Prestige of Undergrad school matters? URM matters?

[berkeleykid18]

Hello,

I was just wondering if prestige of your school matter? So I am at Berkeley for my undergrad and I am a Molecular and Cell Biology major. Berkeley is known as the top public school and it is well known for grade deflation so I wanted to know if med schools take this into account? For those of you who do not know most of our science premed classes have a B- avg with 45-50% of students earning a C. And I know that just about everyone here was a straight A student in high school just to get to Berkeley and get curved down so low. I saw online that the avg gpa in my major is a 2.7! Well anyway I messed up a lot so far and it has been tough. My cumulative gpa is a 3.1 right now but that is only because I retook calc 1 where I got a D the first time because I had never taken calc in my life. If i count that D and my entire transcript I saw that I had a cGPA of 2.95 and sGPA of 2.63. I am going to be a 3rd year in the fall and I know I have to get down to work these last two years to get my gpa up but any word on my chances to get into a US med school? What kind of an MCAT score should I aim for? And What GPA should I aspire to get by the time I graduate. Some EC's that I have so far is over 100 hours of hospital volunteer work, i am in the club soccer team, i am in a fraternity that is all about embracing diversity, was an undergraduate student instructor for biology, psych research assistant data entry, UCSF research internship now (getting published), and I am now waiting to hear about a program that needs my bilingual ability in Spanish and English to help the community at San Francisco General Hospital. I am also a URM student btw (Mexican-American) and first generation to go to college. Does the URM thing help me much? Thanks!

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[gyngyn]

Hello,

I was just wondering if prestige of your school matter? So I am at Berkeley for my undergrad and I am a Molecular and Cell Biology major. Berkeley is known as the top public school and it is well known for grade deflation so I wanted to know if med schools take this into account? For those of you who do not know most of our science premed classes have a B- avg with 45-50% of students earning a C. And I know that just about everyone here was a straight A student in high school just to get to Berkeley and get curved down so low. I saw online that the avg gpa in my major is a 2.7! Well anyway I messed up a lot so far and it has been tough. My cumulative gpa is a 3.1 right now but that is only because I retook calc 1 where I got a D the first time because I had never taken calc in my life. If i count that D and my entire transcript I saw that I had a cGPA of 2.95 and sGPA of 2.63. I am going to be a 3rd year in the fall and I know I have to get down to work these last two years to get my gpa up but any word on my chances to get into a US med school? What kind of an MCAT score should I aim for? And What GPA should I aspire to get by the time I graduate. Some EC's that I have so far is over 100 hours of hospital volunteer work, i am in the club soccer team, i am in a fraternity that is all about embracing diversity, was an undergraduate student instructor for biology, psych research assistant data entry, UCSF research internship now (getting published), and I am now waiting to hear about a program that needs my bilingual ability in Spanish and English to help the community at San Francisco General Hospital. I am also a URM student btw (Mexican-American) and first generation to go to college. Does the URM thing help me much? Thanks!

No amount of "prestige" can save you from a gpa this low. You need to entirely re-tool your strategy. This would include getting A's from now forward, even if you have to change your major. Go get some academic counseling, stat.

 

[zzxxzz]

Hello,

I was just wondering if prestige of your school matter? So I am at Berkeley for my undergrad and I am a Molecular and Cell Biology major. Berkeley is known as the top public school and it is well known for grade deflation so I wanted to know if med schools take this into account? For those of you who do not know most of our science premed classes have a B- avg with 45-50% of students earning a C. And I know that just about everyone here was a straight A student in high school just to get to Berkeley and get curved down so low. I saw online that the avg gpa in my major is a 2.7! Well anyway I messed up a lot so far and it has been tough. My cumulative gpa is a 3.1 right now but that is only because I retook calc 1 where I got a D the first time because I had never taken calc in my life. If i count that D and my entire transcript I saw that I had a cGPA of 2.95 and sGPA of 2.63.

Even if what you say is 100% accurate, this basically means you're a below average student at your school. If being premed is extremely important to you, you need to change how you approach your coursework.

 

[LiamNeesons]

If you're a white male, you're screwed. All else is an even playing field.


MD Class of 2017

 

[Goro]

We'd be doing you no favors by admitting you. You need to show us that you can handle a medical school curriculum, which so far, you haven't.

To follow up on my learned colleague's advice, go seek out your school's education or learning center for help with learning styles and test taking strategies.

FYI, the median GPA for medical school matriulants is 3.6, and the MCAT score is 31.

Hello,

I was just wondering if prestige of your school matter? So I am at Berkeley for my undergrad and I am a Molecular and Cell Biology major. Berkeley is known as the top public school and it is well known for grade deflation so I wanted to know if med schools take this into account? For those of you who do not know most of our science premed classes have a B- avg with 45-50% of students earning a C. And I know that just about everyone here was a straight A student in high school just to get to Berkeley and get curved down so low. I saw online that the avg gpa in my major is a 2.7! Well anyway I messed up a lot so far and it has been tough. My cumulative gpa is a 3.1 right now but that is only because I retook calc 1 where I got a D the first time because I had never taken calc in my life. If i count that D and my entire transcript I saw that I had a cGPA of 2.95 and sGPA of 2.63. I am going to be a 3rd year in the fall and I know I have to get down to work these last two years to get my gpa up but any word on my chances to get into a US med school? What kind of an MCAT score should I aim for? And What GPA should I aspire to get by the time I graduate. Some EC's that I have so far is over 100 hours of hospital volunteer work, i am in the club soccer team, i am in a fraternity that is all about embracing diversity, was an undergraduate student instructor for biology, psych research assistant data entry, UCSF research internship now (getting published), and I am now waiting to hear about a program that needs my bilingual ability in Spanish and English to help the community at San Francisco General Hospital. I am also a URM student btw (Mexican-American) and first generation to go to college. Does the URM thing help me much? Thanks!

 

[berkeleykid18]

Yeah I know its really low. Well Berkeley is just tough but I know that I can put in way more effort than I have. It's hard to really explain but it is hard to be at a big name school like this with class sizes of 800 kids who are 99% white and asian. There is only like one african american girl in my classes and only like 2 other hispanics. I've just felt like an expectation to fail being in that environment. I know I should have gotten over that and it is what I am working on right now especially since I have great mentors at UCSF now that have really motivated me and inspired me. It has really changed so I want to try my absolute best to bring up that gpa. But obviously with my grades I am already thinking about a post-bacc after college. but I was wondering what kind of MCAT score I needed and what GPA I should aim for by the time I graduate. Thanks.

 

[berkeleykid18]

We'd be doing you no favors by admitting you. You need to show us that you can handle a medical school curriculum, which so far, you haven't.

To follow up on my learned colleague's advice, go seek out your school's education or learning center for help with learning styles and test taking strategies.

FYI, the median GPA for medical school matriulants is 3.6, and the MCAT score is 31.

Yeah I know its really low. Well Berkeley is just tough but I know that I can put in way more effort than I have. It's hard to really explain but it is hard to be at a big name school like this with class sizes of 800 kids who are 99% white and asian. There is only like one african american girl in my classes and only like 2 other hispanics. I've just felt like an expectation to fail being in that environment. I know I should have gotten over that and it is what I am working on right now especially since I have great mentors at UCSF now that have really motivated me and inspired me. It has really changed so I want to try my absolute best to bring up that gpa. But obviously with my grades I am already thinking about a post-bacc after college. but I was wondering what kind of MCAT score I needed and what GPA I should aim for by the time I graduate. Thanks.

 

[Goro]

Do NOT think like that! You get back in there and kick some ass!

If not, there's always Cal State East Bay, or USF, which might be a more friendly environment. We get kids from there, and they do fine.

I've just felt like an expectation to fail being in that environment.