In serious need of advice!

SDN Members don't see this ad. (About Ads)

Hello SDN forums I come to you for some advice. Currently I'm a junior with a 3.52 cGPA with a very strong upward trend. (freshman year = low, sophomore = 3.6, junior = 4.0) also I just recently took my MCAT and am awaiting scores. Anyways, I have a couple options for the upcoming summer and would like your advice.

Option 1: stay at school and continue my research an EC's (emt and soup kitchen volunteer and research) and possibly study for an mcat retake if needed.

Option 2: go home and put research on hold for the summer and take a few classes at a local college as a way to give my gpa that extra boost. This would require me to give up most of my EC's except for hospital volunteering. This option also leaves room for mcat studying.

The reason I differentiate between home and school is because I attend an out of state university.
All advice is appreciated looking forward to hearing from you guys.

Originally Posted by Premedpls

Hello SDN forums I come to you for some advice. Currently I'm a junior with a 3.52 cGPA with a very strong upward trend. (freshman year = low, sophomore = 3.6, junior = 4.0) also I just recently took my MCAT and am awaiting scores. Anyways, I have a couple options for the upcoming summer and would like your advice.

Option 1: stay at school and continue my research an EC's (emt and soup kitchen volunteer and research) and possibly study for an mcat retake if needed.

Option 2: go home and put research on hold for the summer and take a few classes at a local college as a way to give my gpa that extra boost. This would require me to give up most of my EC's except for hospital volunteering. This option also leaves room for mcat studying.

The reason I differentiate between home and school is because I attend an out of state university.
All advice is appreciated looking forward to hearing from you guys.

Going to a CC to boost your GPA is probably not very effective. I think continuing ECs, especially research, will help you more than a few A's in courses obviously intended to pad your GPA. Taking such CC colleges may even hurt you, as it will be obvious what you are trying to do. With a 3.5+ GPA, you are only a little under the average matriculant GPA anyway, so it isn't vital that you pad your GPA in that way. Keep up the good grades at your university and keep up your ECs.

Originally Posted by theseeker4

Going to a CC to boost your GPA is probably not very effective. I think continuing ECs, especially research, will help you more than a few A's in courses obviously intended to pad your GPA. Taking such CC colleges may even hurt you, as it will be obvious what you are trying to do. With a 3.5+ GPA, you are only a little under the average matriculant GPA anyway, so it isn't vital that you pad your GPA in that way. Keep up the good grades at your university and keep up your ECs.

Thanks for the reply, also I just want to add that it would be at a local state school not a CC. You think it would make a diff?

Originally Posted by Premedpls

Thanks for the reply, also I just want to add that it would be at a local state school not a CC. You think it would make a diff?

No.

Originally Posted by Premedpls

Thanks for the reply, also I just want to add that it would be at a local state school not a CC. You think it would make a diff?

It being a university would eliminate the chance of it hurting you (unless you are at a very high-caliber school and would be taking the summer classes at Podunk State) but it still won't help you as much as continuing your EC's and research.

Thanks for the advice. Would anyone else care to chime in? I'd love to hear others opinions on my situation.

The EC's are what differentiates you during interviews, so I believe that would be the best option.

Originally Posted by Premedpls

Hello SDN forums I come to you for some advice. Currently I'm a junior with a 3.52 cGPA with a very strong upward trend. (freshman year = low, sophomore = 3.6, junior = 4.0) also I just recently took my MCAT and am awaiting scores. Anyways, I have a couple options for the upcoming summer and would like your advice.

Option 1: stay at school and continue my research an EC's (emt and soup kitchen volunteer and research) and possibly study for an mcat retake if needed.

Option 2: go home and put research on hold for the summer and take a few classes at a local college as a way to give my gpa that extra boost. This would require me to give up most of my EC's except for hospital volunteering. This option also leaves room for mcat studying.

The reason I differentiate between home and school is because I attend an out of state university.
All advice is appreciated looking forward to hearing from you guys.

Definitely Option 1, especially if you are confident in a 30+ on the MCAT. Get another 4.0 first semester senior year and build up ECs now.

So consensus is that I should just leave the gpa building to my last two semesters and spend the summer researching

Wait, are you applying this upcoming cycle or no?

Originally Posted by kexy

Wait, are you applying this upcoming cycle or no?

Depends on my MCAT score. Let's just consider this as if I were applying next cycle though.

Do the math. If you are finishing junior year you've taken about 90 credits, maybe more. It is generally a poor idea to take more than 8 credits (a years' worth of o-chem or physics, with lab) in a 10 week summer session. How much can a maximum of 8 credits help a gpa of 90 credits? Let's say you have a 3.4 over 90 credits. That's 306 grade points divided by 90 credits. You add straight As in 8 credits (4.0 * 8 = 32) so you now have 338 grade points divided by 98 credits for a gpa of 3.45. Wow! Burn up a whole summer to increase your gpa by 1.4%. And that's assuming you manage all As. Get a nasty professor and you could end up with B+ grades which are going to DROP your gpa by a tiny amount!

Do research and save the academic year for academic work.

Originally Posted by LizzyM

Do the math. If you are finishing junior year you've taken about 90 credits, maybe more. It is generally a poor idea to take more than 8 credits (a years' worth of o-chem or physics, with lab) in a 10 week summer session. How much can a maximum of 8 credits help a gpa of 90 credits? Let's say you have a 3.4 over 90 credits. That's 306 grade points divided by 90 credits. You add straight As in 8 credits (4.0 * 8 = 32) so you now have 338 grade points divided by 98 credits for a gpa of 3.45. Wow! Burn up a whole summer to increase your gpa by 1.4%. And that's assuming you manage all As. Get a nasty professor and you could end up with B+ grades which are going to DROP your gpa by a tiny amount!

Do research and save the academic year for academic work.

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!