Best SMP for low GPA

[DantheManimal]

So this week I'll be sending in applications for SMP programs and I wanted to know if there are any that I'm missing that I should consider. For an SMP program, I'm looking for MD linkage only because I've already been accepted to DO linkage programs. I'm also looking for 2.8 GPA allowable programs for an otherwise competitive app. Here's my list so far.

Temple
Drexel
Georgetown
Tufts
Creighton
Cincinnati
BU
EVMS
Tulane
Penn
Rutgers

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[DrMidlife]

So this week I'll be sending in applications for SMP programs and I wanted to know if there are any that I'm missing that I should consider. For an SMP program, I'm looking for MD linkage only because I've already been accepted to DO linkage programs.

Apples & oranges. DO SMPs are not comparable to MD SMPs. Little to no similarity in terms of what they can/will do to improve your chances of getting into med school.

I'm also looking for 2.8 GPA allowable programs for an otherwise competitive app.

If that 2.8 masks multiple mostly science very strong full time undergrad years, meaning you already did a bunch more undergrad at a 3.7+ after graduating, then it's possible but unlikely that an MD SMP would help you, even if you got accepted at one. You still have to apply to med school during/after an SMP. From a 2.8 it would definitely be after. A fantastic SMP performance could get you in the game with a 2.8, but you still have to compete with massive hordes of squeaky clean 3.7/520's for a seat and you still will get auto-rejected by the majority of med schools for having a sub-3.0.

Fun fact: did you know more than 50k people applied MD last year? Did you know more than 30k were rejected? 40% chance at US MD overall. See aamc.org.

Here's my list so far.
Temple

Has linkage. Won't take you with a sub-3.4-ish.

Tulane

ACP has linkage. Won't take you unless you are waitlisted at a US med school. The other Tulane 1 year terminal masters are not SMPs in the "first year of med school as an audition for med school" sense and are no better/worse than other terminal masters.

Drexel Georgetown Tufts Creighton Cincinnati BU EVMS Penn Rutgers

None of these have linkage. Some were full in February. Some are not SMPs. A 2.8 isn't good enough for most.

Search SDN on "low GPA" and get obsessed, if you want to pursue MD. I suggest sticking with the DO SMP plan if you want any certainty, and/or you want to be in med school in less than 3 years.

Best of luck to you.

 

[DantheManimal]

Apples & oranges. DO SMPs are not comparable to MD SMPs. Little to no similarity in terms of what they can/will do to improve your chances of getting into med school.

If that 2.8 masks multiple mostly science very strong full time undergrad years, meaning you already did a bunch more undergrad at a 3.7+ after graduating, then it's possible but unlikely that an MD SMP would help you, even if you got accepted at one. You still have to apply to med school during/after an SMP. From a 2.8 it would definitely be after. A fantastic SMP performance could get you in the game with a 2.8, but you still have to compete with massive hordes of squeaky clean 3.7/520's for a seat and you still will get auto-rejected by the majority of med schools for having a sub-3.0.

Fun fact: did you know more than 50k people applied MD last year? Did you know more than 30k were rejected? 40% chance at US MD overall. See aamc.org.

Has linkage. Won't take you with a sub-3.4-ish.

ACP has linkage. Won't take you unless you are waitlisted at a US med school. The other Tulane 1 year terminal masters are not SMPs in the "first year of med school as an audition for med school" sense and are no better/worse than other terminal masters.

None of these have linkage. Some were full in February. Some are not SMPs. A 2.8 isn't good enough for most.

Search SDN on "low GPA" and get obsessed, if you want to pursue MD. I suggest sticking with the DO SMP plan if you want any certainty, and/or you want to be in med school in less than 3 years.

Best of luck to you.

Drexel has multiple programs with linkage if I'm not mistaken. I am applying to the Drexel Pathway to Medical School (DPMS) program, which as the name suggests, is a feeder into the MD program. Drexel and Temple are my top 2 choices. How do you know that Temple won't take a sub 3.4 GPA? They said that they prefer it, but it is not a requirement. The same goes for a lot of these programs. And yes, I have shown in my most recent units (all science prerequisites) above a 3.7 GPA.

 

[platanus]

Drexel has multiple programs with linkage if I'm not mistaken. I am applying to the Drexel Pathway to Medical School (DPMS) program, which as the name suggests, is a feeder into the MD program. Drexel and Temple are my top 2 choices. How do you know that Temple won't take a sub 3.4 GPA? They said that they prefer it, but it is not a requirement. The same goes for a lot of these programs. And yes, I have shown in my most recent units (all science prerequisites) above a 3.7 GPA.

It's probably because people who apply to the program will have GPA well above 3.4

 

[DantheManimal]

It's probably because people who apply to the program will have GPA well above 3.4

Thats really helpful...because until you said that, I didn't understand that a 3.4 was better than a 2.8. I wasn't asking you, and my question was 'how do you know they won't take someone with a lower GPA,' as in do they not even consider it? I didn't ask 'why do people with a lower GPA not get accepted in general or over someone with better stats.' That would be stupid, which would warrant your sarcasm, but I don't see the point in giving that kind of response other than for your own amusement, but thanks and I hope you feel better.

 

[platanus]

Thats really helpful...because until you said that, I didn't understand that a 3.4 was better than a 2.8. I wasn't asking you, and my question was 'how do you know they won't take someone with a lower GPA,' as in do they not even consider it? I didn't ask 'why do people with a lower GPA not get accepted in general or over someone with better stats.' That would be stupid, which would warrant your sarcasm, but I don't see the point in giving that kind of response other than for your own amusement, but thanks and I hope you feel better.

I wasnt being sarcastic.
Maybe i understood your question incorrectly
I was just trying to say that they probably put that extra piece of information to help applicants what their expectation is. You are right that there is no way that that the person with sub 3.4 gpa will be rejected outright.

 

[DrMidlife]

Yes, people with a sub-3.4 can and will be rejected outright, at the discretion of the program. Now that Temple is one of only 2 SMPs with straight linkage, they get at least 10x more apps than a few years ago. There is exactly no motivation for them to be equally friendly to all ranges of the GPA spectrum. Slicing an app pile at a GPA and/or MCAT threshold is one of the easiest ways to make an admissions process fit in reality. The reason Temple doesn't give you more specific or accurate advice than "applicants tend to be over 3.4" or whatever is that they don't have to.

Seller's market, 100%.

 

[DantheManimal]

I wasnt being sarcastic.
Maybe i understood your question incorrectly
I was just trying to say that they probably put that extra piece of information to help applicants what their expectation is. You are right that there is no way that that the person with sub 3.4 gpa will be rejected outright.

I think I see what you are saying, but I never said 'there is no way that that the person with sub 3.4 gpa will be rejected outright.' I was asking @DrMidlife whether or not there is some info out there that isn't stated on the website. As in, some schools say they prefer 3.4, and really don't bend that rule, and other schools say they prefer 3.4, but do tend to bend that rule or be more holistic with their review. As far as students with a sub 3.4 being rejected outright, I imagine at least the majority of them are. Even those with above 3.4 can be rejected outright, so I'm not sure what you mean.

Yes, people with a sub-3.4 can and will be rejected outright, at the discretion of the program. Now that Temple is one of only 2 SMPs with straight linkage, they get at least 10x more apps than a few years ago. There is exactly no motivation for them to be equally friendly to all ranges of the GPA spectrum. Slicing an app pile at a GPA and/or MCAT threshold is one of the easiest ways to make an admissions process fit in reality. The reason Temple doesn't give you more specific or accurate advice than "applicants tend to be over 3.4" or whatever is that they don't have to.

Seller's market, 100%.

This helps. The idea here is that I don't want to waste the money by throwing it at SMPs that allow only 0% of the people who fall below the GPA requirement, even though the school claims it to not be a strict cut-off. Of course if I ask Temple, what are they going to say? "No, sir please don't give us your money, we have enough already." They are going to tell me it's worth a shot, which is why people come to SDN-to get the buyers perspective in, as you said, the sellers market. Thanks for your input.

 

[tekkenman11]

You're missing Loyola.

Penn is not an SMP, and temple is out of the question for you.

 

[PossibleDOC?]

So this week I'll be sending in applications for SMP programs and I wanted to know if there are any that I'm missing that I should consider. For an SMP program, I'm looking for MD linkage only because I've already been accepted to DO linkage programs. I'm also looking for 2.8 GPA allowable programs for an otherwise competitive app. Here's my list so far.

Temple
Drexel
Georgetown
Tufts
Creighton
Cincinnati
BU
EVMS
Tulane
Penn
Rutgers

Take your DO linkage and run, a 2.8 gpa and no MCAT can be disasterous in the world of post-grad med school applications. Become a doctor and take the DO linkage. The MD linkages are mainly for people who have 3.6 and 32 MCATs, basically they were goo enough to get in but got passed over some how. This is coming from someone who applied to 5 SMPs and go into 0 but applied to a DO one and was accepted. Trust me don't go through the heartache and false hope, take your acceptance, go, do well, become a doctor.

Good Luck to you I hope you can accept the initials

 

[tekkenman11]

From a 2.8 it would definitely be after. A fantastic SMP performance could get you in the game with a 2.8, but you still have to compete with massive hordes of squeaky clean 3.7/520's for a seat and you still will get auto-rejected by the majority of med schools for having a sub-3.0.

Not OP and this is an old thread, but I applied with a 2.9 uGPA after completing my SMP and I have thus received 0 rejections and 3 II (1 top tier 25, 1 strong mid-tier, 1 low-tier instate). Applied to 30 schools, several of which pre-screen and actively reject. Vanderbilt even sent me a secondary and they supposedly don't send secondaries to people below a certain GPA/MCAT threshold. So I don't know how accurate this particular piece of advice is in today's market.

 

[Hailstorm]

Not OP and this is an old thread, but I applied with a 2.9 uGPA after completing my SMP and I have thus received 0 rejections and 3 II (1 top tier 25, 1 strong mid-tier, 1 low-tier instate). Applied to 30 schools, several of which pre-screen and actively reject. Vanderbilt even sent me a secondary and they supposedly don't send secondaries to people below a certain GPA/MCAT threshold. So I don't know how accurate this particular piece of advice is in today's market.

The advice is more accurate than ever unless you're an URM or have particularly amazing accomplishments.

 

[tekkenman11]

The advice is more accurate than ever unless you're an URM or have particularly amazing accomplishments.

non-URM (received another II yesterday so a total of 4 now)

 

[Hailstorm]

non-URM (received another II yesterday so a total of 4 now)

… so there should be a decent number of schools who would consider me a URM, or at the very least a UiM, especially with the particular state school I'm interested in
I had a diversity interview the last cycle so I know first hand that this is true. There is also SES-Disadvantaged which I was given last time as well (shouldn't change).
I applied as a Colombian and I was perceived as URM status by several schools when I spoke to them. Not to mention the AAMC gave me no trouble with labeling myself as such. All of them were eager to talk about what I could bring to the Latino communities.

 

[tekkenman11]

Yup and I am not officially considered URM. Ended up labeling myself as half white and half hispanic on my primary. In order to be URM you can't have your race be white or asian.

 

[Hailstorm]

Yup and I am not officially considered URM. Ended up labeling myself as half white and half hispanic on my primary. In order to be URM you can't have your race be white or asian.

"Applicants who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents that self-identified as Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish Origin alone or in combination with other races or ethnicities"
-AAMC

 

[tekkenman11]

"Applicants who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents that self-identified as Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish Origin alone or in combination with other races or ethnicities"
-AAMC

Don't know where you got that, because this is what their website says.

Underrepresented in Medicine Definition - Initiatives - AAMC

So no guarantees in this process. You just have to assume the worst and hope for the best. Simple as that. Peace out son.