3.8 gpa, 35 MCAT, WF

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Numba1Plumma

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I have a good gpa/MCAT, two publications, double major, but a WF at a community college from freshmen year.
Other activities are fairly decent
- help assistant coach a sports team
- volunteering
- leadership in an organization
- tutoring/taing
- solid research

I'm a California resident so...
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC San Fran
UC Los Angel
UC San Diego
USC

and I have relatives in Illinois so...
Northwestern
U of C
Loyola
Rush
Rosie

and for fun...
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
Columbia
etc.

My main concern is the WF; it hurts my gpa obviously, but my gpa is still solid, so shold I really be concerned about this WF that much? I got it at a community college, and my transcript from my undergrad doesn't even have it on there, but I'm submitting it to AMCAS nonetheless. Will those top tier schools screen me out b/c of the WF or will my gpa just take the hit and I may get a few questions about it in interviews. I have an explanation but unless asked, I wont really mention it :)

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If that 3.8 includes the WF, then I don't think you have much to worry about. Sure you might be asked what happened, but you more than redeemed it in every other way.

If you had a good reason for the failure, and have documentation, did you consider petitioning the CC to convert the grade to a W?
 
I think your "for fun" schools are real long-shots, but I think you have a good chance at getting into a California school (but probably not SF) or maybe one of the IL schools.
 
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I think WF = withdraw/fail (0.0).

At first, I thought OP was giving her sociodemographic stats.
 
Yeah, the 3.8 is after I calculate with theWF. Without it I have a 3.9. I just don't want to be screened out bc of the F on the transcript. Also, should I just not mention it and just wait til I get asked about it or mention it in the secondaries?
 
Yeah, the 3.8 is after I calculate with theWF. Without it I have a 3.9. I just don't want to be screened out bc of the F on the transcript. Also, should I just not mention it and just wait til I get asked about it or mention it in the secondaries?
Personally, I don't believe in highlighting one's mistakes and making excuses before they are asked of me. I think you should just apply and let it be until asked. Also, I've never heard of a single school screening based on grade by grade, only for overall (science overall) GPA ranges.
 
If you have a 3.8, a WF from your freshman year is not going to affect your chances of getting into medical school. That's probably the best way to put it. You'd be more likely to be affected by what color your dog was.

The most important thing to focus on at this point is getting your apps taken care of ASAP. Prepare that junk EARLY! It's like having two shots at getting in - one shot with all the other early apps, and then another shot when they've finally got an idea of who all is applying. I'd like to see stats on early apps vs. later apps rather than GPA. There's tons of stats out there, but a lot of them actually point to tons of different things, and are mostly applicable to your "average applicant".
 
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