3.4 GPA in engineering, will I be at all competitive?

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noideawhattodowithmylife

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Hi,

I'm new to this whole thing but I've been thinking a lot lately about medicine. I'm in Biomedical engineering right now at a top tier school but I feel like my grades are too low to be even remotely competitive. 3.41 overall GPA, 3.40 sGPA.

I haven't taken the MCAT yet because I was leaning toward grad school. I do a lot of research and have 2 2nd author publications. I just started my junior year. I have some shadowing and volunteer experience but I'll definitely get more before I apply if I apply.

Help.

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I think the median accepted student has a GPA of 3.6, so just work hard this year and try to pad the GPA to get it to 3.50+ if you can. However, it's hard to know your chances without an MCAT score.
 
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I think that's around the average for DO schools!
 
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For MD, you're not competitive, but you're within the acceptable range.
 
Be prepared to apply to many schools to cast a wide net. I applied to a bunch and have four interviews and about ten rejections. My numbers are similar but I have a strong post bacc and MCAT score. It's a gamble!
 
With all due respect to people who have responded previously. The correct answer is, you have not given us enough information to answer the question. I had a 3.4. I interviewed at every top 10 USMD that I applied. Your GPA is one metric, one of the most important, but just one metric. You will not be screened out of any schools because of a 3.4. For starters, this discussion is completely useless without an MCAT score. Engineering major is great and all, but nobody on an admissions committee knows your academic abilities based on a single value (your GPA).

You will find that most of the lower GPA students had strong MCATs (35+) which largely negated the affect of having a lower than average GPA. That is your first step. The direction that you go and the options that you have open to you will largely be determined by that. If you are aiming for more than "just any USMD", then you are going to need (like everyone else) something else in your application. You have to stand out in some way. In general trying to 'pad' your GPA is pretty hard by the time you are a Junior and usually pretty transparent (and time consuming).
 
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