Do medical schools care about a premed’s community college performance?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

john7991

Full Member
2+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2020
Messages
127
Reaction score
118
Say I went to a community college, majored in liberal arts, performed badly (2.9 GPA), transferred to a senior college, majored in biology, got a 525 MCAT, graduated with a 3.9 GPA, shadowed, volunteered, and did everything right to get into a top medical school like Duke, NYU, Stanford, would I be in a bad position?

Because I live in NYC, my top choice is NYU.

Members don't see this ad.
 
It will matter, since it's still college-level performance and needs to be reported, but if you have an amazing upward trend like you say, then they will weigh those units much more heavily and you will have sufficiently demonstrated academic capability of surviving med school.

But if you're asking if med schools will just forget about the CC courses, then the answer is no, they'll still care.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Did you actually get a 525/3.9 or is this a hypothetical “what if” scenario. I highly doubt CCGPA would matter if your overall is still above a 3.6
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Members don't see this ad :)
NYU is not the only medical school in NY -- not even the only medical school in Manhattan. Don't set your heart on one school -- particularly one that is so hard to get into to!

Your CC classes will count toward your GPA so you won't escape that. If the number of credits earned toward the 2.9 and 3.9 are the same, you end up with a total GPA of 3.4 which might get you screened out at some schools but a super high MCAT might get you screened back in at some schools that will think, "there might be an interesting story here". That goes double if your 2.9 had almost no science courses so that the BCPM GPA is >3.8.

It isn't going to be easy but going to CC has nothing to do with it.... it is going to be the effort to climb out of the 2.9 hole and getting eyeballs on the application to identify you as a viable candidate. Everything else needs to be in position too: shadowing, community service, research, teamwork/leadership, etc.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
Did you actually get a 525/3.9 or is this a hypothetical “what if” scenario. I highly doubt CCGPA would matter if your overall is still above a 3.6
It’s hypothetical. I’m graduating from my CC now with a 3.1 GPA. I got into CUNY Hunter where I’m going to major in biology starting in the next two months or so. My goal is to ace everything so that I can increase my chances of getting into a med school. I didn’t know that your total GPA includes everything including your CC grades once you’re done with your bachelors as one replier said. I thought your GPA starts from zero once you transfer to a senior college.
 
It will be school dependent, and also upon whether or not you took prereqs at the CC.

But don't fret too much. Your MCAT is nothing to sneeze at.
I didn’t mean to mislead anyone. It was a hypothetical question. I’m just now graduating from my CC. I’m asking because I’m trying to figure out if I still have a chance given my poor CC performance
 
I didn’t mean to mislead anyone. It was a hypothetical question. I’m just now graduating from my CC. I’m asking because I’m trying to figure out if I still have a chance given my poor CC performance

Your undergrad GPA will be an average of your CC course grades, 4 year college course grades and postbacc course grades (if any).

Try to ace all your 4 year college grades and see where you stand. Pro tip: don’t try to do too much at once.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Say I went to a community college, majored in liberal arts, performed badly (2.9 GPA), transferred to a senior college, majored in biology, got a 525 MCAT, graduated with a 3.9 GPA, shadowed, volunteered, and did everything right to get into a top medical school like Duke, NYU, Stanford, would I be in a bad position?

Because I live in NYC, my top choice is NYU.

I didn’t mean to mislead anyone. It was a hypothetical question. I’m just now graduating from my CC. I’m asking because I’m trying to figure out if I still have a chance given my poor CC performance
Stop wasting our time with hypotheticals.
 
  • Dislike
Reactions: 1 users
Stop wasting our time with hypotheticals.
:| this is exactly the type of stuff that makes people not want to ask questions. You’re wasting your own time by not paying attention to the words I used. The first word I used was “say,” indicating a hypothetical situation. One of the repliers caught that. I’m just asking for help looking at a picture of what could be
 
  • Okay...
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
:| this is exactly the type of stuff that makes people not want to ask questions. You’re wasting your own time by not paying attention to the words I used. The first word I used was “say,” indicating a hypothetical situation. One of the repliers caught that. I’m just asking for help looking at a picture of what could be
You could have asked the question like other pre-meds do in a more realistic way:

"I'm doing poorly right now as a FR in a CC. Is it all over for me?"

But instead, you asked something more along the lines of "Say I come off the bench in the bottom of the 9th inning and hit a grand slam, can I win the Word Series for the Braves"?

"Say" indeed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
You could have asked the question like other pre-meds do in a more realistic way:

"I'm doing poorly right now as a FR in a CC. Is it all over for me?"

But instead, you asked something more along the lines of "Say I come off the bench in the bottom of the 9th inning and hit a grand slam, can I win the Word Series for the Braves"?

"Say" indeed.
If I were like other premeds I would say I’m sorry but I am not.

The example you used is clearly hypothetical, just as hypothetical as my original question was. That’s on you if you couldn’t figure that out. If you don’t like hypothetical questions, I don’t know why you’re here right now.

Yankees all day.
 
Top