Low cGPA, High sGPA... What do I do?

[alk27]

I am applying next year and taking my MCATs in the beginning of the year. But, I wanted to know what I will need to get on my MCATs to make me competitive in getting into a middle tier school like USC (I am a CA resident) with my stats.

AMCAS gives me a cGPA of 3.39 ... upward trend 3.74 my last year and a half when I transfered from CC to University of Washington. Just a couple of bad semesters freshman year. Oh and I double majored in Social Sciences and Communication.

But, I have a sGPA of 3.79 .... did post-bacc classes at my local cal-state, just finishing them up and can still take micro and additional classes to raise my GPA even more.

I will have a 1yr+ shadowing, research, and OR time by the time I apply along with a 3 weeks triage trip to Tanzania for pre-med students, 3 month rotation 125+ hours throughout various dept. in the hospital, pre-health club member, church volunteering 4yrs+, 50+ hours volunteering at UW medical center when I was there, and other various camps and weekend volunteer experience medical and non medical (like grief counseling).


So what MCAT score do I need to be competitive and what are my chances?

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[Narnian]

There are lots of factors for admission and I am not sure about the numbers for chances of acceptance.

Here is a link of gpa's and mcat scores from AAMC:

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2008/2008mcatgpa.htm

Do not quote me but I think you will want a 32 or better on the MCATS with your cGPA.

 

[gman33]

CA is a very competitve state for med school.
With your GPA, I'd say you need 35+ on the MCAT to be competitive in CA.

For some other states, not as much.

Some people say you need (gpa * 10) + MCAT >=65
Ex: 3.5 gpa, 30 MCAT.
The means are a little higher now, more like 3.7, 31.

Just do your best on the MCAT and apply broadly, especially to a lot of out of state private schools.

 

[CrepesofWrath]

I don't know if I agree with ^. Someone with a 3.2 cGPA and 35+ MCAT is less likely to get in to med school than someone with a 3.7 and a 30. Just check the MSAR distributions.

 

[ChairmanMao]

I think it really depends on your MCAT. As Gman said, if you score a 35+ you're probably fine the way you are. On the other hand, if you score in the low 30s or worst the high-20s, you're pretty better off taking a year or two of easy liberal arts classes to drive up that overall GPA past the 3.5 mark.

 

[ChairmanMao]

I also noticed that you are CA resident and trying to get into one of the UC's. That could be difficult even if you have a 35 MCAT and both your GPA was above 3.7 (which is their average), I'd really apply to more out of state schools and low-tier private schools that your in-state medical school simply because of how competitive CA schools are know to be.

 

[Glass]

MCAT scores and GPA are only part of the puzzle. My friend just got accepted into Albany with MCAT score of 27N and sGPA of 3.2. To that, she had three years of direct patient care (EMT), four years of volunteer work (Big Brother and Red Cross), she is fluent in three languages (English, Spanish & Swahili) and had very, very strong letters of recommendation. At this point I think your grades sit well. Just do your best on the MCAT and try to be well rounded. I just read a post somewhere else about this kid who has a sGPA of 3.75 and got 34N on the MCAT but has applied three times and got rejected on all the occassions. That should tell you something about what med schools look for!