chances of getting into med school

[buggati]

I work with challenged pre-schoolers for about 11 hrs/wk
I have been and still am the publicity chair for 2 organizations. I have been doing research since my sophomore year; I have my own project now.
I have volunteered in the hospital only during my freshman year

Basically what I want to know is what are my chances for med school. I am trying to raise my GPA this semster.

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[excalibur]

1. You have zero chance of getting into med school

2. Do well on your MCAT and your chances are still good. If you really want it, keep going for it!!!

Take your pick on which answer you want to hear, b/c all responses are going to be variations of this.

 

[Strongbow]

Not a zero chance. You need to get some A's in Bio and Chem and raise that. Your MCAT must be spectacular. You considering DO? You'd have much better chances with a low GPA. Don't use that course overload as an excuse. Whatever it was, it doesn't compare to med school load. You should also try to get more hospital experience somehow. I worked as a transporter for a couple years and do clinical research now.

 

[HumbleMD]

Year: Second Semester Junior
Target MCAT date: 4/12/07
My overall GPA: 3.4
My Science GPA: 3.1
My majors: Biology(GPA:3.12) and Political Science (GPA: 3.95)
Other:
I work with challenged pre-schoolers for about 11 hrs/wk
I have been and still am the publicity chair for 2 organizations. I have been doing research since my sophomore year; I have my own project now.
I have volunteered in the hospital only during my freshman year

Basically what I want to know is what are my chances for med school. I am trying to raise my GPA this semster. One set back is I have gotten all C+ for my chem classes. This is because i take couse overloads. I am aiming for a high MCAT score. What else should I do to improve my chances?

Really? Most people aim for low ones. You're going to have to study hard, but anything is possible (although not all things are probable).

 

[djquickfingers]

1. You have zero chance of getting into med school

2. Do well on your MCAT and your chances are still good. If you really want it, keep going for it!!!

Take your pick on which answer you want to hear, b/c all responses are going to be variations of this.

to say you have zero chance is grossly inaccurate. Will it be difficult, maybe. Everything from this point out must be prestine in nature. Don't take any experience for granted. Get the most out of everything. Volunteer, network, and take some more Bio courses to get the numbers up. Whatever you do, do not get discouraged by people on here saying you have zero chance. You'll only have zero chances when you're dead!

 

[Wanna_B_Scutty]

Your chances are not good right now. It isn't impossible, but your GPA is going to be a big problem. The way many schools work is that they first pour your statistical info into a big computer algorithm which screens people out based on their GPA, MCAT score, etc. The screenin computer doesn't know or care that your GPA is lowish due to an overloaded schedule.

My suggestions:
1) Kick @ss on the MCAT
2) Don't apply this year. Instead, get your overall and BCPM GPAs up to a 3.5 during senior year and apply during your year off.

You can do it if you're willing to make sacrificies. But you must understand that you're not currently in a very good position.

 

[excalibur]

all responses are proving my point...how about this...

1) You're in trouble

2) You still got a shot

All responses will be one of these, or better yet the "you're in trouble, but you still got a shot IF" combo

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

Year: Second Semester Junior
Target MCAT date: 4/12/07
My overall GPA: 3.4
My Science GPA: 3.1
My majors: Biology(GPA:3.12) and Political Science (GPA: 3.95)
Other:
I work with challenged pre-schoolers for about 11 hrs/wk
I have been and still am the publicity chair for 2 organizations. I have been doing research since my sophomore year; I have my own project now.
I have volunteered in the hospital only during my freshman year

Basically what I want to know is what are my chances for med school. I am trying to raise my GPA this semster. One set back is I have gotten all C+ for my chem classes. This is because i take couse overloads. I am aiming for a high MCAT score. What else should I do to improve my chances?

For your GPA, you might want to consider a postbacc program or SMP. Go to the Non trad subforum for details - basically a year or two extra study, usually with science courses or even medical school courses depending on the program. You could also do a graduate program, but the coursework needs to be relevant to a premed application.

You need more clinical experience.

 

[CTtarheel]

you're in trouble, but you still got a shot if:

1. you kill the MCAT

Basically you need something to account for your low science gpa. If you don't have a significant reason for it being so low (i.e. one bad semester) and it's consistently low then the question becomes can you handle the medical school curriculum? Doing well on the MCAT will provide an answer to this question.

Also, make sure you have enough clinical experience. It's not about the number of hours you've put in, but rather that you've really witnessed the good and bad aspects of medicine and have enough experience to talk about at an interview.

 

[Shpamme]

Your app looks identical to mine. I also double majored in bio and poli sci, with VERY similar GPA breakdown. I have a few other things going for me, so I don't know how much this will help, but for what its worth I got a 32S, applied early and got four interviews this time. Good luck!

 

[tutelefrute]

What state are you from? That will have a huge impact on your chances.

 

[buggati]

i m from IL

 

[aspiring med]

Your chances are not good right now. It isn't impossible, but your GPA is going to be a big problem. The way many schools work is that they first pour your statistical info into a big computer algorithm which screens people out based on their GPA, MCAT score, etc. The screenin computer doesn't know or care that your GPA is lowish due to an overloaded schedule.

My suggestions:
1) Kick @ss on the MCAT
2) Don't apply this year. Instead, get your overall and BCPM GPAs up to a 3.5 during senior year and apply during your year off.

You can do it if you're willing to make sacrificies. But you must understand that you're not currently in a very good position.

totally agree. take the year off, and take a lot of science classes your senior year and ace them. apply very early, like get in you AMCAS by June of your senior year.

i am speaking from the experience of applying with a 3.19 BCPM GPA. it really does hurt you. use that senior year wisely.

 

[EndSong]

One thing that I noticed was that you may have very little clinical experience. Unless you have some kind of hardcore desire to work with children with disabilities, I would wonder why you're even going to medicine at all since you only did clinical work in freshman year? The assumption here being, if you are passionate about medicine (or even you know, interested), you would be interested enough to get involved with some type of clinical setting for a longer period of time and not just freshman year. This is also important for your personal statement. So that might be another area that you might want to consider working on.

Also another concern you might wanna address is, if you spent most of your undergrad in a research setting, are you applying for an MD/PhD or why aren't you applying for a PhD?

Of course, I could have missed something and your research could be very clinical, in which case just work on what everyone else just said.

 

[scgroat]

excalibur, you were right on! I am wondering, however, what UG school we're talking about. I know from experience that a 3.0 science GPA is good at some schools. Since the school won't change either way, I have two words, MCAT and persistence. With a 30+ MCAT, I believe that persistance will be theticket in. Maybe not right out of college, but hopefully the following year with a little luck.

 

[scgroat]

Take everything stated into account and then SELF-EVALUATE. You probably have an idea of what you're lacking. If it's fixable, fix it. If not, address another weakness.

 

[psipsina]

Hey my gpa's were exactly the same as yours and I got into three medschools (two state) with a waitlist at a top 10. I got a 32 on the MCAT and I had some killer research and patient experience, and I had a pretty valid reason for why I was such a screw up in my freshman year of college. Theres a chance, but you have to rock out on the MCAT, you have to get more research/extracurriculars and you have to be able to explain what on earth happened to your grades in a way that doesn't sound like whinning and does sound like you learned something from it.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

Do well on the MCAT. It will make you or break you. No odds can be reasonably assessed without an MCAT score.

 

[turkleton]

Killing the MCAT is fantastic advice. I would recommend it to everyone interested in going to medical school.

Based on your chem grades and your not so hot science GPA, you may have some difficulty scoring extremely high on your sciences. However, since you're strong in poli-sci you might do very well on the verbal, often considered the most important section. Keep your goals realistic, obviously work hard, but don't be disappointed if you don't get a 40. What were your practice scores thus far? Have you taken any prep-courses? I don't think they're that great overall, but you might benefit from the extra science lectures. And agree with above- take an extra year, if you're serious, and beef up the science GPA and concurrently improve your chances of doing well on the science sections. Telling you to do well on the MCAT and how to do well are two different things. Alternatively, if you elect to take the test soon- and it doesn't sound like you're completely ready to- do decently well, (mid 20's) you're probably in good standing to get into most DO's and Carribean schools.

 

[deleted128318]

I have similar grades (3.3 and 3.2) and got 5 interviews (including one at a top-ten, one at a UC, all at "ranked" schools) out of the 15 schools I applied to with a MCAT in the high-30s. Your grades are not the end-all

 

[Law2Doc]

Killing the MCAT is fantastic advice. I would recommend it to everyone interested in going to medical school.

Agree - this is the least helpful advice repeatedly given on SDN. Most people try to do well on the MCAT. Yet most people who really need to, fail to kill it. (Or even main it. Often barely a flesh wound.) And people with low grades in the sciences are even less likely to kill it than the typical successful premed, since that is 2/3 of the test. Stick with the higher percentage plays. If you have low science GPA, take more science classes for better grades, to up it.

That being said, plenty of people get into med school with a 3.4, so I'm not sure OP should panic quite yet. See how things pan out.