3.88 GPA with no experience

[Farrah]

I have a friend of mine who is refusing to do anything extracurricular or anything clinical or anything to do with research. All that she does is focus on nothing but school. I know that is a good thing but...she thinks that she will get into med school without any problems whatsoever. She thinks it will be a cakewalk for her. And with her wonderful grades and mcat and urm status who would reject her.

I told her to participate in stuff and she said she might do a thing or two but not much of anything. Do you think she will get in if she sticks to this plan? Do they just accept them b/cause of their possibility to succeed in med school?

I devote hours and hours doing volunteering, research, clinical work and extra curriculars. of course my gpa is average and definitely not a 3.9 but all her talk of gpa gpa gpa is making me feel that i need to apply next year because my gpa isn't competitive enough for med school.

I was wondering how do med schools react to candidates like this?

I was reading an earlier post in another thread about some urm who had a 3.5 gpa and no experience and she got into a top 10 school? WTF? but i did hear about one african-american girl who got rejected from a state school b/cause she had no experience despite her 3.9 gpa. I am surprised a top school accepted one with a 3.5 and no experience.

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[Eraserhead]

Originally posted by Farrah
I have a friend of mine who is refusing to do anything extracurricular or anything clinical or anything to do with research. All that she does is focus on nothing but school. I know that is a good thing but...she thinks that she will get into med school without any problems whatsoever. She thinks it will be a cakewalk for her. And with her wonderful grades and mcat and urm status who would reject her.

I told her to participate in stuff and she said she might do a thing or two but not much of anything. Do you think she will get in if she sticks to this plan? Do they just accept them b/cause of their possibility to succeed in med school?

I devote hours and hours doing volunteering, research, clinical work and extra curriculars. of course my gpa is average and definitely not a 3.9 but all her talk of gpa gpa gpa is making me feel that i need to apply next year because my gpa isn't competitive enough for med school.

I was wondering how do med schools react to candidates like this?

I was reading an earlier post in another thread about some urm who had a 3.5 gpa and no experience and she got into a top 10 school? WTF? but i did hear about one african-american girl who got rejected from a state school b/cause she had no experience despite her 3.9 gpa. I am surprised a top school accepted one with a 3.5 and no experience.

To be honest, in her case I think she just needs SOMETHING to list, it probably doesn't matter what. A blank post-secondary activities section would probably make it really, really tough. Some volunteer experience and/or leadership experience and/or research experience should do it if she's a URM with a great GPA and MCAT she'll be golden for getting into a school (maybe not the best ones). When is she applying? I'd try to convince her to wait till next year and at the very least get some clinical experience.

 

[pjr28]

If your friend scores high on the mcat, then she will probably get interviews at some of the schools that are "number ******" (I won't mention any names), but once the interview comes around and they ask her why she wants to be a doctor and what experiences has she had to back it up, she will have no response. At that point they will reject her. She definitely needs at least some clinical exposure and maybe some research if she want to stand a chance. That's just my $.02

 

[Eraserhead]

Originally posted by pjr28
If your friend scores high on the mcat, then she will probably get interviews at some of the schools that are "number ******" (I won't mention any names), but once the interview comes around and they ask her why she wants to be a doctor and what experiences has she had to back it up, she will have no response. At that point they will reject her. She definitely needs at least some clinical exposure and maybe some research if she want to stand a chance. That's just my $.02

Yay for choosing Harvard over Cornell! Give us peons a chance!

 

[meanderson]

I think she is going to have to make an attempt to at least frame her application in a certain way. Suppose she has a 3.9 gpa and scores 29 on the mcat. With her urm status, she's going to have her pick of schools(including some highly ranked schools) and she knows it. But it's going to raise a huge red flag if her EC section is totally blank. What she needs to do is do some very trivial volunteering/health related activities and jazz them up a tad without outright lying. Med school adcoms will be able to see that her EC's are practically worthless, but they will at least know she is trying to 'play the game' and isn't so arrogant to think she can simply list nothing and get in. But if she manages to do at least that much, she's going to get in to some good schools without any problems. The number of URM >3.6/>28 combo's is extremely small, and medical schools are fighting amongst themselves for each one.

 

[jlee9531]

Originally posted by pjr28
If your friend scores high on the mcat, then she will probably get interviews at some of the schools that are "number ******" (I won't mention any names), but once the interview comes around and they ask her why she wants to be a doctor and what experiences has she had to back it up, she will have no response. At that point they will reject her. She definitely needs at least some clinical exposure and maybe some research if she want to stand a chance. That's just my $.02

they will see what your friend is about and thus waitlist or reject her. who would want someone that hasnt even gone in to volunteer and help someone?

i mean a blank ECs page? pretty bad. plus no ECs means no LORs outside of school. Let her do it her way. Hopefully when no schools come knocking on her door, she will realize she was foolish to think grades alone will lead to acceptances.

 

[gildas]

I spoke to an Adcom member from UofA med school yesterday, and he insisted to have a consistant clinical experience, for it counts alot to distingush mature and skillful applicant.

 

[Farrah]

it does get on my nerves when applicants like this go out and do a few token activities and list them and get in because they've done so great with grades.

med school should really be about balance and someone who doesn't work, and doesn't participate in anything is obviously going to have a grade advantage over people who actually try to get a balance of everything.

 

[jlee9531]

Originally posted by Farrah
it does get on my nerves when applicants like this go out and do a few token activities and list them and get in because they've done so great with grades.

med school should really be about balance and someone who doesn't work, and doesn't participate in anything is obviously going to have a grade advantage over people who actually try to get a balance of everything.

most do feel its about balance...thats why most students without it dont get in.

edit* have some faith farrah.

 

[Delphium]

What a jive turkey! Let her apply without anything and get rejected!

 

[TheRussian]

As someone with a similar gpa and good MCAT scores as well as a number of significant ECs I have only been accepted to a a number of my backup schools. If she doesn't care what school she goes to then perhaps she'll do fine. Otherwise she needs to get her act together and go have a life changing experience or something of the sort.

By the way, what the hell is a urm?

 

[Eraserhead]

Originally posted by TheRussian

By the way, what the hell is a urm?

hahaha! underepresented minority.

 

[mikeyboy]

Man...I have about the same GPA as her and a pretty high MCAT and I'm having trouble getting in. Of course I'm not a urm...but I find it hard to believe that more than 1 of the top 10 schools would interview someone without any extracurriculars at all. Of course I'm sure that by applying to enough schools she can get in just because that school's committee really wants to get the urm applicants.

 

[Luthertaketwo]

She could have killed her parents when she was twelve and still get into med school with no ECs.

 

[johnnyMD]

YES!!! luther chimes in with her insight!!

 

[Eraserhead]

Originally posted by Luthertaketwo
She could have killed her parents when she was twelve and still get into med school with no ECs.

hehe, something about that seems illogical to me.

 

[freesolo]

my freind has a 4.0 at my state school, 0 Ecs, and 0 clinical experience, and probably will get into our state school too. hes a urm, i didnt believe him at first, but he turned out to be 1/16 cherokee =o. I dont know how someone studying all the time like he does is any better than active people with a 3.7 gpa. He is literally in his room all day, no other activities. Who wouldnt get a 4.0? Maybe i'm just jealous ;D.

 

[Luthertaketwo]

Originally posted by Abe
my freind has a 4.0 at my state school, 0 Ecs, and 0 clinical experience, and probably will get into our state school too. hes a urm, i didnt believe him at first, but he turned out to be 1/16 cherokee =o. I dont know how someone studying all the time like he does is any better than active people with a 3.7 gpa. He is literally in his room all day, no other activities. Who wouldnt get a 4.0? Maybe i'm just jealous ;D.

You need to be 1/4 to get any benefit in admissions. I think it's funny that Native Americans have like a USDA % for blood. It's really funny that 1/2342341441 black counts as black. Here's a tip: when you have children, just say they are black. They have to put it on the birth certificate, and then your children can benefit from this joke of a country's racist policies. Having black on your BC is the only requirement for being considered "black."

 

[jlee9531]

Originally posted by Abe
my freind has a 4.0 at my state school, 0 Ecs, and 0 clinical experience, and probably will get into our state school too. hes a urm, i didnt believe him at first, but he turned out to be 1/16 cherokee =o. I dont know how someone studying all the time like he does is any better than active people with a 3.7 gpa. He is literally in his room all day, no other activities. Who wouldnt get a 4.0? Maybe i'm just jealous ;D.

i dunno. im glad to know that your friend hasnt gotten in yet.

 

[TheRussian]

Originally posted by Eraserhead
hahaha! underepresented minority.

This is of topic but I guess I'm not familar with SDN lingo. I'm just curious what counts as URM?

Does Russian Jew? *crosses fingers*

 

[Eraserhead]

Originally posted by TheRussian
This is of topic but I guess I'm not familar with SDN lingo. I'm just curious what counts as URM?

Does Russian Jew? *crosses fingers*

lmao

 

[TheRussian]

Originally posted by Eraserhead
lmao

You kids...

Is lmao code for no effing way?

 

[jlee9531]

Originally posted by TheRussian
You kids...

Is lmao code for no effing way?

no no...

it means
laughing my ass off

it was just funny how you crossed your fingers as you asked that question .

 

[Eraserhead]

Originally posted by jlee9531
no no...

it means
laughing my ass off

it was just funny how you crossed your fingers as you asked that question .

you could interpret is as no effing way yes.

 

[TheRussian]

Originally posted by jlee9531
no no...

it means
laughing my ass off

it was just funny how you crossed your fingers as you asked that question .

I'm on a roll. I learned about two abreviations today. AND I figured out what bump was all by myself.
Are you proud of me?

What is this thread about again?

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by Farrah
I have a friend of mine who is refusing to do anything extracurricular or anything clinical or anything to do with research. All that she does is focus on nothing but school. I know that is a good thing but...she thinks that she will get into med school without any problems whatsoever. She thinks it will be a cakewalk for her. And with her wonderful grades and mcat and urm status who would reject her.

I told her to participate in stuff and she said she might do a thing or two but not much of anything. Do you think she will get in if she sticks to this plan? Do they just accept them b/cause of their possibility to succeed in med school?

I devote hours and hours doing volunteering, research, clinical work and extra curriculars. of course my gpa is average and definitely not a 3.9 but all her talk of gpa gpa gpa is making me feel that i need to apply next year because my gpa isn't competitive enough for med school.

I was wondering how do med schools react to candidates like this?

I was reading an earlier post in another thread about some urm who had a 3.5 gpa and no experience and she got into a top 10 school? WTF? but i did hear about one african-american girl who got rejected from a state school b/cause she had no experience despite her 3.9 gpa. I am surprised a top school accepted one with a 3.5 and no experience.

She's going to get in everywhere, so dont worry about her. She'll be OK in med schools admissions even without ECs/good LORs, but residency will not nearly so kind in that regard, or so Im told.

The fact is, GPA matters for crap in admissions once you read a certain threshold. It varies so much between schools due to inflation that I think adcoms just look for a range. The real numbers game is played with the MCAT, the only standard barometer adcoms have.

So dont worry about your GPA, as long as it reflects good coursework (A's and B's) you will be fine, especially because you have done so much outside of class. Just do well on the MCAT, and you'll be fine. Good luck, and don't worry about her-- her attitude will catch up with her, maybe not in med school admissions, but definitely afterwards.

 

[jlee9531]

smartasses with no ECs will hopefully get screwed in med school admissions

 

[gary5]

Adcoms say that they want well rounded people, but in reality, numbers are the major factor. So, your friend may do just fine. She'd do better with some clinical experience, but she may get by without it, especially if she BS's well.

 

[jlee9531]

Originally posted by gary5
Adcoms say that they want well rounded people, but in reality, numbers are the major factor. So, your friend may do just fine. She'd do better with some clinical experience, but she may get by without it, especially if she BS's well.

you cant really BS having no ECs.

 

[fun8stuff]

Originally posted by mikeyboy
Man...I have about the same GPA as her and a pretty high MCAT and I'm having trouble getting in. Of course I'm not a urm...but I find it hard to believe that more than 1 of the top 10 schools would interview someone without any extracurriculars at all. Of course I'm sure that by applying to enough schools she can get in just because that school's committee really wants to get the urm applicants.

I was the one who orignally posted about this person. She does have an extracurric, although i don't count it.... she is in a sorority, heh

 

[irie]

ECs are supposed to be stuff you enjoy. Doesn't the 3.88 girl have things she does for fun like exercising or racing her 126 horsepower civic? Scuba diving...rock climbing...swimming...watching tv

 

[Gleevec]

Originally posted by jlee9531
you cant really BS having no ECs.

I somehow doubt med schools will care about ECs in her case. They're more likely to care about other parts of her application to a much greater extent.

 

[MErc44]

i don't think it is all about numbers. I had a 3.2 gpa when I applied. Of course I got a 33 on the MCAT but if i hadn't no interviews would have come my way. A 3.2 33 isn't that great yet i got three interviews in fall and was accepted at one in January and waitlisted at two. I also recently turned down an interview. I was successful because of my life experiences and my volunteer work. I did cancer research in a lab on campus and volunteered at a local clinic and hospital. With that being said I think I am a special case and I would not reccomend that anyone apply with a 3.2 unless they have a damn good reason for low grades and not being sure what you want to do is not a reason, if you weren't sure what you wanted to do with your life i think you would have to do a postbacc program to help with low grades.

 

[Farrah]

She isn't going to do any research either.