3.0 uGPA, 37 MCAT, plus law school

[marcdagr8]

OK, so I am applying for this cycle and I have about a 3.0 GPA. Science GPA is about the same and my MCAT is 37, evenly distributed. I am currently in law school and have been doing very well. My GPA is just short of a 3.9 and I am ranked 3/190. I am an Arizona resident.

I am interested in knowing if there are any schools in particular that weight heavily toward MCAT scores or are more willing to forgive a poor GPA if there has been some time in between undergrad and med school application.

I am 31 and finished undergrad about 5 years ago. My bad grades are mostly from before I was 25. I have no significant extracurriculars to speak of, although I did work in organ/tissue donation field for about 5 years, and yes, I got my hands dirty in the job.

Thanks for any direction!

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[OneTwoThreeFour]

OK, so I am applying for this cycle and I have about a 3.0 GPA. Science GPA is about the same and my MCAT is 37, evenly distributed. I am currently in law school and have been doing very well. My GPA is just short of a 3.9 and I am ranked 3/190. I am an Arizona resident.

I am interested in knowing if there are any schools in particular that weight heavily toward MCAT scores or are more willing to forgive a poor GPA if there has been some time in between undergrad and med school application.

I am 31 and finished undergrad about 5 years ago. My bad grades are mostly from before I was 25. I have no significant extracurriculars to speak of, although I did work in organ/tissue donation field for about 5 years, and yes, I got my hands dirty in the job.

Thanks for any direction!

So, bolded are the problems, and I would almost say that the low GPA is the least of your 3 problems.
Basically, why the heck are you in law school? Admissions committees will know this (transcript) and wonder why the heck this guy would be a physician, a position only made stronger by the third bolded point; that you have no significant extracurriculars.
I would guess that you would not gain an acceptance if you applied this year. If you spend a year heavily involved in hospital care/hospice/Planned Parenthood clinic (and not in law school), then you would stand a much better shot.
I know this probably doesn't seem like particularly helpful advice; you've already likely sunk tens of thousands of dollars into law school. But it seems that any career change gets scrutinized, even if it is nursing to MD. One long-term graduate program to another seems even more of a hindrance.
Maybe @Law2Doc can correct me, though.

 

[marcdagr8]

I am in law school because I wanted to study law, needed something to prove that I can be a better student than a 3.0, and I did not want to be in a program that would give me something useful as opposed to the SMP programs that seemed to cover my undergrad (biochem) or first year med school. Also, I am not planning on abandoning my law degree. It will be done the end of this year. I am also taking every class with the words health or medical in them. I am also taking a business heavy course load to show that I will could be an effective administrator in a hospital.

Basically, getting an MD has always been the end goal so I would not consider this a career change.

 

[Lamel]

Do you want to do hospital administration? If so I don't think you need an MD. I only say this because you've already gone through so much education and you don't want to go through more if you don't have to.

If you want to practice as a physician, then you need to show that you're devoted to it and need to do medical related activities.

I think you should head over to the non-traditional forums, they will be of more help in your situation.

 

[Law2Doc]

So, bolded are the problems, and I would almost say that the low GPA is the least of your 3 problems.
Basically, why the heck are you in law school? Admissions committees will know this (transcript) and wonder why the heck this guy would be a physician, a position only made stronger by the third bolded point; that you have no significant extracurriculars.
I would guess that you would not gain an acceptance if you applied this year. If you spend a year heavily involved in hospital care/hospice/Planned Parenthood clinic (and not in law school), then you would stand a much better shot.
I know this probably doesn't seem like particularly helpful advice; you've already likely sunk tens of thousands of dollars into law school. But it seems that any career change gets scrutinized, even if it is nursing to MD. One long-term graduate program to another seems even more of a hindrance.
Maybe @Law2Doc can correct me, though.

First, the OP should read through the many "law to medicine" threads on the Nontraditional board, because that most answers are there and that's the right forum for the OP. Most of the premeds on this board are coming from a very different place and so their advice may or may not be applicable. I agree that the GPA isn't insurmountable, although depending on how you did in the prereqs you might want to retake some, or a few upper level things. You absolutely need health related ECs -- consider those mandatory for getting into any med school. As for law school being a negative, the answer is "sort of". Your law school gpa is meaningless. Med schools hate degree collectors and people who jump from school to school, never practicing what they learn. And they will hate your answer that you did law school to prove something to yourself or that you wanted something more useful then an SmP. You need to be much better thought out as to why medicine, why you did law school, why you didn't give law a shot, and why you are switching. As mentioned an MD isn't a necessity for health administration and many med schools won't give you a seat if your goal is to do other than practice medicine, so that's a bad story to run with. Having good health EC experiences might help. Working in law for a bit would help a LOT, both in getting into med school and in ultimately getting into health administration. Bottom line I I don't think your GPA or law degree is fatal. Your lack of health ECs and lack of a compelling story as to why you are taking the trajectory you are taken would be. Work on those. I personally wouldn't be in such a rush to apply this cycle -- you still have a few things you'll want to fix to improve your odds.

 

[OneTwoThreeFour]

First, the OP should read through the many "law to medicine" threads on the Nontraditional board, because that most answers are there and that's the right forum for the OP. Most of the premeds on this board are coming from a very different place and so their advice may or may not be applicable. I agree that the GPA isn't insurmountable, although depending on how you did in the prereqs you might want to retake some, or a few upper level things. You absolutely need health related ECs -- consider those mandatory for getting into any med school. As for law school being a negative, the answer is "sort of". Your law school gpa is meaningless. Med schools hate degree collectors and people who jump from school to school, never practicing what they learn. And they will hate your answer that you did law school to prove something to yourself or that you wanted something more useful then an SmP. You need to be much better thought out as to why medicine, why you did law school, why you didn't give law a shot, and why you are switching. As mentioned an MD isn't a necessity for health administration and many med schools won't give you a seat if your goal is to do other than practice medicine, so that's a bad story to run with. Having good health EC experiences might help. Working in law for a bit would help a LT, both in getting into med school and in ultimately getting into health administration. Bottom line I I don't think your GPA or law degree is fatal. Your lack of health ECs and lack of a compelling story as to why you are taking the trajectory you are taken would be. Work on those. I personally wouldn't be in such a rush to apply this cycle -- you still have a few things you'll want to fix to improve your odds.

Great. Thanks for the help. I tried with the tools I had in my toolbox, but I kind of figured it wasn't sufficient. Notice my post is chock full of qualifiers

 

[gyngyn]

First, the OP should read through the many "law to medicine" threads on the Nontraditional board, because that most answers are there and that's the right forum for the OP. Most of the premeds on this board are coming from a very different place and so their advice may or may not be applicable. I agree that the GPA isn't insurmountable, although depending on how you did in the prereqs you might want to retake some, or a few upper level things. You absolutely need health related ECs -- consider those mandatory for getting into any med school. As for law school being a negative, the answer is "sort of". Your law school gpa is meaningless. Med schools hate degree collectors and people who jump from school to school, never practicing what they learn. And they will hate your answer that you did law school to prove something to yourself or that you wanted something more useful then an SmP. You need to be much better thought out as to why medicine, why you did law school, why you didn't give law a shot, and why you are switching. As mentioned an MD isn't a necessity for health administration and many med schools won't give you a seat if your goal is to do other than practice medicine, so that's a bad story to run with. Having good health EC experiences might help. Working in law for a bit would help a LT, both in getting into med school and in ultimately getting into health administration. Bottom line I I don't think your GPA or law degree is fatal. Your lack of health ECs and lack of a compelling story as to why you are taking the trajectory you are taken would be. Work on those. I personally wouldn't be in such a rush to apply this cycle -- you still have a few things you'll want to fix to improve your odds.

For the reasons you have noted (and the gpa) OP would not get an interview this cycle where I work.

 

[Goro]

Among MD schools, none.

You may have some luck with the newer DO schools. Have you shadowed a clinician? Any recent ECs? If not, get some, you're get rejected without them. And no, your law school GPA doesn't count at all in this process.

You'll also need to make a compelling argument that Medicine is right for your as opposed to bailing on a poor job market.

You may need to do a post-bac or SMP.


I am interested in knowing if there are any schools in particular that weight heavily toward MCAT scores or are more willing to forgive a poor GPA if there has been some time in between undergrad and med school application.