It depends on a lot of factors. I firmly believe anyone who wants an internship can get one, you just might not get a good one. GPA is probably a bigger barrier to residency selection than internship Class rank tends to matter more than raw GPA. It’s easier to more directly compare class ranks. In my experience talking to coresidents, “popular” specialties like surgery may have more strict cutoffs as the first application screening step just because of sheer numbers of applicants. Smaller less popular programs or specialties may be able to review every app. It’s not impossible to pursue specialization with a lower GPA, but it is harder. I know that from experience…I pursued pathology with a 3.2 GPA. There were absolutely places that wrote me off because my GPA was lower. And one of the faculty at the program that accepted me even criticized my GPA to my face at one point during my program. But having lots of experience and dedication to the field and having outstanding letters of recommendation will go a long way in many specialties so I wouldn’t discourage someone from applying if they truly want to specialize. Its just depends on how much you want it and what you’ll do to get there.
