3.3 cgpa, good ECs?

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vballdoc8

vballdoc8

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Currently I have. 3.3 overall gpa and a 3.4science gpa. I'm the president of the chemistry club at my university and an undergraduate research assistant in the department of biology. I am a biology and chemistry double major with a minor in spanish. I have a lot of volunteer hours, I play club and intramural sports and I am working on getting a nonprofit up and running to support a local garden in my community to provide healthy food at an affordable (free) price to families that can't afford otherwise. I haven't taken the MCAT but I am predicted to get a 30-33 on it. I've always dreamed of being a doctor, but I've shyed away from the idea because of my low GPA. Anyone have any advice? I'm working on bettering my GPA now as I am entering my junior year of college. I'm also trying to get involved in a research project at my local hospital/medical school. Thanks 🙂
 
also my dream school is georgetown so I would like to know if that was realistic. I'm also an active member of my schools autism society and have volunteered with the special Olympics for 8 years and hold a part time job. Thanks again!!!!
 
Georgetown would be a stretch with that GPA, but you still have two years to improve.
Assuming a 30-33 MCAT, you will a competitive DO applicant, at the very least.
You'll be fine! Just keep working hard.
 
What makes you predict an 80-90th percentile MCAT? Is that based on a few practice exams?
 
What about shadowing and clinical experience? Georgetown receives thousands of applications each year. Your GPAs are well below average for MD schools. Georgetown is Mission driven like all Jesuit schools. So your garden project will be a good thing on your app. Keep at it. If I were you I'd plan on taking a gap year or two. That way you will be able to work hard the next two years and bring that GPA up. See where you are when you graduate GPA wise and consider if you need a DYI post bac. Don't be in a rush!
 
Ace everything from now on. Rising trends are viewed favorably
Consider a post-bac/SMP, and ace that
Ace the MCAT
Retake any F/D/C science coursework and consider DO schools

If you are a resident of a "lucky" state like KS, LA or FL, you might not be in such a deep hole as you think you are.

But keep in mind that the median GPA for MD matriculants is 3.7 (~3.4+ for DO).

Invest in MSAT Online and target schools whose median stats are closest to your own. Pay careful attention to the Acceptance Information page.

And for God's sake, don't pick something superficial as a subject for your "greatest challenge" essay on secondaries!



vballdoc8 said:
Currently I have. 3.3 overall gpa and a 3.4science gpa. I'm the president of the chemistry club at my university and an undergraduate research assistant in the department of biology. I am a biology and chemistry double major with a minor in spanish. I have a lot of volunteer hours, I play club and intramural sports and I am working on getting a nonprofit up and running to support a local garden in my community to provide healthy food at an affordable (free) price to families that can't afford otherwise. I haven't taken the MCAT but I am predicted to get a 30-33 on it. I've always dreamed of being a doctor, but I've shyed away from the idea because of my low GPA. Anyone have any advice? I'm working on bettering my GPA now as I am entering my junior year of college. I'm also trying to get involved in a research project at my local hospital/medical school. Thanks 🙂
Click to expand...
 
Graduate with a 3.5+ GPA and have an 85th+ percentile on the MCAT and you'll be in solid shape to be competitive.

Your GPA should be your focus at all costs these next two years. 3.7+ over those next two years has to be the goal.
 
efle said:
What makes you predict an 80-90th percentile MCAT? Is that based on a few practice exams?
Click to expand...

My advisor has a program with difficult assorted MCAT prep questions and coupled the results from those with my GPA, my SATs, and my specific course grades to determine the numbers 🙂
 
vballdoc8 said:
My advisor has a program with difficult assorted MCAT prep questions and coupled the results from those with my GPA, my SATs, and my specific course grades to determine the numbers 🙂
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did they tell you a confidence interval or r^2 to actual score? I'd be very wary of anything other than full length AAMC practice tests as a good indicator. When are you scheduled to test?
 
vballdoc8 said:
My advisor has a program with difficult assorted MCAT prep questions and coupled the results from those with my GPA, my SATs, and my specific course grades to determine the numbers 🙂
Click to expand...
Wow, I've never seen such an equation. Can you give us an idea of how it was developed and validated? Anything published?
 
gyngyn said:
TX admits 36.6% of her IS applicants.
The states I listed are in the 39 to 55 range. There are a few more: MS and
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That's surprising. I was under the impression that other states are very hesitant to interview Tx applicants due to the high in-state matriculation.
 
ZedsDed said:
That's surprising. I was under the impression that other states are very hesitant to interview Tx applicants due to the high in-state matriculation.
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We don't.
These are the percentages of IS applicants that matriculate IS.
In other words, the states in which your residency is an independent benefit.
 
gyngyn said:
We don't.
These are the percentages of IS applicants that matriculate IS.
In other words, the states in which your residency is an independent benefit.
Click to expand...
Ah, I see.
 
gyngyn said:
The only states where applicants are less likely to leave than TX are MS and Puerto Rico!
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For the tuition Tx med students pay can you blame them?! How can the Ca schools compete with that?!
 
ZedsDed said:
For the tuition Tx med students pay can you blame them?! How can the Ca schools compete with that?!
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I absolutely don't blame them. That's why so few of them are interviewed, though. Unless we have the cash they are going to stay in TX. The only ones that are eligible for recruitment are the very top students. This is why normal TX students have nothing to gain by applying OOS MD.
 
ZedsDed said:
That's surprising. I was under the impression that other states are very hesitant to interview Tx applicants due to the high in-state matriculation.
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I'd still say TX wins, because the insanely low tuition > a few higher percent accept
 
Instate interview rate: 10%
Out of state rate: 4%

or is that just because Californian students are 2.5x as awesome/competitive as the rest of the country?!
 
vballdoc8 said:
My advisor has a program with difficult assorted MCAT prep questions and coupled the results from those with my GPA, my SATs, and my specific course grades to determine the numbers 🙂
Click to expand...

I am extremely wary of this equation. Thats all I am going to say for now.
 
Gandy741 said:
I am extremely wary of this equation. Thats all I am going to say for now.
Click to expand...
Well, I could see SAT CR correlating pretty well with Verbal, and prep questions are basically the same as practice exams if they're passage based. But nothing can really compete with the real deal AAMC tests
 
efle said:
Instate interview rate: 10%
Out of state rate: 4%

or is that just because Californian students are 2.5x as awesome/competitive as the rest of the country?!
Click to expand...
I would say it's probably because UCSF (along with all of the other UCs) get flooded with all of the Ca applicants who think "well, I might as well apply to all of them." Trust me, all of us apply to all of the Ca schools. Always.
 
efle said:
Instate interview rate: 10%
Out of state rate: 4%

or is that just because Californian students are 2.5x as awesome/competitive as the rest of the country?!
Click to expand...
You will see similar rates at most of the CA schools.
And yes, we have the largest, best qualified pool in the nation, possibly the world.
Our public universities are better than most other states' private schools.

The kids we send out of state for medical school have better stats that the kids that stay IS in the rest of the nation.

Even Loma Linda, a private, very mission-based school takes almost half its class from CA, even though its flagship undergrad is very far away.
 
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efle said:
Well, I could see SAT CR correlating pretty well with Verbal, and prep questions are basically the same as practice exams if they're passage based. But nothing can really compete with the real deal AAMC tests
Click to expand...

I have so many friends that did extremely well on both the new and old SAT and the ACT, but couldnt get break a 30 on the MCAT.

MCAT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> all other standardized tests (except medical school ones). This equation seems like one of the most ridiculous extrapolated pieces of mathematics I've ever heard of.

Edit: Whats more, I think we talked about in the other thread of how there are many applicants with a 3.8+ that cant break a 30.

I got a 98 percentile score on the ACT with very bare minimum studying. I studied for 3 hardcore months using sn2 schedule and everything to get a 73rd percentile MCAT score.
 
ZedsDed said:
I would say it's probably because UCSF (along with all of the other UCs) get flooded with all of the Ca applicants who think "well, I might as well apply to all of them." Trust me, all of us apply to all of the Ca schools. Always.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't that make for the reverse situation where the Cali apps include a lot of reach applicants and are weaker overall?


gyngyn said:
You will see similar rates at most of the CA schools.
And yes, we have the largest, best qualified pool in the nation, possibly the world.
Our public universities are better than most other states' private schools.

The kids we send out of state for medical school have better stats that the kids that stay IS in the rest of the nation.
Click to expand...
Oh **** gyngyn look at that CA pride! Damn right we're the best state in yet another way!
 
Gandy741 said:
I have so many friends that did extremely well on both the new and old SAT and the ACT, but couldnt get break a 30 on the MCAT.

MCAT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> all other standardized tests (except medical school ones). This equation seems like one of the most ridiculous extrapolated pieces of mathematics I've ever heard of.

Edit: Whats more, I think we talked about in the other thread of how there are many applicants with a 3.8+ that cant break a 30.

I got a 98 percentile score on the ACT with very bare minimum studying. I studied for 3 hardcore months using sn2 schedule and everything to get a 73rd percentile MCAT score.
Click to expand...
It sure would be awesome if there was some validation of the formula though! Save a lot of neurotic stressing if you could confidently predict an MD-competitive score before even starting practice tests

I don't think I know enough people's SAT/ACT scores to have any useful anecdotes :/ only other person I know was a roommate with a 35 and 39, so he just kills tests period
 
efle said:
It sure would be awesome if there was some validation of the formula though! Save a lot of neurotic stressing if you could confidently predict an MD-competitive score before even starting practice tests

I don't think I know enough people's SAT/ACT scores to have any useful anecdotes :/ only other person I know was a roommate with a 35 and 39, so he just kills tests period
Click to expand...

What is your personal opinion on a reasonable cutoff for an MD competitive score? Assuming we are talking about low tier medical schools WITHOUT specific missions like HBCU's, accept only In staters, and so forth.
 
Gandy741 said:
I have so many friends that did extremely well on both the new and old SAT and the ACT, but couldnt get break a 30 on the MCAT.

MCAT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> all other standardized tests (except medical school ones). This equation seems like one of the most ridiculous extrapolated pieces of mathematics I've ever heard of.

Edit: Whats more, I think we talked about in the other thread of how there are many applicants with a 3.8+ that cant break a 30.

I got a 98 percentile score on the ACT with very bare minimum studying. I studied for 3 hardcore months using sn2 schedule and everything to get a 73rd percentile MCAT score.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. I find it amusing that they even think they can create an equation to accurately predict MCAT score...like seriously there are so many factors involve in the preparation process (how long you plan to study, how good you are at speed reading, logical/critical thinking, decoding old/strange literature, how much effort you're putting in each day, how many pre-reqs you have taken, etc.) OP seriously until you take the MCAT and has a score don't get your hopes up. Keep working hard.
 
Gandy741 said:
What is your personal opinion on a reasonable cutoff for an MD competitive score? Assuming we are talking about low tier medical schools WITHOUT specific missions like HBCU's, accept only In staters, and so forth.
Click to expand...
Well, the lowest stat schools I see that aren't super heavily instate or mission-based have medians of 30, so that'd be my guess. I think that's what Goro uses as the example solid score, a 10/10/10. If you're in a good state, URM, low SES, lots of research, superb GPA, Ivy undergrad etc then the cutoff gets kinder though. But a CA white bio major with cookie cutter everything probably can't feel too good with below a 30
 
efle said:
Well, the lowest stat schools I see that aren't super heavily instate or mission-based have medians of 30, so that'd be my guess. I think that's what Goro uses as the example solid score, a 10/10/10. If you're in a good state, URM, low SES, lots of research, superb GPA, Ivy undergrad etc then the cutoff gets kinder though. But a CA white bio major with cookie cutter everything probably can't feel too good with below a 30
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I almost had this! Doing physics problems without a calculator took it away!
 
efle said:
Didn't you have no calculator for ACT/SAT math?
Click to expand...

Yea, but I actually took a lot of math in high school so the math on the ACT at the time was a complete joke.

Took absolutely no math classes in undergrad. Its amazing how badly your math skills can deteriorate.

Always had a calculator in gen chem, physics and every other class in college!
 
Gandy741 said:
Always had a calculator in gen chem, physics and every other class in college!
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Yeah same, I was surprised with the MCAT2015 they didn't take emphasis off of the mental number crunching, unless doctors have to do that stuff a lot
 
efle said:
Yeah same, I was surprised with the MCAT2015 they didn't take emphasis off of the mental number crunching, unless doctors have to do that stuff a lot
Click to expand...

Alas I will be using a calculator!

I'm hoping my EC's and GPA overshadow my 9 in PS.
 
Gandy741 said:
I am extremely wary of this equation. Thats all I am going to say for now.
Click to expand...

Honestly I am too, but all of my friends that have graduated and are currently in med school went to the same advisor with the same equation or system of judgement and they all either matched of exceeded the prediction. I'm not sure exactly what she does, but she definitely knows something about the system most of us don't
 
vballdoc8 said:
Honestly I am too, but all of my friends that have graduated and are currently in med school went to the same advisor with the same equation or system of judgement and they all either matched of exceeded the prediction. I'm not sure exactly what she does, but she definitely knows something about the system most of us don't
Click to expand...
Whoa this is like one adviser's personal thing? Quite the powerful tool. Should ask her if she'd share it with the SDN community
 
vballdoc8 said:
Honestly I am too, but all of my friends that have graduated and are currently in med school went to the same advisor with the same equation or system of judgement and they all either matched of exceeded the prediction. I'm not sure exactly what she does, but she definitely knows something about the system most of us don't
Click to expand...

Post it!

Edit: Actually she may be very hesitant to post her formula on SDN.
 
Gandy741 said:
Post it!

Edit: Actually she may be very hesitant to post her formula on SDN.
Click to expand...

I wish I had it! But she doesn't even let us see her formulas or whatever means she uses to develop her predictions.
 
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