Bad GPA, need advice

[sciencewizard]

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Hey guys just a concern I hope some of you can address for me:

I am a second-degree seeking student at Texas State University. My first degree was a Bachelor of Science in Economics, which came from The University of Texas at Arlington. I graduated from UTA in August 2006 and for many negative personal and outside influences, my GPA was very below par. If I am granted a medical school interview, I can go into more detail about how these negative influences brought down my GPA, even though in the end I take full responsibility for it. I graduated from UTA with a cumulative GPA of 2.758 and I know that this is completely unacceptable for medical school standards. However, at the current point in time I am fully confident in myself and in my academic studies, and I have a perfect 4.0 at Texas State University going into the Fall 2009 semester. I did have some questions for you:

I have heard differing stories from other students about how the admission committees for medical school view your grades. My goal is for admission committees to view my upward grade trends and see that I am a changed person and am ready for the rigors of medical school. However, is it true though that you have pass an "initial screening" for the admission committee to even take a detailed look at your transcripts? Specifically, does your cumulative GPA and cumulative science GPA need to meet a "cut-off point" for the admission committee to even consider you for secondary applications?

If this is true, what is the best course of action for a student like me to take? Is medical school even within my reach?

Thanks.

 

[TRN1983]

Here is the gist of it:

MD Schools: They're unforgiving. You've just either got to keep going to school and taking classes (get additional BS degrees, etc) until you can get your GPA to a competitive level (I'd say 3.6+), or head out of the country. If you don't have at least a 3.3/3.4 you probably will just get tossed out immediately upon the school receiving your application. The first things they're going to do is reduce the stacks they get by removing low GPA's and low MCAT scorers. That'll cut their stacks considerably.


DO Schools: They're forgiving. You can retake courses you've performed poorly on in the past, get good grades and they replace the bad grades with the new good ones. This is a much quicker way to enter medical school, and you'll only have to get your GPA to about 3.3 or so to be competitive.

Really, that's the reality of the situation. It's not pleasant, but that's medicine. And, just imagine, the US is probably one of the only countries in the world that would even give you this opportunity, as rough as it is. A lot of other countries toss people out of the running for education if they didn't perform exceptionally throughout their entire lives.

Good luck!

 

[WNT Signaling]

If you can get your gpa above a 3.0, you might want to look into special masters programs, although the top ones, like Georgetown and Cincinnati, tend to have class averages around 3.3's

 

[Mobius1985]

If you get a second degree with the same number of credit hours as the first, and continue with the 4.0 throughout, your cGPA will go up to 3.38. That and an MCAT score of 33-34, would get you consideration at some of the less-selective MD schools. As mentioned, the SMP or DO routes are other ways to become a physician.

 

[tacrum43]

If you can get your gpa above a 3.0, you might want to look into special masters programs, although the top ones, like Georgetown and Cincinnati, tend to have class averages around 3.3's

Agreed. If you can get up to a 3.0 overall undergrad GPA, have a very good MCAT score (33+) and then perform well in an SMP, that can definitely make you competitive for a US allopathic school.

 

[Cruzinblue]

I would consider retaking some of the classes that you performed poorly in.

 

[CoolWhipp]

...My goal is for admission committees to view my upward grade trends and see that I am a changed person and am ready for the rigors of medical school. However, is it true though that you have pass an "initial screening" for the admission committee to even take a detailed look at your transcripts? Specifically, does your cumulative GPA and cumulative science GPA need to meet a "cut-off point" for the admission committee to even consider you for secondary applications?

If this is true, what is the best course of action for a student like me to take? Is medical school even within my reach?

They do look at upward trends, but you have to have a certain gpa to be even looked at.

MD schools do have GPA cutoffs.

The best action to take is to consider DO. Kill the boards. Then work your way from there. DO school is medical school, so yes it is within your reach.

 

[tallandshort]

Well, some MD schools screen before giving a secondary application and some don't. So that would at least allow you to write essays (for schools that have essays on their secondary) to explain your grades. However, just because a school gives you a secondary doesn't mean they won't screen you out based on grades after that point. I agree, if you can get at least a 3.0 there should be some lower to middle tier MD schools that will not screen you out before looking at your entire application, essays included. But just because they read your essays explaining your grades doesn't meant they will invite you for an interview.

Overall, I think you have three choices. One, continue working on your grades until they are good enough that you won't be screened out at schools. Two, work on your grades some more but apply DO where the schools are more grade-forgiving. Three, you could apply both MD and DO and just see if any MD schools bite while giving yourself a better shot at an acceptance somewhere by applying DO. I like that one the best 😀 Good luck!

 

[medhoney]

i am actually in the same boat as you. bad gpa out of undergrad. LOTS of reasons, but of course, they're not excuses. somehow managed to go to grad school with a good gpa but that won't matter because MD schools don't mix the two gpa's together. right now, i will be retaking classes i did poorly in, but i am basically clueless after that as to what to do to get looked at by an MD school. i would LOVE to go to an MD school rather than DO, in all honesty, but i feel like i'm all out of options and have backed myself up in a wall. i seriously don't know how to get out of it. sorry if this is kinna sad! LOL. i guess i'm just in one of my moments. haha.

anyway, just a question: whenever i read posts, i always read someone saying "low" or "mid-tier" MD schools. which schools are those? does anyone have it posted up somewhere?

 

[TRN1983]

Really, I don't think whether a school is "low tier" or not will make a considerable difference in admissions standards unless it's in a small state that is trying hard to recruit local physicians and you're a resident of that state. Overall, MD schools are just unforgiving and difficult.

If you want the MD degree the only thing you can do is keep taking classes to get that GPA up and kill the MCAT. It's sad but true 🙁