Advice for a friend

[meepleep62]

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[gyngyn]

Generally speaking, attending a fancy school does not offset a weak gpa.
Similarly, "good" EC's do not offset weak stats.

We would need a lot more specific information to help your friend come up with a winning strategy.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What did the prehealth office say?

Not sure what else we can say. You choose the school you attend for college, and reputation doesn't compensate for low GPA in medical school admissions. There are plenty of schools with grade inflation controls.

Run your own marathon.

It's possible the substantial hours are taking away from studying that could get better grades.

 

[Goro]

She's fine for DO schools, but DOA for MD

 

[wysdoc]

It’s a challenging school, maybe she has spread herself too thin with the extra activities during the academic year.

 

[ClashRoyaleKing]

I would be curious what her MCAT is when she takes it. GPA isn't standardized, but MCAT is. They would stand a MUCH better chance with a high MCAT (517+) to demonstrate their expertise and ability to handle difficult/a signficiant amout of information in medical school.

 

[LizzyM]

I would be curious what her MCAT is when she takes it. GPA isn't standardized, but MCAT is. They would stand a MUCH better chance with a high MCAT (517+) to demonstrate their expertise and ability to handle difficult/a signficiant amout of information in medical school.

Concur although for someone talented enough to get into Columbia, I'd expect to see a MCAT of 520 or better.

Of course, there will be the adcom members who will say that this person is smart and able to perform on a high stakes exam but perhaps lacks what is needed to do well on a day-to-day basis... time management skills, discipline, attention to details around homework assignments and deadlines, etc.

 

[gekyumewrld]

I attended Columbia for my undergraduate and am familiar with the difficulty of premed coursework. Her GPA is her GPA regardless of the university she attends. Most of my friends who applied this cycle and were successful had a cGPA and sGPA > 3.7 and an MCAT > 516. My personal belief is that the name can help you *slightly*, so a 3.7 - 3.8 GPA can be somewhat forgiven if the MCAT score is high enough. My GPA fell in this range and I have had a successful cycle and have been accepted to schools with GPA averages far above mine in the 3.9 range. However, a 3.2 sGPA is quite low for MD programs. One pre-med student I knew from Columbia who had a 3.2 sGPA was advised to not apply to medical school, and the committee did not write him a letter.