Blocked for the sake of Image?

[DPDPD]

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Hey all,

I'll be attending Columbia's Post-bac starting in January, but I just recently had a little chat with the head dean of a nearby med school (a well regarded school) and while we were talking he mentioned something I'd never thought of.

He was saying that if your Undergrad GPA wasn't say the avg 3.7ish that most Med Schools admit with, then even with say a 3.9 postbac GPA some schools might not admit you b/c they would have to factor in your undergraduate gpa into their acceptance records. You know, those news & world reports rankings/guides that show what the lowest and highest admitted GPAs are, etc...

I found the thought a bit frightening...that even if you blow a postbac out of the water that something 3-5-9 years in your past could still block you, and just for the sake of image. Any of you folks hear something similar, or have any thoughts on the matter?

- DPDPD

 

[DrMidlife]

This has nothing to do with image. The only people who pay attention to the USNews rankings are parents and premeds. Med schools don't have to react to USNews numbers: there are >45,000 applicants for <20,000 seats. 60% of applicants get rejected, and most of the rejections are of well-qualified applicants. You can't show up with a buggy record and expect to be well received. (See my mdapps for how well it worked for me.)

Pretend you're the dean of admissions at a medical school, and you're looking through apps. You have Bob, who got a 3.9 all the way through undergrad, and has a good app besides. Then you have Suzie, who screwed around in undergrad, then got a 3.9 in her postbac, and also has a good app.

If you can only interview one of the two, which do you pick? Are you going to bet that one or two years in a postbac is solid evidence of Suzie's capabilities and maturity, and overrules her four weak years in undergrad, and furthermore, overrules Bob's unblemished record?

The rules have been in place forever and nobody wants your opinion on whether they're the right rules. After you're a doctor you can try to change the system.

Best of luck to you.

 

[genswim24]

Yes, that is true. When they calculate your GPA they take into account all of your undergrad classes no matter how long ago they were completed. That does not mean that med schools will not take a special look at your post-bac work, but it does not simply erase all of your previous undergrad grades. For instance in you got a 4.0 in your post-bac program for 40 credits and had a 3.0 for your previous degree (say approx 120 credits) your overall undergrad GPA for the AMCAS is only a 3.25.

On the other hand, your BPCM average will likely be a lot higher if you do really well in a post bac becuase that will be averaged in with fewer undergrad credits.

 

[Lokhtar]

Hey all,

I'll be attending Columbia's Post-bac starting in January, but I just recently had a little chat with the head dean of a nearby med school (a well regarded school) and while we were talking he mentioned something I'd never thought of.

He was saying that if your Undergrad GPA wasn't say the avg 3.7ish that most Med Schools admit with, then even with say a 3.9 postbac GPA some schools might not admit you b/c they would have to factor in your undergraduate gpa into their acceptance records. You know, those news & world reports rankings/guides that show what the lowest and highest admitted GPAs are, etc...

I found the thought a bit frightening...that even if you blow a postbac out of the water that something 3-5-9 years in your past could still block you, and just for the sake of image. Any of you folks hear something similar, or have any thoughts on the matter?

- DPDPD

Well, remember that your post-bac GPA goes into your undegrad GPA, so you can improve your overall that way (and many people, like me, do). I have a close to a 4.0 in my post-bac, but my overall was a 3.4 and it will only be a 3.52 and that is definitely going to hurt me. It is what it is. I have to make it up some other way.

 

[DPDPD]

Well thanks for both of the replies, I don't consider myself doomed if they look at my undergraduate GPA, but I guess this takes some of the veneer off of the idea of a 'fresh slate' granted via a post-bac. So do you guys have any advice for those who do/did have very low undergraduate GPA's? If I were in such a position I could imagine losing hope after reading such a reply, especially one like Dr.Midlife's.

 

[Lokhtar]

No easy way around it. It would require multiple years of GPA repair, and/or a high MCAT score followed by a SMP.

A rule of thumb is that it didn't take you six months to shoot yourself in the foot with a low GPA, and it's not going to take you six months to repair it.

 

[hung]

your past mistakes will haunt you, but some schools do consider your more recent academic performance. smps continue to exist because they do get people into med school. do extremely well in your post bacc, rock the mcat, and fulfill the other requirements, you'll get into a med school somewhere in the US.