chances of medical school??

[drbaddie_94]

Hi! I am a senior but I have one more year of undergraduate left.
I have a 2.5 cGPA and 2.43 sGPA.. I haven't taken the MCAT yet
I am working on getting my CNA Certification renewed during the summer but I'm conflicted about either doing a one year post-bacc or just working for about a year as a CNA after graduation.
Any suggestions about what which I would allow me to have a better chance at medical school??
I wont mind a one- two year program either so anything helps.

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[Shirafune]

Hi! I am a senior but I have one more year of undergraduate left.
I have a 2.5 cGPA and 2.43 sGPA.. I haven't taken the MCAT yet
I am working on getting my CNA Certification renewed during the summer but I'm conflicted about either doing a one year post-bacc or just working for about a year as a CNA after graduation.
Any suggestions about what which I would allow me to have a better chance at medical school??
I wont mind a one- two year program either so anything helps..

To be honest, it's hard to say what your chances are with this little information. GPA alone will keep you out of all MD and DO schools. I know DO schools will no longer accept grade replacement, but please check for yourself on the pre-osteo forums. I am not sure about the specifics.

How do your ECs look? Are you URM? Do you have any interesting backstory? Are you socioeconomically or educationally disadvantaged?

But to be frank, any chance at medical school will be a long shot without significant GPA repair and uptrend. A solid MCAT can assuage concerns about your academics.

 

[drbaddie_94]

To be honest, it's hard to say what your chances are with this little information. GPA alone will keep you out of all MD and DO schools. I know DO schools will no longer accept grade replacement, but please check for yourself on the pre-osteo forums. I am not sure about the specifics.

How do your ECs look? Are you URM? Do you have any interesting backstory? Are you socioeconomically or educationally disadvantaged?

But to be frank, any chance at medical school will be a long shot without significant GPA repair and uptrend. A solid MCAT can assuage concerns about your academics..

Yes I'm URM attending an HBCU. I am a member of the chemistry club Eboard, a mental health organization and currently interning as a mentor/tutor for children at a local middle school, I've done two summer research programs since attending college.

 

[Shirafune]

Yes I'm URM attending an HBCU. I am a member of the chemistry club Eboard, a mental health organization and currently interning as a mentor/tutor for children at a local middle school, I've done two summer research programs since attending college. .

From a cursory glance, I think your accessory ECs are fine. Your research should be fine as well.

What clinical experience do you have (shadowing, volunteering or work)? What non-clinical volunteering do you have?

It would be more helpful if you can provide an itemized list of hours and the length of the commitments.

 

[drbaddie_94]

1. Volunteering at emory's clinic (~100 hrs so far)
2. Volunteering at Emory autism center (about 30hrs)
3. Work (6 hrs per week since August 2016 -- about 250 total)
4. Shadowing doctors (about 15-20 hrs)

I was never sure about what kind of non-clinical volunteering would be helpful so I dont have any at the moment

 

[gyngyn]

Your gpa is the major problem.
The school where you have a fighting chance has a 10th percentile for matriculants of 3.05. That is still quite a stretch...

 

[bears1992]

Hi! I am a senior but I have one more year of undergraduate left.
I have a 2.5 cGPA and 2.43 sGPA.. I haven't taken the MCAT yet
I am working on getting my CNA Certification renewed during the summer but I'm conflicted about either doing a one year post-bacc or just working for about a year as a CNA after graduation.
Any suggestions about what which I would allow me to have a better chance at medical school??
I wont mind a one- two year program either so anything helps..

For a non-URM, that GPA would be a no go for any school regardless of MCAT. URMs seem to have much more leeway with GPA. For 2015, only 5 URMs applied to MD schools with your GPA range and and a 515+ MCAT. 3 of them got an acceptance.
https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/factstablea24.html

There isn't much data on applicants with extremely low GPAs like yours paired with a killer MCAT so it's hard to say what your odds would be with a 515+ MCAT. I imagine you will need a year or two of postbac at 3.8+ and a 510+ MCAT. The postbac to show that you can handle the rigorous medical school cirriculum and a high MCAT to show that you can pass your COMLEX/USMLE exams. I think your best bet is DO and I would only apply to the MD schools that are bottom tier and have a heavy bias towards URMs.

Other than the high URM acceptance for MD schools, you should really be looking at DO. The 2016 matriculate pool had 656 applicants and 66 matriculates with your GPA range for an acceptance rate of roughly 10%. I imagine the majority of those 66 matriculates had high MCAT/URM/upward trend. If your URM status is Black/African American then I'd say 40-60 credits of 3.8+ postbac paired with a high 510+MCAT might be enough to get you into a URM seeking MD school or DO school. Your problem is going to be GPA cutoffs as any school that has one is going to screen you out. If you can get that GPA above 3.0 with a strong upward trend and high MCAT, your URM status should get you a good look-over from adcoms.

http://www.aacom.org/docs/default-s...riculant-profile-summary-report.pdf?sfvrsn=10

 

[Goro]

I'd like to follow up my wise colleague's words by pointing out, OP, that no medical school is doing you any favors by admitting you when you are at high risk for failing out. You have yet to demonstrate that you can survive medical school.

Your gpa is the major problem.
The school where you have a fighting chance has a 10th percentile for matriculants of 3.05. That is still quite a stretch...