3.8 post bacc gpa? what are my chances?

[emags118]

i am on the verge of completing my post bacc program with a 3.8 gpa and i am getting ready to take my mcats in april. my undergrad gpa was a 3.2, i started off very poorly with a 2.0 my first year and was able to pull off straight A's my junior and senior year of college to bring my overall gpa up to a 3.2. will my poor grades in the beginning of my college career hinder my chances of getting into medical school? I haven't gotten a grade below a B in about 4.5 years. will they look at that? or will all my grades weigh the same? any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I also have some clinical experience (working as a dental assistant for 2 years) as well as 10 years of unrelated work experience. I just want to know if i have a realistic chance of getting into medical school. thanks.

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[Catalystik]

AMCAS will calculate your undergrad work together with the postbac grades. What do you project your cGPA and BCPM GPA will be?

Some schools regard the overall GPA and some give less weight to the freshman year. Some give more weight to a steep upward trend. Due to the many obscure ways your academic record may be evaluated, you will need to apply broadly (lots of schools of variable selectivity, including perhaps, DO med schools). A strong MCAT score and high BCPM GPA will help even more schools overlook your low GPA.

Another component that can "trump" GPA, is ECs. Working as a dental assistant helps a lot if you apply to dental school, but less so for med schools. I believe that it will be looked at as clinical patient experience (as I'm sure some of them had pathology and could be considred "sick"), but you do not mention anything that tells me you've had medical environment experience where a physician is present (hospital, clinic, nursing home, hospice). Nor have you mentioned Physican Shadowing, another experience that most med schools expect to see on your application.

It would be a rare work experience that would not have some relevance to the medical profession.

Other components of a med school application that are often present are Leadership, Teaching, Hobbies, Research, Arts Involvement, Sports, and another essential: Community Service.

When you have a weakness in the application, the stronger the ECs, the more likely the weakness will be overlooked. If you don't have many of these elements, you are not ready to apply to med schools. I expect you do, but just didn't mention them yet.

 

[emags118]

ok that sounds good, im new at this so im not sure what cGPA stands for (im assuming cummulative). As far as shadowing a physician i have shadowed an oral surgeon and a regular dentist as well. i have experience as a group leader in a helping hands organization. i have lots of work exeprience as a supervisor and some sports.

so assuming i am right my cGPA may be around a 3.3 or 3.4. my science gpa may be a little bit higher since i majored in psychology and minored in business. i took most of my science classes as a post bacc. so im projecting my BCPM to be around a 3.4.

Thanks for the suggestions i will look to shadow a physician and continue to look for volunteer experiences that will enhance my application. also i was wondering how much shadowing/volunteer time would be suffice?

 

[Catalystik]

Thanks for the suggestions i will look to shadow a physician and continue to look for volunteer experiences that will enhance my application. also i was wondering how much shadowing/volunteer time would be suffice?

In regards to shadowing hours: there's a school in Florida that only expects 16 hours of shadowing. There are others that prefer 60-80 hours. Or none. The point is, that unless you know which is which, your goal is to have your application appeal to a range of schools. Shadowing is easy enough to do since it can be done in chunks of time over break. Pick a few types of specialists, ideally, at least one in primary care, and get enough hours in to give yourself the best chance of consideration wherever you apply. (I'd go for 60 minimum).

 

[emags118]

ok that sounds good, thanks for clearing everything up for me.

 

[Catalystik]

You're welcome. And yes, cGPA is cumulative GPA.