http://www.studentdoctor.net/wiki/index.php/The_Journey_to_Medical_School_--_Before_Applying
This article helped answer some of my basic questions.
Here's the GPA part:
1.11) How high does my GPA need to be?
Perhaps every premedical student has heard tales of the 3.9 GPA Phi
Beta Kappa applicant getting into every medical school he or she
applied to, and of the 2.5 GPA student applying to medical school
without a prayer, but there is a little more to the GPA issue than
just getting above a certain mark. GPAs will vary depending on the
competitiveness of your school, so if you attend a world-renowned
institution such as Harvard, your GPA will be calculated based on
competition with an intense student body.
If you attend Acme State University, where there is a major in
bartending, your GPA will be calculated based on competition with a
slightly less intense student body. Generally, however, a 2.3 at
Harvard is still pretty bad and probably not as good as a 4.0 at
Acme State, and we can guess that perhaps the Harvard student is not
going to get into medical school. So what are the generalities we
should look at when determining whether our GPAs are good enough for
medical school? Some premedical advisors say that if your GPA is
3.3 at a good school, you have a 20% chance for admission. Others
will say having a 3.5 to 3.6 is the requisite GPA, but if you keep
it as high as you can, you should have no problem
(so try to keep it
above 3.3!).
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