3.6 GPA and midtier schools

[Walter Raleigh]

Is a 3.6 GPA too low to be competitive at midtier schools like Keck or Einstein, given average ECs (100 hours of nonclinical volunteering, 600 hours of clinical volunteering, and 1,000 hours of research with four poster presentations) and a 519 MCAT? I've heard that one had no real business applying to schools where one's GPA was below the 25th percentile without insane ECs like military service or Peace Corps. @Goro, @LizzyM, any comments?

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[gyngyn]

It should be fine.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

@gyngyn: you sit on an admissions committee at a top-20 medical school, no? How would this guy be seen at your school?

 

[gyngyn]

How would this guy be seen at your school?

It would depend on the totality of the application.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

But his GPA wouldn't be immediately lethal, barring something extraordinary like a Silver Star earned in Afghanistan as a combat medic or three years playing football for the New England Patriots. It'd be a handicap, but not insurmountable, no?

 

[gyngyn]

But his GPA wouldn't be immediately lethal, barring something extraordinary like a Silver Star earned in Afghanistan as a combat medic or three years playing football for the New England Patriots. It'd be a handicap, but not insurmountable, no?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Goro]

Is a 3.6 GPA too low to be competitive at midtier schools like Keck or Einstein, given average ECs (100 hours of nonclinical volunteering, 600 hours of clinical volunteering, and 1,000 hours of research with four poster presentations) and a 519 MCAT? I've heard that one had no real business applying to schools where one's GPA was below the 25th percentile without insane ECs like military service or Peace Corps. @Goro, @LizzyM, any comments?

Dude, look at MSAR. Einstein's 25th %ile is 3.7 and 3.54 for 10th for acceptees. Hofstra has identical numbers; at Keck 3.65 for 25th and 3.47 for 10th. They go slightly lower for matriculants.

Your app would be fine.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

What about at the likes of Harvard? I thought a 12th-percentile GPA was usually a pretty strong handicap, if not lethal, without unusually strong ECs.

 

[gyngyn]

What about at the likes of Harvard? I thought a 12th-percentile GPA was usually a pretty strong handicap, if not lethal, without unusually strong ECs.

Let it go.

 

[907914]

But his GPA wouldn't be immediately lethal, barring something extraordinary like a Silver Star earned in Afghanistan as a combat medic or three years playing football for the New England Patriots. It'd be a handicap, but not insurmountable, no?

You don't even need any of that fancy schmancy. I am a 3.65/521 and my miltary service is limited to being a lab tech in the reserves with average or slightly above average everything else (research, volunteering, etc). And all of these adcoms you are pressuring to give you a hypothetical on some superstar imaginary person have told me I am good for Harvard, Stanford, WashU, etc. etc. and I will barely even be applying to any of those mid tier types due to ADCOM advice.


You don't need to be some super star hot shot and these hypotheticals really just serve to make paranoid students feel even more inadequate.

 

[907914]

below the 25th percentile without insane ECs like military service or Peace Corps.

Think of it like this: Every school will have 25% of their applicants below their 25th% no? So what is 25% of all matriculants, like 5,500. You only care about T20 schools, so we will only use 1/8th (T20/all 160 schools = 1/8) of that 25%. That leaves 687.5 applicants that are accepted as <25% at T20s.

There are around 650 total applicants every year who have ANY military service. Even with fantastic ECs, a T20 won't consider them without (lets set the bar low) a 510 MCAT, so 80% of them aren't even considered. So now we have only 130 'qualified' candidates to meet your description. And this is just ANY military service.

Let's say ALL of them fill a T20 slot. Well look at that, who is going to fill the remaining 557 seats? Every day joes who are less than the 25th%. You are osyching yourself out and doing hypothetical situations that are of absolutely no value. I used the military numbers because the number of Peacecorps, americorps, teach for America etc. is far lower than the military number.

 

[Goro]

But his GPA wouldn't be immediately lethal, barring something extraordinary like a Silver Star earned in Afghanistan as a combat medic or three years playing football for the New England Patriots. It'd be a handicap, but not insurmountable, no?

I can see why you got rejected. It had nothing to do with your stats.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Was it the low (100 hours) nonclinical volunteering? Excessive premed neuroticism? For a gap year: would something like Americorps or Jesuit Volunteer Corps help, @Goro?

 

[Skeletorr]

would something like Americorps or Jesuit Volunteer Corps help, @Goro?

Read that again, but very slowly

 

[907914]

Was it the low (100 hours) nonclinical volunteering? Excessive premed neuroticism? For a gap year: would something like Americorps or Jesuit Volunteer Corps help, @Goro?

Bro, it’s you! It’s not anything that you have done or have not done - it is you. You are focusing so much on what can you do to improve my application as opposed to what can you do to improve yourself. All of your posts and your entire post history has been about your application and what can you do in some extreme parallel universe to make your chances 100%. You didn’t get in this cycle and you had a few post interview rejections. I’m going to guess it’s because it’s you. Be introspective and reflect on the fact that you are so focused on trying to impress. Why are you so focused on trying to impress? What have you done to make yourself so neurotic? I’m guessing that the fact that is what you focus on Solely in your posts that you’re also coming across this way in person. And in your writing. Great extracurriculars and good stats do not make up for just being an irrational and irritable person.

Note* And this is coming from another Neurotic daily SDN poster who was worried his cat may interfere with his application. Just chill.

 

[Goro]

Bro, it’s you! It’s not anything that you have done or have not done - it is you. You are focusing so much on what can you do to improve my application as opposed to what can you do to improve yourself. All of your posts and your entire post history has been about your application and what can you do in some extreme parallel universe to make your chances 100%. You didn’t get in this cycle and you had a few post interview rejections. I’m going to guess it’s because it’s you. Be introspective and reflect on the fact that you are so focused on trying to impress. Why are you so focused on trying to impress? What have you done to make yourself so neurotic? I’m guessing that the fact that is what you focus on Solely in your posts that you’re also coming across this way in person. And in your writing. Great extracurriculars and good stats do not make up for just being an irrational and irritable person.

Note* And this is coming from another Neurotic daily SDN poster who was worried his cat may interfere with his application. Just chill.

The fetish with "killer ECs" has me wondering about the personality, and how that comes across both in apps and at interviews.

 

[907914]

The fetish with "killer ECs" has me wondering about the personality, and how that comes across both in apps and at interviews.

He seems to fail to recognize that people who have killer Extracurriculars didn’t do those extracurriculars because they wanted to better their med school application. People who have genuine phenomenal experiences are probably just phenomenal people.

 

[EasyEveryoneWouldDoIt]

out of curiosity why do you want to go to medical school? what is your motivation and passion for it is.

 

[The Deep]

My advice is to do something in your gap year that you want to do. That activity should be a reflection of your inner character. The “top tier” activities you are talking about are “top tier” because It is unlikely to find many people who can make that large of a commitment just to patent their application. If you’ve always wanted to help orphans, go volunteer with orphans and gain an unforgettable experience. If you’ve always wanted to work with poor communities that have multiple families living in a one-room apartment together, then do it! If you don’t think you can make a volunteer commitment, then focus on something you will really enjoy and benefit from, such as research or working in a hospital.