Do Med-Schools Consider Major When Looking at GPA???

[christof]

This maybe appropriate in some other thread but here goes anyways

Do top-tier (or any i guess) medical schools consider a student's major when looking at GPA? I posted on the what are my chances thread and it was noted that my GPA is not quite up to par with top-tier schools' expectations (i have roughly a 3.7), but I can also guarantee that if I was a bio major rather than a computer science engineering major, that my GPA would be at least a 3.8, if not a 3.9.... do schools care?

** for those curious why i am a compsci major, it is primarily for future interests. i want to get involved with information sciences in medicine, but more from the perspective of a doctor (which is why i want to go to medical school and not grad school for something else)

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[Darkshooter326]

I would think that it probably has some qualitative advantage, but I can't see them using a formula or something to equalize majors.

 

[Robizzle]

u ONLY HAVE a 3.7 GPA???

 

[Guile]

This maybe appropriate in some other thread but here goes anyways

Do top-tier (or any i guess) medical schools consider a student's major when looking at GPA? I posted on the what are my chances thread and it was noted that my GPA is not quite up to par with top-tier schools' expectations (i have roughly a 3.7), but I can also guarantee that if I was a bio major rather than a computer science engineering major, that my GPA would be at least a 3.8, if not a 3.9.... do schools care?

** for those curious why i am a compsci major, it is primarily for future interests. i want to get involved with information sciences in medicine, but more from the perspective of a doctor (which is why i want to go to medical school and not grad school for something else)

The general consensus is that schools do care. They do know that your classes are really hard, perhaps harder than a bio major's, but it will be a slight adjustment, if at all. There is likely (I say likely because, at the end of the day, we're not on admissions committees and know very little definitively about the inner workings of the process) no formula they use to "convert" your GPA into an "easier major's" GPA. Sorry, but if I were you, I would have taken an easier major to get a higher GPA. But I wouldn't worry too much. A 3.7 in computer science is nothing to sneeze at. You'll be fine. What's your MCAT?

 

[christof]

i got a pretty solid score on mcat. PS 14, BS 10, V 13, W Q

 

[DrBowtie]

i got a pretty solid score on mcat. PS 14, BS 10, V 13, W Q

3.7 in CS + 37 MCAT = Very good chances. It won't be either of those things that would keep you out of any school.

 

[FloridaMD]

i got a pretty solid score on mcat. PS 14, BS 10, V 13, W Q

You have great MCAT score and as you know very few people can dream of getting 14. Further analysis tells me that yous understanding in physical sciences is excellent buy not that great in biological sciences. If your scores were more even then it would not have mattered. If you had 12 each in BS & PS that would be considered better.

 

[Law2Doc]

This maybe appropriate in some other thread but here goes anyways

Do top-tier (or any i guess) medical schools consider a student's major when looking at GPA? I posted on the what are my chances thread and it was noted that my GPA is not quite up to par with top-tier schools' expectations (i have roughly a 3.7), but I can also guarantee that if I was a bio major rather than a computer science engineering major, that my GPA would be at least a 3.8, if not a 3.9.... do schools care?

** for those curious why i am a compsci major, it is primarily for future interests. i want to get involved with information sciences in medicine, but more from the perspective of a doctor (which is why i want to go to medical school and not grad school for something else)

Schools are not going to have a problem with a 3.7/37 in any major. If you are for real you had better mellow out before interviews -- worrying about 0.1 due to your supposedly harder major is exactly the kind of anal premed attitude that interviews seek to screen out.

 

[Robizzle]

Schools are not going to have a problem with a 3.7/37 in any major. If you are for real you had better mellow out before interviews -- worrying about 0.1 due to your supposedly harder major is exactly the kind of anal premed attitude that interviews seek to screen out.

thank u for being one of the few sane ones left

 

[Anatomist]

Medical schools do look at major and where you earned your degree. A business degree is much easier to earn than a science degree. Ironically, according to some statistics, History and other humanities graduates have the highest acceptance rates among all majors, with Biology being the lowest. I think some of that is related to the fact that non-Bio graduates bring more diversity to the class and there are not too many of them. From another angle, this may be just a way the numbers are worked. So, for example, if 1000 Bio majors apply and 10 History majors and 1 Hist gets in (10%) and 80 Bio get in (8%) it may show that history majors have an "advantage". Everything above a 3.5 GPA is typically considered a good GPA and everthing above a 3.7 is considered very good/excellent. Going from a 3.7 to a 4.0 will not buy you as much as going up from a 3.4 to a 3.7 or getting your degree from a "better" undergrad school.

I agree with one of the other people that your 3.7/37 makes you very competitive.

 

[Law2Doc]

Medical schools do look at major and where you earned your degree. A business degree is much easier to earn than a science degree. Ironically, according to some statistics, History and other humanities graduates have the highest acceptance rates among all majors, with Biology being the lowest. I think some of that is related to the fact that non-Bio graduates bring more diversity to the class and there are not too many of them. From another angle, this may be just a way the numbers are worked. So, for example, if 1000 Bio majors apply and 10 History majors and 1 Hist gets in (10%) and 80 Bio get in (8%) it may show that history majors have an "advantage". Everything above a 3.5 GPA is typically considered a good GPA and everthing above a 3.7 is considered very good/excellent. Going from a 3.7 to a 4.0 will not buy you as much as going up from a 3.4 to a 3.7 or getting your degree from a "better" undergrad school.

I agree with one of the other people that your 3.7/37 makes you very competitive.

Actually the bulk of the reason that nonsci majors do "better" is that it is a more self selecting group. Nearly all bio majors are "premed", even if they have very borderline stats and scores. Folks who are nonmajors and decide to apply to med school are more likely to only be premed if they have realistic stats. (not always, but more often than not). Thus a larger percentage of the nonsci majors get in (a much bigger difference than between 8 and 10%, I believe), simply because it is a more highly credentialed selection of those majors.

 

[45408]

Actually the bulk of the reason that nonsci majors do "better" is that it is a more self selecting group. Nearly all bio majors are "premed", even if they have very borderline stats and scores. Folks who are nonmajors and decide to apply to med school are more likely to only be premed if they have realistic stats. (not always, but more often than not). Thus a larger percentage of the nonsci majors get in (a much bigger difference than between 8 and 10%, I believe), simply because it is a more highly credentialed selection of those majors.

Most biology departments at major universities have very few pre-meds.

 

[usctrojan06]

Most biology departments at major universities have very few pre-meds.

USC has 150 of them, and im positive that most are biology or neuroscience.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

Do top-tier (or any i guess) medical schools consider a student's major when looking at GPA? I posted on the what are my chances thread and it was noted that my GPA is not quite up to par with top-tier schools' expectations (i have roughly a 3.7), but I can also guarantee that if I was a bio major rather than a computer science engineering major, that my GPA would be at least a 3.8, if not a 3.9.... do schools care?

I'm going to agree that a 3.7 and 37 MCAT isn't going to hurt you no matter what the major is, but since we're on the subject, I'll tell you what I told you in the other thread.

You can't guarantee anything and claiming you can will get you nowhere. Do schools consider major? Sure. But I can guarantee you no one is going to sit there and say "Oh, gee, if he were just a bio major, his GPA would be a 3.9, so let's overlook it and give it to him anyway."

The major is your decision. If you choose a tough major, you're presumably committed to giving it your all. If they sat there and made allowances for all majors based on difficulty, then what? Do we expect deans at Harvard med to give diplomas to people who failed Gross Anatomy twice and never managed to make it past first year because if they went to some unknown state school, they could guarantee they would have passed?

 

[goodlookinrebel]

Yeah I am curious about this myself. I am considering a double major in philosophy and physics. Needless to say that that is a little more challenging than say communications or history. Adcoms are capable of abstract thought right? They can look at a 3.7 philosophy/physics major and a 4.0 underwater basket weaving major and decide rightly who the better candidate is right?

 

[Julius Erving]

Yeah I am curious about this myself. I am considering a double major in philosophy and physics. Needless to say that that is a little more challenging than say communications or history. Adcoms are capable of abstract thought right? They can look at a 3.7 philosophy/physics major and a 4.0 underwater basket weaving major and decide rightly who the better candidate is right?

but if the basketweaver took all the required pre-med courses and aced them, why are you penalizing him? in theory he could ace them w/ a harder course load as well. You can't say one way or the other. On the other hand, a 3.7 at a harder major shows a struggle (although not really significant) to comprehend/apply some material.

You could possible get a 3.7 as a double physics/phil major and a 4.0 at basket weaving. That is best case scenario. The weaver got a 4.0 in weaving and could get a 4.0 in double physics/phil. His potential is harder to guage, b/c he could also fail miserably.... that's why they don't JUST look at gpa.

And no, i don't think they give bonus points for difficult majors, but if it looks unique (and physics/phil. does to me) then you could get some brownie points for that.

 

[Chuckwalla]

What the hell is this guy worried about?

 

[Robizzle]

What the hell is this guy worried about?

lol readin ur question then lookin at that dog just made me laugh. i guess i imagined the dog asking the question. man i need sleep.

 

[Chuckwalla]

lol readin ur question then lookin at that dog just made me laugh. i guess i imagined the dog asking the question. man i need sleep.

lol, I picture people as their avatars too.

 

[Kashala]

yeah OP relax your stats are solid. I am deciding majors between chemistry, bio and (human development and family studies) probably will choose HDfS because I want to take some interesting classes Med school is all science so this is the only time to get in those types of courses regardless my GPA will be 3.5+ God willing so GPA is not the only thing but people always ask whats your GPA not whats your major and GPA thats what science GPA and overall is for.




-Que Dieu te Benisse

 

[MedStudentWanna]

Yeah I am curious about this myself. I am considering a double major in philosophy and physics. Needless to say that that is a little more challenging than say communications or history. Adcoms are capable of abstract thought right? They can look at a 3.7 philosophy/physics major and a 4.0 underwater basket weaving major and decide rightly who the better candidate is right?

No. And why should they? Again, your major is your choice. Adcomms can't make allowances for people who choose to take science-heavy majors and then claim they could have done so much better in another major. I know Biochem majors who ace their sciences, but only manage a C in Philosophy, which tells me that Philosophy is harder for them, so in theory, with a Biochem major, their GPA is a 3.7 and if they were a Philosophy major, their GPA would be a 3.3. I don't know where this misconception that only science majors take hard classes came from but it's blatantly false.

 

[CaramelDlite]

That's why adcoms tell you to major in whatever you're interested in because at the end of the day, majoring in something "hard" will not get you any points, its the BCPM that counts. You can have a 4.0 in the hardest major out there, but if you have a 3.0 in your science courses you would probably be recommended to do a post-bacc.

The OP mentioned that he wants to go to a top 10 medical school. Honestly, I think it will be pretty difficult to get into an ivy-league medical school with a 3.5 BCPM from a public school(that's not UMich, UCB, UVA, etc...). Of course your MCAT will help your cause but it seems these schools reject just as many 37+s as they accept so make sure your ECs are intact as well; a good MCAT does not completely erase an academic record. Taking a look at MDApplicants will probably gve you a better look at how similar students have fared. You still have a year to go so make it count

 

[robertschuh]

.

 

[deleted36260]

This maybe appropriate in some other thread but here goes anyways

Do top-tier (or any i guess) medical schools consider a student's major when looking at GPA? I posted on the what are my chances thread and it was noted that my GPA is not quite up to par with top-tier schools' expectations (i have roughly a 3.7), but I can also guarantee that if I was a bio major rather than a computer science engineering major, that my GPA would be at least a 3.8, if not a 3.9.... do schools care?

** for those curious why i am a compsci major, it is primarily for future interests. i want to get involved with information sciences in medicine, but more from the perspective of a doctor (which is why i want to go to medical school and not grad school for something else)

Looking at your mediocre BS score on your MCAT, I'm not so sure you promise anything about your Bio ability

- Just another lowly Bio Pre-med

 

[MedStudentWanna]

i've never had to study for a full week for anything other than a chem/bio/physics exam...and that still doesnt always mean an A (@washU). Things like linguistics, history, music etc that i've taken only require night before studying for a solid A. Maybe thats just me, but I bet i'm not the only one who thinks that they could get by pretty easily in a non-science major.

Then maybe all of you who feel that way should pick a major that "only require night before studying for a solid A." By the way, do 10-20-page papers also "only require night before" preparation because my history, philosophy, and humanities classes were packed with those.

The bottom line is your major is YOUR CHOICE! To say "I got a 3.5 in my physics major, but could have gotten a 4.0 in a humanities major" makes you an unbelievable whiner who obviously doesn't make good choices and then complains that you've had it tougher than others. That's certainly not what I would look for in a med student if I was your student interviewer, but that's just me.

 

[BigRedPremed]

Looking at your mediocre BS score on your MCAT, I'm not so sure you promise anything about your Bio ability

- Just another lowly Bio Pre-med

 

[robertschuh]

.

 

[christof]

with regard to whoever was cracking on my 10 on BS... rather immature, but the reason i got a 10 was primarily because my BS section happened to contain a lot of the material that i hadn't taken yet in classes (but i thought i could manage to learn it just by self-study and kaplan). during kaplan i was doing just fine getting 12's and 13's in practice. and besides, i'm competing against like 90% bio majors, so clearly i was at a slight disadvantage in that section.

some of you are calling me a whiner. i have no intention of whining about my major being more difficult, nor do i think i should have chosen a different major simply because i might want higher grades. i came to college to pursue a degree that i wanted and a bio degree or non-science degree was simply not the one that i wanted to study for. i apologize if my choices somehow don't rely on choosing the "easiest route." i'm stuck in undergrad for an extra semester because of my choice(because none of my classes overlap) but i have no regrets.

 

[Guile]

Judging by the laughing and winking smilies, I think it's safe to assume that he was kidding...

 

[MedStudentWanna]

Judging by the laughing and winking smilies, I think it's safe to assume that he was kidding...

Maybe not. I wouldn't be shocked to discover that Christof offended quite a few bio majors. Whenever anyone comes onto the board and says they can guarantee their GPA would have been a 3.9 in such and such major, they're putting down anyone in that major who can't manage to get a 3.9. Just think about the implication. I've seen people get a 3.9 for their BCPM GPA, but only a 3.5 in their Humanities major classes. No one can predict GPA in another major, regardess of how sure you are you could have done better. Saying so just sounds arrogant.

The fact is that no one can guarantee anything. It's like saying, if I hadn't taken 12 credits during my MCAT semester, I guarantee I would have gotten a 40+.

 

[deleted36260]

with regard to whoever was cracking on my 10 on BS... rather immature, but the reason i got a 10 was primarily because my BS section happened to contain a lot of the material that i hadn't taken yet in classes (but i thought i could manage to learn it just by self-study and kaplan). during kaplan i was doing just fine getting 12's and 13's in practice. and besides, i'm competing against like 90% bio majors, so clearly i was at a slight disadvantage in that section.

some of you are calling me a whiner. i have no intention of whining about my major being more difficult, nor do i think i should have chosen a different major simply because i might want higher grades. i came to college to pursue a degree that i wanted and a bio degree or non-science degree was simply not the one that i wanted to study for. i apologize if my choices somehow don't rely on choosing the "easiest route." i'm stuck in undergrad for an extra semester because of my choice(because none of my classes overlap) but i have no regrets.

excuses, excuses. It's okay- don't be so mad because you couldn't hack bio so well. I mean, a Biology major isn't right for everyone. Some just aren't cut out for it

Judging by the laughing and winking smilies, I think it's safe to assume that he was kidding...

True I am just having fun with the guy who has an excuse on why he could do everything better than everyone else I wonder what he would think if he found out I am a Bio major AND have a decade of IT experience. Maybe we could have a Academic biathalon fighting it to the death in programming C and biology! Only then could we know who was the true winner.