BCPM vs. AO vs. Overall

[PartyAnimal]

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Hello,

Just got verified and realized it came out lower then I though at 3.56 BCPM, 3.2 AO, 3.4 Overall.

Does a low AO really come into play?

I understand the BCPM vs. Overall debate but was curious about the AO. Thanks in advance.

 

[Goobs]

Hello,

Just got verified and realized it came out lower then I though at 3.56 BCPM, 3.2 AO, 3.4 Overall.

Does a low AO really come into play?

I understand the BCPM vs. Overall debate but was curious about the AO. Thanks in advance.

The combination of your bpcm and your ao result in the overall. So basically I think that your ao is already included in your overall gpa.

Sent via mobile

 

[LizzyM]

If I saw that, I'd say "ouch" and then look at the listing of courses to see what dragged things down... often it is engineering and that's not so bad. Ditto for courses in religious studies or foreign languages. If it is some C's in required gen ed classes in English/social science then that's not so good. If your grades are Bs or better, no worries.

 

[ShenanigansMD]

It might depend on your major, like whether or not it's known to be "difficult."

Edit: yeah what lizzy said above.

 

[PartyAnimal]

If I saw that, I'd say "ouch" and then look at the listing of courses to see what dragged things down... often it is engineering and that's not so bad. Ditto for courses in religious studies or foreign languages. If it is some C's in required gen ed classes in English/social science then that's not so good. If your grades are Bs or better, no worries.

Thanks everyone. That is what I am worried about since it is 3 C+ and a bunch of Bs and few As. And on top of that its mostly social science classes as I was an Economics major.

Did better in BCPM courses but still worried that my AO is 3.2 and curious about the weight Adcoms put on that?

 

[LizzyM]

Thanks everyone. That is what I am worried about since it is 3 C+ and a bunch of Bs and few As. And on top of that its mostly social science classes as I was an Economics major.

Did better in BCPM courses but still worried that my AO is 3.2 and curious about the weight Adcoms put on that?

Economics is not sociology or psychology. Three C+ grades are not great but not a horror. Obviously, your strong suit is natural science and you should be fine in med school rather than some alternative that would be more econ related.

 

[cuculici1]

LizzyM, just out of curiosity, based on the applications you see is it typical to have a higher overall GPA than BCPM GPA? And which one do you consider more important (I've heard conflicting opinions about this).

 

[LizzyM]

LizzyM, just out of curiosity, based on the applications you see is it typical to have a higher overall GPA than BCPM GPA? And which one do you consider more important (I've heard conflicting opinions about this).

It has been at least 6 mos since I've looked at applications, so it is hard for me to recall what proportion of applicants have gpa > sgpa and what proportion have gpa < sgpa or gpa = sgpa. I think that it is pretty common for the absolute value of gpa-sgpa to be <0.10

I'm usually very concerned if the sgpa is < 3.50. I don't mind gpa < sgpa if the sgpa is >3.7. Sometimes we see this in career changers who had not taken any science classes in college and then do a great post-bacc.

Keep in mind that the schools with average gpa >3.7 might approach things differently than schools with lower average gpa.