2.0 Undergraduate GPA. 4.0 SMP. 524 MCAT. Non-Trad.

[whyme02]

With those numbers, admissions is as likely as World War 3 happening in the next presidency (extremely low chance if Hillary, very likely if Trump). Point is it's a real gamble.

The LizzyM calculator says my score is really low, and that I should be aiming for international schools like Ross and SGU. Lol, I would rather not go to med school if that's my only realistic alternative.

A bit of background: I'm 28 years old and just finished an SMP. I have experience working in the pharmaceutical industry where I got to work along side scientists to assist in manufacturing therapeutic drugs. I also finished a masters program in Bioinformatics with a 3.8 GPA, in addition to studying like crazy for my MCAT while working full time. I'm not saying this to brag or show off, I know I'm not that impressive and there are several people who have done far greater things. I'm just trying to show that I'm obviously not that same clueless, misguided kid in college who loved to party too much.

The LizzyM score doesn't take all this into consideration.

So where can I apply in the US with a realistic chance of acceptance besides what LizzyM is telling me? Obviously based on my undergrad GPA, I'm only looking at DO schools and low tier MD school (with the exception of the place I did my SMP in).

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[Chromium Surfer]

@Goro and @GrapesofRath will be able to help. Although you should include a description of your EC's to help others advise you.

Best of Luck OP!

 

[Goro]

I am only basing this onb your stats. I will assume that you have the ECs to match these.

I suggest:

UCSF
Duke
Columbia
Vandy
Dartmouth
Case
BU
Hofstra
Your state school(s)
Gtown
Albany
Tulane
NYMC
Loyola
GWU
Mayo
Pitt
Tufts
Any DO program.

Don't even think about Carib diploma mills unless you want to be unemployed and deeply in debt.

With those numbers, admissions is as likely as World War 3 happening in the next presidency (extremely low chance if Hillary, very likely if Trump). Point is it's a real gamble.

The LizzyM calculator says my score is really low, and that I should be aiming for international schools like Ross and SGU. Lol, I would rather not go to med school if that's my only realistic alternative.

A bit of background: I'm 28 years old and just finished an SMP. I have experience working in the pharmaceutical industry where I got to work along side scientists to assist in manufacturing therapeutic drugs. I also finished a masters program in Bioinformatics with a 3.8 GPA, in addition to studying like crazy for my MCAT while working full time. I'm not saying this to brag or show off, I know I'm not that impressive and there are several people who have done far greater things. I'm just trying to show that I'm obviously not that same clueless, misguided kid in college who loved to party too much.

The LizzyM score doesn't take all this into consideration.

So where can I apply in the US with a realistic chance of acceptance besides what LizzyM is telling me? Obviously based on my undergrad GPA, I'm only looking at DO schools and low tier MD school (with the exception of the place I did my SMP in).

 

[GrapesofRath]

Your state school(s) and where you did your SMP are probably where your odds are best at. Very difficult to say beyond that. I would talk to your SMP advisors and see where grads from your program have had success with in previous years, there could be some viable schools to target from there

 

[gyngyn]

I want to know what SMP took you with that gpa!

 

[starspells]

I want to know what SMP took you with that gpa!

Tufts, Tulane and BU I know for a fact has. It is usually because they have demonstrated a trend of good grades prior to starting the SMP.

 

[starspells]

I like Goro's list, you should also add Wayne State.

 

[Chromium Surfer]

I want to know what SMP took you with that gpa!

His 3.8 in bioinformatics might have helped!

 

[starspells]

His 3.8 in bioinformatics might have helped!

Honestly having 2-3 years of good ug grades would have been good enough for the SMP so OP's situation isn't that surprising to me.

 

[gyngyn]

His 3.8 in bioinformatics might have helped!

Most places don't consider Master's degree grades when considering eligibility. That's why I'm dying to learn where this place is for the next applicant I see in these circumstances.

 

[gyngyn]

Honestly having 2-3 years of good ug grades would have been good enough for the SMP so OP's situation isn't that surprising to me.

He had a 2.0 undergrad gpa...

 

[starspells]

He had a 2.0 undergrad gpa...

Well I figure if the above schools can take people with 2.4-2.6 gpa ranges they would probably be willing to take someone with a 2.0 GPA...

Do you think OP will probably get in? Acing an SMP isn't easy and a 524 is above every school's 90th percentile. I think he's worth the risk.

 

[gyngyn]

Well I figure if the above schools can take people with 2.4-2.6 gpa ranges they would probably be willing to take someone with a 2.0 GPA...

Do you think the OP will probably get in? Acing an SMP isn't easy and a 524 is above every school's 90th percentile. I think he's worth the risk.

Very, very few matriculants have a gpa this low. Some mission-based schools may have a few. With this type of dissonance it is hard to know where he will find success. This is one of those cases in which all we can say is to apply to all your state schools and to as many others that take OOSers as possible. I agree with an application to all schools with which the SMP has had historical success.

 

[whyme02]

Very, very few matriculants have a gpa this low. Some mission-based schools may have a few. With this type of dissonance it is hard to know where he will find success. This is one of those cases in which all we can say is to apply to all your state schools and to as many others that take OOSers as possible. I agree with an application to all schools with which the SMP has had historical success.

The whole point of a special masters is for low gpa applicants. Also I had a decent MCAT score, good grades in some classes, and some strong ECs, great recommendations, and work experience. I'm not sure which factor did it for me in terms of acceptance, but probably one of those.

Yes, most like will aim only for DO and some VERY low MD schools. Applying to the list that was posted above is just insane. Columbia? Duke? UCSF? Tufts? Seriously people? Thats not a realistic list, those schools won't even look in my direction given my undergrad GPA.

 

[gyngyn]

The whole point of a special masters is for low gpa applicants. Also I had a decent MCAT score, good grades in some classes, and some strong ECs, great recommendations, and work experience. I'm not sure which factor did it for me in terms of acceptance, but probably one of those.

Yes, most like will aim only for DO and some VERY low MD schools. Applying to the list that was posted above is just insane. Columbia? Duke? UCSF? Tufts? Seriously people? Thats not a realistic list, those schools won't even look in my direction given my undergrad GPA.

There really is no way to know who might be interested in you with this type of dissonance. You just have to go for as many places as possible that take OOS applicants. Aiming only low is a poor strategy for a person with your MCAT.

Yes, SMP's are for low gpas's. I don't know of any that would accept somebody with a gpa this low, though. You can PM me if you are uncomfortable revealing in open forum. I would appreciate it.

 

[7331poas]

Well I figure if the above schools can take people with 2.4-2.6 gpa ranges they would probably be willing to take someone with a 2.0 GPA...

Do you think OP will probably get in? Acing an SMP isn't easy and a 524 is above every school's 90th percentile. I think he's worth the risk.

well if they were willing to tke someone with a 2.0 im sure they would take someone with a 1.6...

 

[whyme02]

There really is no way to know who might be interested in you with this type of dissonance. You just have to go for as many places as possible that take OOS applicants. Aiming only low is a poor strategy for a person with your MCAT.

Yes, SMP's are for low gpas's. I don't know of any that would accept somebody with a gpa this low, though. You can PM me if you are uncomfortable revealing in open forum. I would appreciate it.

I did an informal post-bac before applying to the SMP which I think helped. Also my MCAT, as I mentioned previously most likely helped.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Most places don't consider Master's degree grades when considering eligibility. That's why I'm dying to learn where this place is for the next applicant I see in these circumstances.

I can see it happening. SMP programs keep expanding and expanding and new opens keep opening up left and right. It's watered down the product. A number of them serve as de facto cash cows in many ways now where they have to accept people with very low stats simply to fill up their classes. I see 2.8/26 type apps get into reputable SMPs every year now(Boston U MAMs EVMS to name a few): these programs aren't naive they have to know the odds these people ever matriculate into an MD school are long. 2.0 might be lower than 2.8 but combine it with some of these other things OP listed and it doesn't surprise me some school talked them into saying yes to the OP.

The whole point of a special masters is for low gpa applicants. Also I had a decent MCAT score, good grades in some classes, and some strong ECs, great recommendations, and work experience. I'm not sure which factor did it for me in terms of acceptance, but probably one of those.

Yes, most like will aim only for DO and some VERY low MD schools. Applying to the list that was posted above is just insane. Columbia? Duke? UCSF? Tufts? Seriously people? Thats not a realistic list, those schools won't even look in my direction given my undergrad GPA.

The key thing here to realize for you specifically is "the lower the tier of the MD school does NOT equal the higher the chance of admission".

These VERY low MD schools you mentioned also interview very few people with an MCAT that's so much higher than their 90th percentile like this. Many of them perceive people with this kind of MCAT as low yield applicants for them. They often get so many apps they need a way to stratify applications quickly as well as efficiently and the MCAT is a good way to do this. In other words, they see the 524 and that alone might get you tagged as low yield.

So where does that leave you then? There is no good way of identifying schools most likely to be highest yield for you. So what you have to do is just apply broadly. I normally don't encourage just blindly throwing apps all across the board to 30+ schools or to apply to schools that probably aren't going to be high yield but Im not sure you have that much of a choice. You kind of have to just throw darts at a broad range of schools and see what sticks.

In addition to what I said above about your SMP and state schools I would look at schools that have SMP programs themselves(ie Boston U Cincinnati Tufts etc). These are the ones with experience taking on low GPA applicants and seeing how they are capable of turning things around and performing. It's alot easier to take on a very low GPA applicant when you have lots of direct experience of taking them on into your med school after an SMP in the past and seeing them succeed. Now 2.0 is going to be lower than what almost any of these have seen, but they still might be the ones most likely to overlook the 2.0.

 

[Lawpy]

With those numbers, admissions is as likely as World War 3 happening in the next presidency (extremely low chance if Hillary, very likely if Trump). Point is it's a real gamble.

The LizzyM calculator says my score is really low, and that I should be aiming for international schools like Ross and SGU. Lol, I would rather not go to med school if that's my only realistic alternative.

A bit of background: I'm 28 years old and just finished an SMP. I have experience working in the pharmaceutical industry where I got to work along side scientists to assist in manufacturing therapeutic drugs. I also finished a masters program in Bioinformatics with a 3.8 GPA, in addition to studying like crazy for my MCAT while working full time. I'm not saying this to brag or show off, I know I'm not that impressive and there are several people who have done far greater things. I'm just trying to show that I'm obviously not that same clueless, misguided kid in college who loved to party too much.

The LizzyM score doesn't take all this into consideration.

So where can I apply in the US with a realistic chance of acceptance besides what LizzyM is telling me? Obviously based on my undergrad GPA, I'm only looking at DO schools and low tier MD school (with the exception of the place I did my SMP in).

The most important question is: what was your GPA in the last two years of undergrad? Basically, we are looking for GPA trends here. And these are very important since someone with a 0.0 in first two years, and 4.0 in latter two presents a very different case than purely a 2.0 applicant.

 

[Akewataru]

The most important question is: what was your GPA in the last two years of undergrad? Basically, we are looking for GPA trends here. And these are very important since someone with a 0.0 in first two years, and 4.0 in latter two presents a very different case than purely a 2.0 applicant.

Let's say you spent more than the typical four years to complete your 1st undergrad degree due to "life happens" and a career in medicine wasn't a thought at the time so your performance was sub-par for applying to medicine school.
How does one "invent" their academic record in a situation like this? Is it a matter of time, number of credits, and grades distanced from prior poor performance? Obviously, a strong MCAT showing would be a given.

 

[starspells]

well if they were willing to tke someone with a 2.0 im sure they would take someone with a 1.6...

Probably more unlikely as most undergrads have a 2.0 GPA graduation requirement.

 

[Camelsarecool]

Jsjan

 

[doratomed]

I'm current a senior with biology BS ( graduate in May 2017). During my freshman year and sophomore year at IUB, i didn't know what i want. I had difficulties time transition from Vietnam (where I originally moved from) to US culture, and between high school to college on top of language barrier and i have to work my way through college. there were too many things happen at the same time, and it did reflect on my GPA (very low cGPA is 2.5 and major GPA is 2.1 (but i did retake some of the class and if i get change to do grade replacement then it would be 2.66 -not counting those bad grade i took for the first time but as a science major it would avg out both grades and that brought my GPA down) but i have always dream and passion to become a doctor that would able to help heal other people and make them feel better and its almost relate to my dad disease story too. i know that i would not get anywhere with my current GPA, and the one and only hope that i would able to attend medical school is post bacc or master program to prove the committee i can do it. there is a post bacc program up in Indy (MSMS through IUSM) offer to student with English as second language, i came from a very poor family, Education back home (Vietnam) is no where near what we have in US. But when i look at the admission requirement with a minimum of a 3.0 GPA, and my GPA isn’t any where close to that number. i need your advices on what i need to do to bring my GPA (both science and cumulative ) up to 3.0 or 3.1 to apply to this program? and how long this will take? and the DO replacement grade that you are talking about, i think i still get eliminate during the prescreen to apply to DO even if i get my sGPA up to 3.0 by the end of my senior year due to how my school calculate the major GPA with who all science students (they wouldn't do grade replacement and just avg it out). please give me some advice on what i need to do next? thank you so much.



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