goes on!