Low GPA but high MCAT?

[Ausenchaos]

I haven't been doing too well with my studies in college due to a lot of stress. I'm averaging just below a 3.0 GPA, but what if I were to back it up with a MCAT score in the high 30s or possibly low 40s? Would that give me a good chance of getting into medical school?

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[GoSpursGo]

1) If you've got below a 3.0 in college, you're not going to get a score in the top 2% on the MCAT. It happens very rarely, I suppose, but I wouldn't bank on it

2) A sub 3.0 GPA is going to sink you regardless of what score you get. You need to get that GPA up; regardless of whatever "stress" you've had, you have to show an adcom that you have the ability to handle the academic load of medical school, and a sub-3.0 doesn't do that.

There is no shortcut to med school, so stop thinking in terms of "rocking the MCAT" to save you; you're going to have to put in the work to salvage your GPA. From here on out, you really have to focus on getting A's to make up ground on your GPA. Schools love to see upward trends in GPA, so if you can repair your GPA to around a 3.3 or 3.4, with a good MCAT you could start looking at DO schools, maybe some allopathic schools if your MCAT or ECs are both outstanding.

 

[Mobius1985]

I agree with the above poster. A high MCAT won't assure adcomms that you can perform well in a science-heavy medschool curriculum. Two years of recent straight A performance in upper-level science classes, along with a good MCAT score, will give you a chance of consideration. The best redemption for a low GPA is continued solid performance for as many years as it takes to get your GPA into a competitive range.

 

[HeatherMD]

I haven't been doing too well with my studies in college due to a lot of stress. I'm averaging just below a 3.0 GPA, but what if I were to back it up with a MCAT score in the high 30s or possibly low 40s? Would that give me a good chance of getting into medical school?

No.

 

[mmmcdowe]

If you can't deal with undergrad stress, you will not find med school stress to be any less. Think about going to grad school or getting a masters, then reapplying.

 

[Muffinpuff]

I haven't been doing too well with my studies in college due to a lot of stress. I'm averaging just below a 3.0 GPA, but what if I were to back it up with a MCAT score in the high 30s or possibly low 40s? Would that give me a good chance of getting into medical school?

Looking over the posts, I just want to correct all the negativity of low GPAs. Yes, there are people all over the place getting into med school with a 3.0 and a higher than average MCAT. My cousin got into med school, my friends with 3.0 got into med schools. You can make up a GPA with a great personality and great rec letters and some interesting EC's. There are plenty of people with high scores and GPA but won't make it into med school. The other thing is, stop asking people whether you have a chance. If you want it, believe in it, go for it! The people with all the negative comments are either gloating that they got into the school or don't have the whatevers to get into med school. There are so many stages of the app process and yeah, it's a lot of stages to get eliminated, but think of how each stage also gets you the chance to be read by someone who can totally overlook your low GPA. So my advice is stop believing or listening to people who say "no you can't." You can do whatever you want. Your GPA is not that bad! Consider also DO schools. Either way, you'll be a doctor. Who cares about the prestige. You can have a career that saves lives. a low GPA or SDNers shouldn't take that away.

 

[golgiapparatus88]

Nicely said Muffinpuff. Although I haven't applied yet I think you need that sort of attitude to get into med school and also keep some sanity. Like you said grades are only one part of getting into med school. Although i'd kill for a 4.0 and a 45 MCAT, i think part of the fun is being able to do all the nerdy ECs like working in labs, maybe getting papers published, working in hospitals/with a physician. Those people who get into schools because of their grades only might have missed out on some of that fun stuff due to stress. I mean, thats really the only way to know if you actually want to be a physician. No one in the library 30 hours a week knows anything outside of the textbook they are reading.

I'm not trying to single anyone out because i know there are people with amazing GPAs, MCATs and also great ECs and i'm quite jealous

 

[Bacchus]

Looking over the posts, I just want to correct all the negativity of low GPAs. Yes, there are people all over the place getting into med school with a 3.0 and a higher than average MCAT. My cousin got into med school, my friends with 3.0 got into med schools. You can make up a GPA with a great personality and great rec letters and some interesting EC's. There are plenty of people with high scores and GPA but won't make it into med school. The other thing is, stop asking people whether you have a chance. If you want it, believe in it, go for it! The people with all the negative comments are either gloating that they got into the school or don't have the whatevers to get into med school. There are so many stages of the app process and yeah, it's a lot of stages to get eliminated, but think of how each stage also gets you the chance to be read by someone who can totally overlook your low GPA. So my advice is stop believing or listening to people who say "no you can't." You can do whatever you want. Your GPA is not that bad! Consider also DO schools. Either way, you'll be a doctor. Who cares about the prestige. You can have a career that saves lives. a low GPA or SDNers shouldn't take that away.

I don't like to negate advice, but to me, this is wrong. A sub 3.0 GPA will face automatic cutoffs at many, many schools. A sub 3.0 also will not get you into a DO school, more than likely. There are outliers, but very few. Also, all the ECs in the world will not save you if your GPA is not up to snuff. There is a difference between dreaming and having a possibility and dreaming and throwing money away.

OP, you need to repair your GPA. The easiest and fastest way would be to get above a 3.0 cumulative and apply to an SMP where you take medschool equivalent classes and prove that you can handle the material. The other alternative you have is replace grades and apply DO since the retake is what the GPA is calculated on--the first grade won't disappear though. If you have a DRAMATIC upward trend you may be alright if you get above a 3.0.

No amount of ECs, highs spirit or impressive MCAT score is going to help a sub 3.0 GPA.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Looking over the posts, I just want to correct all the negativity of low GPAs. Yes, there are people all over the place getting into med school with a 3.0 and a higher than average MCAT. My cousin got into med school, my friends with 3.0 got into med schools. You can make up a GPA with a great personality and great rec letters and some interesting EC's. There are plenty of people with high scores and GPA but won't make it into med school. The other thing is, stop asking people whether you have a chance. If you want it, believe in it, go for it! The people with all the negative comments are either gloating that they got into the school or don't have the whatevers to get into med school. There are so many stages of the app process and yeah, it's a lot of stages to get eliminated, but think of how each stage also gets you the chance to be read by someone who can totally overlook your low GPA. So my advice is stop believing or listening to people who say "no you can't." You can do whatever you want. Your GPA is not that bad! Consider also DO schools. Either way, you'll be a doctor. Who cares about the prestige. You can have a career that saves lives. a low GPA or SDNers shouldn't take that away.

I'm with Bacchus.

Yes, there are always some outliers who get in with really low GPAs. There are MANY, MANY more people with low GPAs who waste a lot of money by applying to 30-40 schools hoping that just one will accept them, only to still be stuck reapplying. That is a LOT of time spent writing secondary applications that could have been spent volunteering at a hospital to improve the application, and a lot of money that could have been saved and put to an SMP or post-bacc.

OP, if you actually manage to get a really, really high MCAT (37+), and if you have some truly incredible ECs (like, truly unique stuff that would just bowl over an adcom) that you didn't tell us about, then you might consider applying. But first-things first: get A's from here on out in college, and study hard for the MCAT. It's hard to give good advice until we actually know what score you got; planning to get a 37 on the MCAT and GETTING a 37 are completely different. This really is a marathon, not a race, and you've got to tackle each stage individually- don't worry about the ultimate goal right now, just focus on clearing the next checkpoint.

 

[HeatherMD]

I third the above comments.

I have NEVER heard of anyone with a sub-3.0 or just 3.0 getting into med school until I came to these forums, and frankly, it's still a rarity and you can't blame any school for denying admission to someone with such a GPA. If you can't make a meager B average in undergraduate, you're not prepared to be responsible for patient's lives.

The ones that do make it in 3.0 are the ones that not only rocked the MCAT and were a superior well-rounded candidate otherwise, it's likely they proved themselves with solid A's through upper level sciences.

You definitely CANNOT expect to be a mediocre student and make the cut.

Most medical schools I know of have a cut-off at 3.3. I have no idea where these 3.0 people are getting in.

 

[DrJD]

Outlier here... 3.07 over all, 2.9 science, and I had a hugely downward slope with my GPA... Took a couple of years to work, volunteer... Got a 38 on the MCAT and I was just accepted to the University of Illinois as an OOS...

What everyone is saying is true, it is REALLY hard with a low GPA, but not impossible. DO NOT count on the high MCAT, work your butt off to get a better GPA, but just know that if you work your hardest and it doesn't turn out the way you'd like there are still always possibilities.

Good luck!

 

[hoya09]

I third the above comments.

I have NEVER heard of anyone with a sub-3.0 or just 3.0 getting into med school until I came to these forums, and frankly, it's still a rarity and you can't blame any school for denying admission to someone with such a GPA. If you can't make a meager B average in undergraduate, you're not prepared to be responsible for patient's lives.

The ones that do make it in 3.0 are the ones that not only rocked the MCAT and were a superior well-rounded candidate otherwise, it's likely they proved themselves with solid A's through upper level sciences.

You definitely CANNOT expect to be a mediocre student and make the cut.

Most medical schools I know of have a cut-off at 3.3. I have no idea where these 3.0 people are getting in.

Because the correlation is SO obvious.. I agree with everything else, but statements like these are what give premeds their reputation for being narrowminded, judgmental, and ridiculous...

EDIT: Before this gets attacked, I'll elaborate... I think it's fair to say that people with low GPAs may not be prepared for med school. Those with sub 3.0 GPAs probably need some time to evaluate the reasons for their mediocre performance before tackling the rigors of med school. I get that. I don't, however, think it's necessary to say that those with a B average are, across the board, irresponsible and incapable of caring for patients. I believe that getting a 4.0 and being an excellent physician do not draw on the exact same skill sets and that though one might have a "low" (by med school standards) GPA, one can still become a respectable physician...

 

[GoSpursGo]

Outlier here... 3.07 over all, 2.9 science, and I had a hugely downward slope with my GPA... Took a couple of years to work, volunteer... Got a 38 on the MCAT and I was just accepted to the University of Illinois as an OOS...

What everyone is saying is true, it is REALLY hard with a low GPA, but not impossible. DO NOT count on the high MCAT, work your butt off to get a better GPA, but just know that if you work your hardest and it doesn't turn out the way you'd like there are still always possibilities.

Good luck!

I should clarify... by NO MEANS do I think this process is over if someone has a ~3.0 GPA by the end of college. However, I think it's unlikely that someone will get into med school STRAIGHT OUT of college, which seemed to be what the OP was asking. It probably takes a few years of working in the real world and being successful (and getting a really strong MCAT) to get schools to look past a low GPA. So yes, there is hope, as long as you understand that there will probably have to be a few years off.

 

[NTF]

You'd do well to heed the advice of all the wise posters above.

Yes people do win the lottery. Noone ever suggests it as a part of sound financial planning.

Repair your GPA with post-bacc or SMP classes.
Develop your ECs.
Apply broadly and early.
Rock the MCAT.
GOOD LUCK. IT CAN BE DONE.

 

[Slack3r]

A "B" is still "above average".

 

[rgerber85]

 

[prowd2beloud147]

Take some advice from my situation. A decent MCAT will probably get you an interview at a couple schools, but at the end of the day you most likely won't get accepted. But don't get discouraged, do try to rock your MCAT. It will help ease the admissions mind in that you actually do know your stuff. Retake your lowest classes, and perhaps take a yoga class.