41 on MCAT 3.0 GPA, what medical schools should I look at?

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CaptNemo1878

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Junior at University of Illinois-Chicago
MCAT Biology Score: 15
MCAT Physics Score: 13
MCAT Verbal Score: 13
GPA: 3.0
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double post here and in non-trad, pls. only post one place. Mods?

Your best bet by far would be the IL schools, unless you speak spanish and are open to puerto rico schools? I don't know much about this next area, but minorities may have better odds at meharry and a few other schools in the DC/NC area - this is based on my impression of the MSAR stats

Most schools that I spoke with have a min score per section mcat (8-9 is most typical) and a mininum gpa, this seemed to be their way of bringing the # of apps down to a readable number unfortunately; they just kicked out anyone under their cutoff and did not consider that app.


two examples are Iowa with a soft min gpa for OOS of 3.8, Indiana w/min GPA 3.8 OOS. Private schools would offer much better chances OOS from what I've experienced.

You can try calling the admissions directors at SIU and UIC to see what their advice is; at 100% and 70% instate admissions, respectively, those two are your best bet.

Or there's the DO option?
 
This would probably be better suited in the wamc forum. What are your other ec's, volunteering, clinical experiences. In other words, how do you account for a low gpa and such a great mcat?
 
CaptNemo1878 said:
Junior at University of Illinois-Chicago
MCAT Biology Score: 15
MCAT Physics Score: 13
MCAT Verbal Score: 13
GPA: 3.0
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Apply DO - your chances should be somewhat better than applying MD assuming that you have decent volunteering/shadowing experiences. You should be able to notch up at least a few DO interviews with a 41 MCAT score.
 
mmmcdowe said:
He doesn't have a 41. This guy spammed a bunch of the same question on Yahoo Answers. His MCAT has varied depending on the question. I think that it is hypothetical in the sense that he has a 3.0 and he wants to figure out how much a higher and higher MCAT score will increase his chances.
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Ah that makes sense - I would bet that the total number of people that have ever applied with a 3.0/41 is quite minimal.
 
CaptNemo1878 said:
Junior at University of Illinois-Chicago
MCAT Biology Score: 15
MCAT Physics Score: 13
MCAT Verbal Score: 13
GPA: 3.0
Click to expand...

You do still have one semester this year and two next year to bring you GPA up. If you can get it to a 3.2 or higher and have a lot of money to burn, you can apply to 50 schools and I think someone will accept you.

This is assuming the rest of you application is stellar.
 
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NotAndrew said:
You do still have one semester this year and two next year to bring you GPA up. If you can get it to a 3.2 or higher and have a lot of money to burn, you can apply to 50 schools and I think someone will accept you.

This is assuming the rest of you application is stellar.
Click to expand...


No real way to predict this because we have no indication of the OP's science gpa or other activities. I would doubt that even if they were able to raise it a few pts. that it would increase the chances of an MD acceptance. There's a reason that their current gpa is a 3.0 and the OP has yet to provide a reason why, which probably means that they won't have the work ethic or ability to get a straight 4.0 for the remainder of their courses.

Also, if they've been on other sites asking the same question but changing the mcat score, then it's a waste of time to give them any further advice.
 
TheMagicCookie said:
No real way to predict this because we have no indication of the OP's science gpa or other activities. I would doubt that even if they were able to raise it a few pts. that it would increase the chances of an MD acceptance. There's a reason that their current gpa is a 3.0 and the OP has yet to provide a reason why, which probably means that they won't have the work ethic or ability to get a straight 4.0 for the remainder of their courses.

Also, if they've been on other sites asking the same question but changing the mcat score, then it's a waste of time to give them any further advice.
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Agreed.
 
Hi CaptNemo,

It would help to know your year-by-year trend of GPA and BCPM (Biology, Chem, Physics, and MAth) GPA. Also, let us know how many years of research, community service, clinical experience, and types of leadership. We have a poster on SDN with a GPA of 2.92 and MCAT of 43, who had a good explanation for his poor grades, a steep upward trend in GPA, and some very-good extracurriculars. He got a number of interviews, but has yet to get an acceptance. However, the season isn't over yet.
 
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mmmcdowe said:
He doesn't have a 41. This guy spammed a bunch of the same question on Yahoo Answers. His MCAT has varied depending on the question. I think that it is hypothetical in the sense that he has a 3.0 and he wants to figure out how much a higher and higher MCAT score will increase his chances.


http://answers.yahoo.com/question/i...OAkNq3gjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20090210063243AAopxNL
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/i...ydoKCzjsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20090212111428AAuqHjs
Click to expand...


Whoa, how'd you find this?
 
When I was in college my advisor called this situation the kiss of death. You have proven that you are very intelligent with your MCAT. Your grades show that you don't necessarily apply yourself though.. At least that was his take on it, he was full of crap a lot of the time too.. If you can fully explain the difference between your MCAT and grades then you should be in a better situation.

I would apply this year, the worst that can happen is that you won't get accepted. With an MCAT like that i'm sure you can get accepted somewhere, maybe not your top choice. If you don't get accpeted, then you do what others have said and go for it again.

To straight up commit yourself to not applying this year would be a bad choice in my opinion. I'd use the post grad stuff as plan B and not plan A.
 
You absolutely do not need to do DO with a 41. Why not do a year of post bac work and get your gpa up to a 3.2ish. With a 3.2/41 it is obvious you should get in somewhere. Your state schools are also friendly (Rosalind Franklin, UofIll, Loyola.....)
 
TheMagicCookie said:
The 3.0 sends you to the carribean without sound explanation.
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I'd hire someone with a 3.0 from MIT, Caltech or Univ of Chicago over a 3.7 from UIC, Loyola or DePaul any day.

The assumption that all college GPAs are equal is the biggest farce in the medical school application process.
 
I kind of agree, but thats what the MCAT is for, yeah? I mean, would you want a 3.0 MIT with a 30 MCAT over a 3.7 UIC with a 36 MCAT? I'm leaning towards the UIC person myself.
 
yessira said:
I kind of agree, but thats what the MCAT is for, yeah? I mean, would you want a 3.0 MIT with a 30 MCAT over a 3.7 UIC with a 36 MCAT? I'm leaning towards the UIC person myself.
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However, the UIC grad who has a 3.7 GPA and a 30 MCAT will have a much higher (at least 30% higher) chance of at least one medical school acceptance than the MIT grad who has a 3.0 GPA and a 37 MCAT. And I think that's complete BS.
 
turtledog said:
However, the UIC grad who has a 3.7 GPA and a 30 MCAT will have a much higher chance of at least one medical school acceptance than the MIT grad who has a 3.0 GPA and a 37 MCAT. And I think that's complete BS.
Click to expand...

Sure, but that one medical school acceptance is to UIC itself, and thats only because UIC favors illinois people. I think outside of UIC Med, chances favor the MIT grad.

And if you mean the same with a Loyola/MIT comparison, what makes you say 'much higher'?
 
yessira said:
Sure, but that one medical school acceptance is to UIC itself, and thats only because UIC favors illinois people. I think outside of UIC Med, chances favor the MIT grad.

And if you mean the same with a Loyola/MIT comparison, what makes you say 'much higher'?
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It's mostly anecdotal. I had the opportunity to take non-summer classes at two colleges (one state and one top-ten), and the grading curves were like night-day in comparison. It completely blows my mind that people prance around their GPAs as if it is at all an objective and meaningful number outside of their own college and major.

I know lots of brilliant students (people I know who would easily get 3.8+ in state universities) from my college who were discouraged to apply by our premed office because they didn't have a "competitive" GPA, and many indeed saw very few interviews when they applied anyway with 32+ MCATs.

You know why I think this happens? Because most of the premed advisers and adcom officers at top universities all went to mediocre colleges themselves, majored in education and human resources, got high GPAs and think they're hot stuff.

In any case, this table has some more food for thought:
http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2008/mcatgpa-grid-3yrs-app-accpt.htm
 
tkim said:
If you have any other wiseass comments, please feel free to fire away.
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I interpreted your comments to be wise-ass first.

I said "send him to the Caribbean" as in the geographic location commonly referred to as such. Which, as you may know, includes Puerto Rico. Then you came in and "corrected me", missing the entire point in the process.
 
Backpedaling? Who's backpedaling? What should we call those schools? US allopathic schools located in the Caribbean? The fact still stands, they're located in the Caribbean.

And it's no secret those schools typically attract those who are unable to attend the more competitive US-based allo schools and don't want to attend a DO school (or their numbers are too low for both). So "going to the Caribbean" might indicate that a candidate is not competitve for allo institutions located in the continental US, thus they shoot for the Caribbean.
 
You actually have to be bilingual, if not close to it to study in PR.
 
turtledog said:
I'd hire someone with a 3.0 from MIT, Caltech or Univ of Chicago over a 3.7 from UIC, Loyola or DePaul any day.

The assumption that all college GPAs are equal is the biggest farce in the medical school application process.
Click to expand...

That is a pretty ignorant thing to say. The electrical engineering program at UIUC is one of the best in the world (edit I realize the OP said UIC), for example. You can't just stereotype like that.

To the OP, pull up your GPA your senior year and apply a year late if you don't think you're ready. You should not settle for anything less than a US Allopathic school with that MCAT score.
 
posts above seem correct re: PR being an MSAR school, which I presume means it's governed by AAMC. It's therefore more or less the same as the other US Allo schools, although I'm not aware of any possible prestige issues re: PR schools versus US mainland schools. This makes it totally different from the "carribean" schools which I understand to be outside the US, (including US territories and possessions).

If you take a look at some of the PR schools' MSAR data you'll see average section scores in the 5-7 range. My read is that this explains why, as stated in a post above, there are US Allo-accepted students with mcats in the 22 range, GPAs sub-3.0. They're accepted by PR schools.

I'd thought about applying there (as a spanish speaking applicant), but didn't partially for geographic reasons (don't care for the congestion of PR) and partially for practical/forward looking reasons - I want to know the English terminology for illnesses and pathologies rather than learning them in Spanish. Also for me, I'm conversant but have a tough time doing math/unit conversions in Spanish - different part of the brain I guess.
 
Ok i think this is getting out of hand, the guy has a 41 MCAT and a 3.0 and you all are trying to send him to PR/carib.

CaptNemo1878 your obviously quite smart so do the best to improve your application, make sure you apply to all the in-state schools and if you don't get in this year then take some more classes to help raise the GPA. You have a better MCAT score than 90% of this forum could even dream of achieving, your going to be a doctor if its what you truly want to do.

Here is some advice that was given to me by a family friend who is a interventional radiologist -

"Whatever you do don't listen much to the other pre-med's, pre-med's are bar none the most paranoid group of people on the planet and they will make you go crazy"
 
PR is LCME, it's just like having a school in Florida. Really people - comparing them to the traditional caribbean schools (where you become a IMG upon graduation - which, by the way, is the main reason people give for not attending) is ridiculous. They are fully LCME compliant USMD allo schools, and you will be a USMD graduate without any of the IMG/Caribbean baggage. Though good luck getting in without being PR resident.
 
dont worry you will get in. read the thread quickly but you are Hispanic as well. That aside with a 3.0, 41 MCAT a strong senior year you will get in. Come up with some story about your lower grades and how you really started to focus and look at your MCAT score, strong senior year blah, blah, blah and you will get in. Vitrually no one gets rejected with a MCAT score that high and a 3.0+ GPA. Go look at the statistics, they are somewhere on this forum. Just apply to wide range of schools and you will be fine dont sweat it.

Also, going to one of the PR schools it is equivilent to graduating Harvard or Yale. It is not like a Carrib school the second you graduate from a PR school you are eligible to practice everywhere with ZERO problems or extra paperwork to fill out
 
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If the scenario is true he will get in thats what i was saying. As for the schools in PR, the accredited exactly the same as Harvard and Yale, obviously not as prestigious or match as well but that could be said about Mehrrary, schools like that etc. Puerto rico is considered part of the US and accredited by the LCME. Any LCME accredited school will be better for licsensure than a Caribbean school. Yes, you need to be fluent in spanish. Bottom line is PR schools are considered equal to US schools and you graduate a AMG not an IMG which means alot.
 
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