ANYONE ACCEPTED M.D w/3.0gpa?

If you have been accepted to an M.D school with a 3.0gpa..

What did you do to improve your academic credentials?
What was your MCAT?

Thanks!!

Thanks a lot for the replies so far!

elyswim, that's really interesting, considering one of my secret passions has been to work in film!

bioteach and fahima, what kind of master's programs did you do? Was it a traditional masters or special 1-year masters program. If traditional, was it a thesis track or coursework only?

Also fahima, I have a genuine question. Maybe you can respond to this in private message if it is better for you. You say it is a long road ahead of me, and I truly agree. However, is it worth it or did you ever consider trading in the extra years and opting for a D.O school instead? I guess that's where I am, wondering if I should aim for D.O school and save years of applying over and doing master's and keep working up my application. But if it is truly worth it at the end, even if it takes a long time....

Perrotfish said:

2.8/34T. Dual major Chemistry/Mechanical Engineering (I killed myself for that 2.8). Weaseled my way into an SMP after one failed application cycle, performed well, and weaseled my way into a midrange allopathic medical school. Doing pretty well here.



If you can get DO, go DO. There's nothing there to hold back your career. However a 3.0 is pretty low even for that. If you want to go DO next application cycle before then you need to:

1) Kill the MCAT

2) Retake your worst undergraduate grades. Try to get your cGPA to a 3.2 and you sGPA to at least a 3.0

and 3) shadow a DO (preferably one who is really into their philosophy) and get a letter of rec.

And SMP would be another path into medical school that might take an equal amount of time, if not less.

First priority, though, is to kill the MCAT. Until that's done don't even worry about anything else.

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Thanks a lot for the advice! And I definitely understand how hard engineering can be, I know a few engineering majors and its a very tough major.

I hope you don't mind if I message you, I have a few questions regarding one of the points you said.

theWUbear said:

Hold up

This thread already exists here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=10113371

for the sake of having one all inclusive thread on this topic, can people continue to post there? Or, mods, can you merge the threads? It would be nice to have this information all in one place

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The thread concerns below 3.3gpa that have interviews. I have an interview, but it doesn't mean at all I will be accepted. I also think a 3.0 and a 3.3 gpa can be viewed differently, as one is borderline and the other is technically above.

I would like to continue the thread here, because my question specifically concerns 3.0 GPA students that were formally accepted in medical school.

With that, thanks a lot for your input, because I will definitely go through the other thread and, hopefully, find useful information as well!!

songbird said:

Do you have some good extracurriculars? It is my impression that medical schools are looking at everything you have to offer.

Also, what is your science GPA?

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Yes, my EC's are excellent and my research experience is very impressive. But at the end of the day, the GPA and MCAT scores take priority over everything. My science GPA is 2.65 as calculated by AMCAS app, which I think is terribly low. Of course, there is a story behind the reason for the grades, but that's a long, personal one!

Total180 said:

I am confused as to how you have an interview without an MCAT score? Have you taken it already and gotten a score, but are taking it again in January for a better one? At most schools in order to be reviewed you have to have an MCAT no?

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I did take it before, but because of the low score, I kind of deleted it in my mind lol. I got a 9 in bio, 9 in verbal, 6 in phys and R for writing. So I've focused my studying on the physical sciences, and practicing passages for the other two sections.

fahimaz7 said:

I rejected two DO offers a year before I got into my MD school. It was a personal decision (location, wife's education, etc), and one that I don't regret at all. As I said earlier, as long as you are working on making yourself a better person and applicant, the year or two of extra work isn't a bad thing. In those years, I met my wife, found myself, and entered into medical school as a focused assassin of the material (ok, that was lame). Anyways, I'm now a 2nd year (top 20%ile of my class), paying 1/2 the tuition that I would be at a DO school, and with more options down the road (sad but honest fact).

Good luck with your decision. Getting into a DO program with a 3.0 is not an easy thing either. Most of those schools average a 3.5.

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Thanks for informing me about your story. That's very inspirational! And its a reminder that so many things cannot be predicted, especially finding a partner to share your life with! I guess what i can do is plan and work hard, and see what happens from there. Thanks again for your reply!

Catalystik said:

This SDNer got into an MD school with a 2.92:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=544011

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Thanks for the note!! I'll definitely read the thread.

vc7777 said:

Hmmm...I took 10+ years off, did an informal post-bacc that helped "fix" my overall uGPA: making it a 2.87 and a sciGPA of 3.0.

38MCAT

8 interview invites
6 interviews
5 acceptances (1 withdraw from waitlist)
2 full tuition scholarships

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Wow, that's a lot of dedication! I bet it's worth it now I'm definitely shooting for an MCAT score of 35+ to make up a bit. I'm also planning on applying for SMP's. I'm hoping the combination of an SMP with a killer MCAT score will prove that I am a strong enough candidate. Thanks for the reply!

eablackwell said:

The 2.65sgpa will hurt your chances. I know a lot of the schools I applied to have a hard cutoff of 3.0 sgpa and 3.0 cgpa. I think it'd be in your best interest to up your sgpa to a 3.0 at least. I started out with a 1.50 sgpa at the end of a science heavy freshman year and applied this cycle with a 3.1 sgpa. I don't have an acceptance yet, but I'll get back to you on Oct. 15th.

Also, unless you are asking specifically for DO, you will likely not get many answers from people this cycle until after Oct. 15th due to the acceptance rule. EDP usually has a higher gpa cutoff.

Just know going in that extremely low gpa acceptances are few and far between. If you stick with your current gpas you will need crazy good ECs and a nice solid/high MCAT. Good luck!

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Thanks! We'll see how things turn out!

Instatewaiter said:

Remember that your undergrad GPA doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot. I got in to an MD school with around a 2.9 GPA after an SMP. I did well in med school and am now a resident at the best program in the country for my specialty. Work hard and it will pay off, no matter where you came from

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Thanks a lot for taking the time to post this. It means a lot and definitely gives me hope that there is a chance! I look back on my life, and I have always been the best student in my class, my whole life. I was the one who other students asked for help. The teachers always had excellent things to say about me in the parent-teacher conferences. I try to see what happened during my undergraduate years.

I know that the number one reason for my lack of GPA was not understanding what kind of an institution I was attending. I started out so hopefuly. Unfortunately, it was one with an incredibly flawed system. Cheating was normal among the "high GPA-ers". They didn't even consider it cheating, it was expected to help each other out in exams. Some of them would steal exams from the office when the professors were out. Aside from that, the majority of the professors were comfortable with emphasizing their hate for teaching, claiming that they had to do this to keep doing research. (The university was very research-based.)

In the hard science courses, the average for a C was 30-40%. Let that be an example to the teaching that was offered. I couldn't transfer due to the unbelievably uncooperative advisors. (They wouldn't even let me take physics at an outside institution because they claimed their reputation was high in teaching that subject. They were very very wrong.) There was so much corruption, that I got a hard look at the real world and I learned so much about life, and the politics and unfairness of it. I graduated bitter and empty.

I've turned that experience to the greatest lesson I have ever learned, and I am doing my best to prove to the medical schools that I am still the exceptional student I have always been.

akwizeguy said:

AMCAS GPA: 2.87
MCAT: 31

Did an SMP, graduate GPA: 3.87

Applied EDP to Tulane.....accepted Oct. 1st

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Congrats!! And thanks for sharing!!

If you don't mind me asking, which SMP did you do? I know there are three at Tulane, and I am looking at which one to apply to. One of them (ACP) you need to be waitlisted, so I'm looking at the other two. Or maybe it was somewhere else? We can message if it's easier than posting.

Catalystik said:

Another inspiring tale: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=686716 [2.8/28, with SMP of 4.0; got into MSU]

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wow, that was a great post!! Definitely messaged the member Thanks!

I was feeling discouraged, and just reviewed these posts and I have much hope again. Thanks a lot to those who took the time to respond and give advice! And I hope things are going well with all of you

Spin said:

Check out the link in my signature. It's definitely possible, and as always, it helps to kill the MCAT.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure that the GPAs in the grids include both undergrad and grad. So, someone who has a 3.0 GPA might have had a 2.9 undergrad and a 3.9 masters GPA (not checking the math here, but you get my drift). That's much different than someone with a solid 3.0 applying straight out of undergrad.

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Thanks!!! Will do

Naijaboiler said:

3.16 UGPA here. It is absolutely do-able. I have a few acceptances, all top-20 schools except my state school. Look at all your options, kill the MCAT, and go for it.

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That's awesome!! Congrats What was your scGPA and ur MCAT score, if u don't mind saying?

Spin said:

Glad I could help!

There is one other very important thing to do: APPLY EARLY. Very early. Submit your primary in June, and try to get all of your secondaries done quickly too (preferably before August, definitely by the end of August if you can, but better late than never). Interviews and acceptances are given out on a rolling basis, and you want to maximize your chances.

If you roam around on mdapplicants, it's very common to see applicants with "weak" statistics get accepted if they applied early; it's very common to see "perfect" applicants get rejected everywhere if they applied late.

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Oh thanks a lot for the tip!! I will definitely do that. I'm taking the MCAT towards end of may, so the score should come in towards end of June, but I plan on sending in my app quite early and hopeful the score comes in during the verification period so everything is on time.

MedInduced said:

Thought I'd jump in to give some more hope...2.8 science and 2.7 overall GPA after doing a 1 year informal post-bacc at ~3.8. Applied to 4 US MD schools, 1 reject pre-secondary, 1 I didn't do the secondary, 1 waitlist, 1 acceptance. It's definitely possible. Numbers aren't the only factor schools look at. Also had some DO love. First time applying, non-trad.

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that's awesome! Sounds like i'm similar to your situation. If you don't mind, I'd like to know the schools you applied to? We can private message if you want.

MediCynical said:

First time applying:
- 3.26 uGPA, 3.2 sGPA
- 31 MCAT (PS 12, VR 9, BS 10)
- 70 hours shadowing
- Week working at a mission in Mexico
- 10 days helping in New Orleans relief following Hurricane Katrina
- Summer as a lifeguard
- 4-year scholarship to undergrad for community service in high school

during the application cycle I started clinical volunteering, worked as a phlebotomist, got EMT-B certified


Skipped a year to do a SMP

Second time applying (the following things were new):
- Graduate (SMP) GPA: 3.89/4.0
- 33 MCAT (12, 8 13)
- 100 hours volunteering in ER
- 80 hours volunteering in small clinic
- 1100+ hours as phlebotomist at a plasma center
- EMT-B certified, 2 EMS annual conferences, worked 2 marathons as an EMT
- 1 year volunteer tutor for an 8th grader

during this application cycle I gained 3-4 months of clinical research experience, also got a job doing neuroscience research

I had 3 interviews (all MD), and 2 acceptances (including my 1st choice school, my state school)

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Wow!! That is hardcore, I would definitely want you as a future physician in this country. Which SMP did you do, as I'm really looking into them for a 1-yr fix to wipe my undergrad slate clean.

Phange said:

This is pretty much the same as me. Had a 3.2 undergraduate and a 3.76 Master's. Combined around 3.4-ish. 29Q MCAT.

Got in on my 5th application cycle. If you don't give up and you work harder each time, you have a chance.

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Thank u! That's very hopeful and I admire your determination. Congrats on being in med school this is also good for me to point out to my parents, who don't know how the system is here since they got their degrees outside of the country. they expect me to get in right away lol