A GPA Discussion (Low cGPA, High sGPA, Trends, and HS College Work)

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

Really how important is cGPA? I know if it's extremely low you can be screened out (by a computer?) What's typically the cutoff point for this? Although I feel cGPA is kind of run in the ground. When people ask "What Are My Chances?" wouldn't a much more relevant way to look at cumulative GPA be citing it in a format more like x.x/x.x/x.x/x.x/x.x (High School/Freshman/Sophomore/Junior/Senior) rather than throwing x.x (All post-secondary combined in one number) out there? Especially if there's a night and day difference somewhere in the scheme...

What about cGPA vs. sGPA: what if you have a "low" cGPA (~3.4) but a high sGPA with a lot of BCMP credits (~3.8)? I know that's probably a rare circumstance, so would a case like that be an anomaly where a LizzyM score will be pretty off or is the x.x cGPA still by far the most important factor?

Another somewhat obscure thing to think about: College work in high school. I've never really came across a discussion where this was talked about in depth, especially the opinions of admissions folks. I would assume doing poorly your senior year of HS in ~30 credits is a little better than doing poorly your freshman year of college in the same amount of credits with more science work, but still something to worry about. Input on this would be interesting.

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[Turkishking]

Really how important is cGPA? I know if it's extremely low you can be screened out (by a computer?) What's typically the cutoff point for this? Although I feel cGPA is kind of run in the ground. When people ask "What Are My Chances?" wouldn't a much more relevant way to look at cumulative GPA be citing it in a format more like x.x/x.x/x.x/x.x/x.x (High School/Freshman/Sophomore/Junior/Senior) rather than throwing x.x (All post-secondary combined in one number) out there? Especially if there's a night and day difference somewhere in the scheme...

What about cGPA vs. sGPA: what if you have a "low" cGPA (~3.4) but a high sGPA with a lot of BCMP credits (~3.8)? I know that's probably a rare circumstance, so would a case like that be an anomaly where a LizzyM score will be pretty off or is the x.x cGPA still by far the most important factor?

Another somewhat obscure thing to think about: College work in high school. I've never really came across a discussion where this was talked about in depth, especially the opinions of admissions folks. I would assume doing poorly your senior year of HS in ~30 credits is a little better than doing poorly your freshman year of college in the same amount of credits with more science work, but still something to worry about. Input on this would be interesting.

Read goros post. The Average matriculate has a 3.75c and a 3.68s so they're both important

 

[Goro]

It's important, but you can't focus on this single metric.

Really how important is cGPA?
You don't get screened by computer. All apps are looked at by human eyeballs.
I know if it's extremely low you can be screened out (by a computer?)

It will depend. If you live in a lucky state like IA or SD, then a 3.3 cGPA might be fine. But again, other metrics also count. Overall, I think a 3.4 or higher can get you into an MD school (or any DO) if other pasts of the app are really good.
What's typically the cutoff point for this? Although I feel cGPA is kind of run in the ground.


GPA trends are also important, perhaps more so. A number of schools weight the last 203 years more than the entire four, and there are MD schools (like Tulane, Drexel, NYMC, Case, U Mimai UCSF) that reward reinvention. Thus, a killer post-bac or SMP GPA can salvage a poor cGPA.
When people ask "What Are My Chances?" wouldn't a much more relevant way to look at cumulative GPA be citing it in a format more like x.x/x.x/x.x/x.x/x.x (High School/Freshman/Sophomore/Junior/Senior) rather than throwing x.x (All post-secondary combined in one number) out there? Especially if there's a night and day difference somewhere in the scheme...

The sGPA can salvage a low cGPA.
What about cGPA vs. sGPA: what if you have a "low" cGPA (~3.4) but a high sGPA with a lot of BCMP credits (~3.8)?

Don't know

Another somewhat obscure thing to think about: College work in high school. I've never really came across a discussion where this was talked about in depth, especially the opinions of admissions folks. I would assume doing poorly your senior year of HS in ~30 credits is a little better than doing poorly your freshman year of college in the same amount of credits with more science work, but still something to worry about. Input on this would be interesting.