Comments on: GPA and MCAT

By: Sana

Sana — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:48:05 +0000

Hi, I am a third year undergrad and I did not do very well my fist semester of my second year, however, I have practically straight As since then. By the time I apply to med school, I anticipate having a GPA of 3.56. Is this GPA not good enough to even apply to med school?
Thank You!

By: Marc

Marc — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:05:14 +0000

After reading this, I am assured I am well on my way. The premed track is a long and narrow one, however I think I am on track. I heard a fellow person in here talk of his times in the military after joining, not taking school as serious when he was younger. This sounds a lot like myself. I found this information very straight-forward and to be expected. I am doing my premed studies at a smaller college at the moment to get that attention that I will need, (my theory is that with smaller class environments, your retention will be dramatically increased in the long run, especially useful for upper-level undergrad research, and those MCATs). Currently, I started a mental health research advocacy nonprofit here in Florida, in honor of my father who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, I volunteer at Shands HealthCare Neuro ICU level 8 trauma 1 facility in Jacksonville, Florida as well as side projects with a local plastic surgeon, and an AMSA member for region 5. I am hoping to graduate from UF in the next year and a half in Neurobiology, and apply to both Universities of Florida Medical School and Weill Medical School of Cornell. I am hoping to share my drive to motivate and inspire others, especially former veterans that there is definitely a new path after military service, and for those who were in most cases underprivileged as myself, thinking medical school is totally out of the question. Keep striving, striving, and striving! Meeting goals comes easily, exceeding them takes hard work, personal conviction, and dedication. If YOU want to be a doctor, then start thinking like one, and be proactive with all of your goals.

Thanks for the advice,

Marc Hessel,
President, United Against Mental Illness Foundation, Inc.
Pre-med AMSA Member, Region 5

By: GPAdilemma

GPAdilemma — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:28:02 +0000

I have always planned on pursing a career in medicine, so I have a history of clinical/volunteer and strong research experiences. Unfortunate events occured in undergrad and now after this year (my 5th) I will be able to graduate with a 3.0 after getting good grades, hopefully. I am taking my MCAT in a semester as I’m spending good time to prepare for it. I have a couple of questions:

I know that I have to take a master’s program or post-bac program that will prove academic achievement, considering my GPA is just too low to be considered now. I am strongly considering Special Master’s Programs. What is your opinion about this?

What MCAT score should I am for? Of course, the higher the better, but would getting a 30-31 suffice in my case or I should really be aiming for perhaps a 33 to have a decent chance at allopathic, assuming I am applying after improving my GPA with a master’s program?

Thank you very much.

By: engineer

engineer — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:59:14 +0000

Thank you, Pro Doc, for your input. I believe I can get between 3.8-4.0/4.0 on the 32-credit postbac program. This will bring my undergraduate GPA up to around 3.1. I also believe that i could get between 31-33 on the MCAT. Would that give me a good chance at med school? Also, consider the fact that i am making $150k/year now. I can show that to the adcoms to prove that i am not going to med school for the money. But rather a person who is seriously interested in medicine and wants to take care of the sick. Would this help my chances at all? Thanks.

By: Pro Doc

Pro Doc — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:28:38 +0000

To engineer: since your undergrad and grad GPAs are pretty low I don’t think doing well in a postbac program would really help that much. If you did really well on the MCAT, then you would stand a better shot at getting into a US allopathic school. But, with the stats and assumed stats you have listed, you would stand a fairly good chance at getting into a DO school or Carribean. Getting into an allopathic program with numbers like that will be difficult as the stats in the article indicate.

By: engineer

engineer — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:41:51 +0000

Hi, i have always been interested in medicine. In fact, i briefly majored in molecular biology in college about 10 years ago before switching to electrical engineering. I took 2 inorganic chemistry and one molecular biology courses and did really well. Unfornately I had a low undergraduate GPA of 2.85 (electrical engineering) and graduate GPA of 3.26 (master degree in electrical engineering). I was also a research assistant at for a professor in biology department for 2 semesters and at FDA for about 2 years at the time. Since graduation in 2003, i’ve been working for the US patent and trademark office examining patent applications in the fields of signal processing, audio coding, speech recognition, etc. (obviously not related to biomedical science). I am getting tired of my job. And now i am thinking of applying to postbac program before applying to medschool. I am wondering what are my chances of getting admitted to medical school after completing the postbac program with good (assumed) GPA and a 27-30 (assumed) on MCAT scores. Thanks for your input in advance.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:27:36 +0000

MCAT not required for Saba unless you took cc science courses or received C’s. I was accepted w/ no MCAT.

By: Sahil

Sahil — Sat, 30 May 2009 23:37:29 +0000

Hi, it’s unbelievably useful for me.
(Even thou,I am still a high school student.)
It will help me to prepare myself.

Thanks……….

By: LearnedMyLesson

LearnedMyLesson — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:47:45 +0000

Hi,
I started taking graduate courses while working full-time. I had a really good academic and extracurricular record in undergrad. However, on my 5th graduate course, Introduction to Java, (in the other four courses I got 2 A’s and 2 A-’s) I helped a friend (who was mourning the loss of a family member) with one of his homework assignments and we both got disciplined for inappropriate collaboration and were required to withdraw from the course. Obviously, I understand where the school is coming from – that was against the rules, regardless of my good intentions. I have definitely learned my lesson. I was also put on probation for a year so I haven’t been able to take other courses yet. But I plan on it.

I have 4 questions:
1) Do I have to report this under institutional action even though I was just taking random courses (not towards a degree)?
2) If so, in my explanation should I explain the circumstances under which I was disciplined or should I just say that I am sorry and that I have learned my lesson. I feel like an explanation is necessary to show that I was, albeit misguidedly, just trying to help someone – I had no personal gain in it.
3) What are the chances of medical schools still considering a good candidate for medical school?
4) Is there anything I can do, besides taking more courses, to show that I am not a dishonest person?

Thanks

By: Blairrrr

Blairrrr — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:59:20 +0000

wow, the canadian stats are so much higher. you’d NEVER get into a canadian medical school with a 3.0 unless you have a 45T mcat. . . . . .
and our mcat cutoff is 32-33, not 30.