Can I get into Med school with 3.45 gpa

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I have a couple of questions about med school and how the process works. I am applying to med school very soon and so far my overall gpa is 3.45 my science gpa is 3.1 and my mcat is 33. I have 300 hours volunterring in a physical therapy clinic (not sure if this counts towards anything or helps). I am a psychology major with a biology minor. I originally wanted to go for the DPT program (that is why I have 300 hours in a pt clinic) but after years of contemplating on what I wanted to do I decided I want to go into medicine. When I started college I didnt know what I wanted to do and didnt take it seriously, also that is when I took many of my science classes and pre reqs. For the last 2 years or more I have maintained a very high gpa each semester and winter and summer sessions. Minimum gpa I had, per semester, once i started doing well was 3.85 and higher (a couple of 4.0 semesters). This was able to help bring my overall gpa from a 2.7 to a 3.45 so far. Once i started doing well not only did my overall gpa go up but also science courses that i had remaining and pre reqs significantly went up in grades. My questions are

1)according to this website
http://www.studentdoc.com/medfind.html
It seems I am very competitive for some schools and just competitive for many other schools.

Is this website accurate. How competitive am I for med schools in the US?

2)Do my 300+ hours of volunteer work in a physical therapy clinic count towards anything or it doesnt help at all?

3) I have read that Caribbean medical schools have a bit lower standards. I am competitive for Caribbean medical schools? (I have read and heard of many people getting into good caribbean medical school that had worse stats then mine).

4)This is a questions I have been wondering for a while and never got an answer. What gpa's are taken into account for medical school? I understand there is a science gpa and overall gpa. What I mean is when you apply for medical school, you apply one year earlier so you still have a year of college left. Does medical school or the amcas look at only the gpa you have all the years before applying to medical school and thats it or does your last year of college (after applying) also get counted in somehow. If i continue my upward trend in my gpa, I should have an overall gpa of 3.55-3.6 and a science gpa of 3.3-3.4. This is a big difference from my current science and overall gpa.

Can someone please help me understand a bit better.

Thank you

1) you can definitely get in with those stats assuming you have a balanced app overall, but it's no guarantee (like anything

2) don't go to the carrib

3) they look at whatever grades you have on your transcript. having a strong positive trend like yours is apparently very well looked upon

Originally Posted by medschool1991

Is this website accurate. How competitive am I for med schools in the US?

I just put my numbers in there and it says I am competitive for Harvard... I'm not competitive for Harvard. I do have good grades and a good MCAT but not that good. I wouldn't go by that website.

at the time of my app my sgpa was 3.19 with 33 mcat. by the time I received two MD acceptances I raised my sgpa to 3.3 and my overall is like 3.33ish. not a urm, first time applying. the key thing is make sure everything else on your application is perfect and find a way to show specific med school that you are a perfect fit. this involves a lot of essays writing.

1st cycle try MD only, 2nd cycle MD/DO. DO NOT go carribean

oh ur EC sounds good enough... it should be considered as clinical volunteer experience. it doesnt hurt to start volunteering at the hospitals.
I applied after graduating so my app would have all 4 years of gpas and a big upward trend. if you apply early, your current gpa (3 years?) will be used for screening and evaluation purposes. you may have time to update the schools with new grades but if you want the highest chance possible you should apply after getting all college grades. you can spend gap year doing something unique/useful like taking more courses, volunteering at hospital or animal shelters etc.

Originally Posted by medschool1991

I have a couple of questions about med school and how the process works. I am applying to med school very soon and so far my overall gpa is 3.45 my science gpa is 3.1 and my mcat is 33. I have 300 hours volunterring in a physical therapy clinic (not sure if this counts towards anything or helps). I am a psychology major with a biology minor. I originally wanted to go for the DPT program (that is why I have 300 hours in a pt clinic) but after years of contemplating on what I wanted to do I decided I want to go into medicine. When I started college I didnt know what I wanted to do and didnt take it seriously, also that is when I took many of my science classes and pre reqs. For the last 2 years or more I have maintained a very high gpa each semester and winter and summer sessions. Minimum gpa I had, per semester, once i started doing well was 3.85 and higher (a couple of 4.0 semesters). This was able to help bring my overall gpa from a 2.7 to a 3.45 so far. Once i started doing well not only did my overall gpa go up but also science courses that i had remaining and pre reqs significantly went up in grades. My questions are

1)according to this website
http://www.studentdoc.com/medfind.html
It seems I am very competitive for some schools and just competitive for many other schools.

Is this website accurate. How competitive am I for med schools in the US?

2)Do my 300+ hours of volunteer work in a physical therapy clinic count towards anything or it doesnt help at all?

3) I have read that Caribbean medical schools have a bit lower standards. I am competitive for Caribbean medical schools? (I have read and heard of many people getting into good caribbean medical school that had worse stats then mine).

3)This is a questions I have been wondering for a while and never got an answer. What gpa's are taken into account for medical school? I understand there is a science gpa and overall gpa. What I mean is when you apply for medical school, you apply one year earlier so you still have a year of college left. Does medical school or the amcas look at only the gpa you have all the years before applying to medical school and thats it or does your last year of college (after applying) also get counted in somehow. If i continue my upward trend in my gpa, I should have an overall gpa of 3.55-3.6 and a science gpa of 3.3-3.4. This is a big difference from my current science and overall gpa.

Can someone please help me understand a bit better.

Thank you

1) you are not "very competitive" with those stats. However you Are a good applicant for most MD school and you do stand a chance. You are very very competitive for DO schools, MDs little brother. You should check you some of the programs at the pre osteo theard
2) they count as clinical hours
3) everybody is competitive for carab if they have a pulse and cash flow. These schools are a last ditch effort with your stats it would be a waste
3 part two) lots of good answers.

If you want to be very very competitive for both MD and DO schools you need to shadow a few physicians get a few lors from them and perhaps consiter a 1 year non smp strong science masters program. With your stats though you should get interviews at MD and DO school just apply early and broad and update schools with grades and activities as you complete them

Good luck

Thanks for all the help and answers.

Does anyone have an answer for the last question. Maybe I am just not understand the process. What sgpa and overall gpa matters more, The one when you apply or the one when you graduate? Because As I stated before if my grades stay consistently high as they have I can have a 3.3-3.4 sgpa and a 3.55-3.6 overall gpa?

Also any other opinions on my stats and story would be appreciated. I really want to make it to med school and any kind of help is appreciated.

It is possible to get into medical school with a 3.45 GPA.

Yes, there is an underdog thread buried somewhere in this website...use search function.

Originally Posted by Nymphicus

It is possible to get into medical school with a 3.45 GPA.

Indubitably.

Originally Posted by medschool1991

Thanks for all the help and answers.

Does anyone have an answer for the last question. Maybe I am just not understand the process. What sgpa and overall gpa matters more, The one when you apply or the one when you graduate? Because As I stated before if my grades stay consistently high as they have I can have a 3.3-3.4 sgpa and a 3.55-3.6 overall gpa?

Also any other opinions on my stats and story would be appreciated. I really want to make it to med school and any kind of help is appreciated.

It doesn't matter what your gpa is when you graduate (don't fail out). All that matters is what you apply with, since that's what they see...

Think about it...

Originally Posted by medschool1991

Thanks for all the help and answers.

Does anyone have an answer for the last question. Maybe I am just not understand the process. What sgpa and overall gpa matters more, The one when you apply or the one when you graduate? Because As I stated before if my grades stay consistently high as they have I can have a 3.3-3.4 sgpa and a 3.55-3.6 overall gpa?

Also any other opinions on my stats and story would be appreciated. I really want to make it to med school and any kind of help is appreciated.

Hey, so med schools look at the overall gpa and the science gpa at the time you apply - you will have to fill out a form in the AMCAS application where you list your classes and your grades. I would recommend getting a copy of the MSAR (medical school applications requirements) either from AAMC or amazon.com. Just google msar - this book has information on how to apply to med schools in the USA, Canada, and the Caribbean. Good luck!

OP: The GPA is only one factor in your application, your MCAT score makes a significant contribution to your projected acceptance rate. Take a look here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=888650

with a 3.45 you can definitely get in as long as you have a good MCAT.

Originally Posted by Vandy Premed

Indubitably.

So you are still alive

Originally Posted by von Matterhorn

1) you can definitely get in with those stats assuming you have a balanced app overall, but it's no guarantee (like anything

2) don't go to the carrib

3) they look at whatever grades you have on your transcript. having a strong positive trend like yours is apparently very well looked upon

yep yep yep

Came into post that you shouldn't go to Caribbean schools. Hell, go DO before that.

Your MCAT score and EC doesn't look bad either, you should be fine if you apply to about 14-18 schools.

Originally Posted by AestheticGod

Came into post that you shouldn't go to Caribbean schools. Hell, go DO before that.

Your MCAT score and EC doesn't look bad either, you should be fine if you apply to about 14-18 schools.

To be clear, DO and Carrib aren't even on the same level. It's like:

MD
DO

































Carrib

Thanks for all the advise and help.

Originally Posted by Nymphicus

So you are still alive

You can't get rid of me that easily.

If black: Definitely.
If other URM: Probably.
If anything else non-asian: Maybe.
If asian: Unlikely.

Originally Posted by NightGod

To be clear, DO and Carrib aren't even on the same level. It's like:

MD
DO

































Carrib

This. Not even sure why people would spend those obscene amounts of money when they could apply DO.

Moving to WAMC.