8 withdrawals?

[Bubblebee]

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I am in my fourth year of college. If i apply to med school this summer i will have a 3.40 gpa, one year of research, a year and a half of volunteering at the hospital, and almost a year of shadowing. I have a job at a daycare center for children but other than that i haven't been involved in anything else. I hope to take the MCAT this April/May and hopefully do decent.
I have 8 withdrawals, which i know looks really bad in addition to my low gpa. I was thinking of waiting another year to try boosting my gpa but at this point the highest it will go is a 3.50. Is it worth waiting another year, or should i just apply to med school now? Do i even stand a chance?

 

[Goro]

8 Ws is a lot. It says to me that you're trying to save your GPA by bugging out of the hard courses. Of course, you may have had a bad year with an illness, death in family, stuff like that, so I'd have to see the entire transcript to get the full picture.

Your 3.4 is not really competetive for MD schools. OK for DO schools. If interested in the latter, suggest repairing any Cs in BCPM courses with AACOMAS grade replacement, and rock the MCAT.

Good luck!

I am in my fourth year of college. If i apply to med school this summer i will have a 3.40 gpa, one year of research, a year and a half of volunteering at the hospital, and almost a year of shadowing. I have a job at a daycare center for children but other than that i haven't been involved in anything else. I hope to take the MCAT this April/May and hopefully do decent.
I have 8 withdrawals, which i know looks really bad in addition to my low gpa. I was thinking of waiting another year to try boosting my gpa but at this point the highest it will go is a 3.50. Is it worth waiting another year, or should i just apply to med school now? Do i even stand a chance?

 

[Catalystik]

I am in my fourth year of college. If i apply to med school this summer i will have a 3.40 gpa, one year of research, a year and a half of volunteering at the hospital, and almost a year of shadowing. I have a job at a daycare center for children but other than that i haven't been involved in anything else. I hope to take the MCAT this April/May and hopefully do decent.
I have 8 withdrawals, which i know looks really bad in addition to my low gpa. I was thinking of waiting another year to try boosting my gpa but at this point the highest it will go is a 3.50. Is it worth waiting another year, or should i just apply to med school now? Do i even stand a chance?

It would be nice to see some nonmedical community service as well and leadership and/or teaching as well, if you can manage it. The other ECs are looking good, though, especially if the shadowing includes a primary care doc.

What is your BCPM or sGPA? Have you retaken any classes? Why did you withdraw from so many classes, and when? Do you have a 2-3 semester upward grade trend recently?

 

[Bubblebee]

My BCPM is a 3.35. I have not retaken any classes. I dropped so many classes because i was afraid of doing bad in the classes i was taking. I don't really have a good reason for dropping that many classes. Last year was a very bad year for my gpa, but i have been doing a lot better the past 2 semesters.

 

[Catalystik]

If your primary goal is MD, then another year of GPA repair with NO MORE Ws, and lots of As, would be in your best interests. The average matriculant has a cGPA 3.67/BCPM 3.61/MCAT 31.1, so a cGPA of 3.5 with a stronger than typical MCAT score would be a good goal, along with a continuing steep upward grade trend (in the sciences particularly).

The average entering DO student has a cGPA of 3.47/sGPA of 3.36, and MCAT of 26.49. You might take advantage iof the AACOMAS grade replacement policy if you have any really low grades, so you can get your cGPA higher. Unlike AMCAS, they only include the most recent grade if you retake for the same credits or better.

How are your standardized test-taking skills?