Hey I was wondering if I should go ahead and try to apply to medical school. My gpa is fairly low, 3.51 it might go up a little but it'll probably stay pretty constant. I'm a junior at UNC-CH, and I do undergrad research and volunteer in the hospital and habitat for humanity, and I'm a member of the national honor society here and am involved with various campus minitries. Would my application look strong? I haven't taken the MCATs yet. I've about given up and have looked into other career options.
chances
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You are giving up without even trying? Why? Your Gpa is'nt all that low, infact its okay. Take MCATs and see where you stand before giving up, Who knows you might surprise yourself with the results.
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it's no fun giving up without even giving it a try. Definitely take the MCATS and if you do well, you'll be just as competitive as the next guy or girl. So a 3.51 is nothing to give up on. Good luck
the stats for admission into medical school aren't that encouraging. Take my school for example UNC-CH, our medical school has an acceptance rate of 174/790. To me that's overwhelming odds and its not any better at other schools. What makes me better than the 616 people who were rejected, I have a feeling that I'll be weeded out because of my gpa.
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If you are serious about wanting to be a doc, take the damn MCAT. 🙂 No one can predict admissions very well - and this is infinitely more true without an MCAT score to work with. Oh yeah, one more thing, stop being so pessimistic!
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guest,
Take the MCAT and see how it goes. In all honesty, a 3.51 isn't that bad. Many schools accept applicants w/ GPAs at that mark or lower. Don't throw the towel in so soon. Give the MCAT a shot and go from there. You've worked hard to get where you are now...don't throw it away so fast.
Take the MCAT and see how it goes. In all honesty, a 3.51 isn't that bad. Many schools accept applicants w/ GPAs at that mark or lower. Don't throw the towel in so soon. Give the MCAT a shot and go from there. You've worked hard to get where you are now...don't throw it away so fast.
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I have a 3.4755 and "eh" MCATS and I've had 5 interviews after submitting 13 secondaries including many, many "reach" schools. My point, REELAX. Gosh, I get so offended sometimes- what's wrong with a 3.51?
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A 3.5 is fine. Do well on the MCAT (which is probably more important than GPA anyway) and you should be able to get in almost anywhere.
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Think of it this way: An average is simply that: there are many people accepted who are both above AND below that number who are accepted, and it depends on a whole lot more than your GPA in the end. If you get a halfway decent MCAT score, you should have no problem (trust me, my GPS is a bit lower than yours, my MCATS were way solid, and I've gotten several interviews thus far.)
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forget about what you NEED...instead focus on getting the best damn mcat score you can. once all your stats in, then apply and let the admissions committees at the schools decide whether or not you deserve to go.
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Everything comes down to which schools you're applying to. I'd say that a 30 would give you a decent chance at acceptance.
Oh, wait. You said half decent, so I guess you need like a 20 or so. 😉
Oh, wait. You said half decent, so I guess you need like a 20 or so. 😉
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Yup, I'd tend to agree. A 30 should be enough. Naturally, anything high than 30 just makes the chances get all that much better.
Trust us, guest, a GPA of 3.5 from a good school like UNC-CH is more than enough to get in to med school.
Trust us, guest, a GPA of 3.5 from a good school like UNC-CH is more than enough to get in to med school.
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Hey guest,
Just to reiterate what everyone else has said, your stats sound fine. One thing though, if you are already thinking about not applying before you've even taken the MCATs, are you really sure you want to go into medicine? Don't give up on yourself, but make sure this is something you really want to do before you invest a lot more time and money.
Good Luck guest and feel free to ask more questions!
Just to reiterate what everyone else has said, your stats sound fine. One thing though, if you are already thinking about not applying before you've even taken the MCATs, are you really sure you want to go into medicine? Don't give up on yourself, but make sure this is something you really want to do before you invest a lot more time and money.
Good Luck guest and feel free to ask more questions!
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I have a 3.5/'solid' MCATs and have gotten quite a few interviews. But I do have a word of warning for you, guest. This is NOT an easy process, and you have to have a helluva lot of determination just to get through the first stage, much less live through the interviewing/ anxiety of waiting. The tough classes and MCATs are themselves 'weeders'. If you're not feeliing psyched about it, I say take a year or more off to try something else. Then, when you're rarin to go, don't aplogize for your GPA or anything else. But this board is one of the few (if not the only) arena in which you'll get such unconditional support. You need to gain some confidence and masochism before you'll make it. Obviously this is a little exaggerated. But the essence is true.
GOOD LUCK!
GOOD LUCK!
I really must say, you guys really show a lot of optimism. Are you guys just people who like to encourage others or do you speak from experience. I'm now thinking about taking the MCAT this spring and as a backup plan I'll be taking the DAT a little sooner. But what I really want to do is medicine. Thanks for all of your encouragment.
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And you still sound pessimistic. I have to agree that if you want to give up with a 3.5 gpa, before you have even taken the MCAT, than maybe you should look more deeply at some other options. How can you be so negative when your gpa is right at the national average for acceptance? If you are bent on numbers as odds, than being right at the average means that you have a better chance than 49% of the other applicants.
Most of the people here do speak from experience, but if you are leary of the opinions, than look at the literature. AAMC has all the average acceptance numbers broken down into every imaginable category. I wish you the best of luck, but at this point you really are sitting better than alot of us. Do decent on your MCATS, get some clinical experience blah, blah.
If med schools only cated about your numbers, they would not bother holding interviews. Your gpa(assuming other factors are ok) should get you interviewed, what happens from there is up to you and your determination. I can tell you that the biggest concern for most adcoms is recruting students that will stay with it for the long hall, through all the rigors, books, hours, clinicals, cont. ed., ect. Thinking of quiting already does not show that you can do that.If your not willing to stick with it now, than you will never have to worry about proving to them that you can handle med school and will stick with it if accepted.
Most of the people here do speak from experience, but if you are leary of the opinions, than look at the literature. AAMC has all the average acceptance numbers broken down into every imaginable category. I wish you the best of luck, but at this point you really are sitting better than alot of us. Do decent on your MCATS, get some clinical experience blah, blah.
If med schools only cated about your numbers, they would not bother holding interviews. Your gpa(assuming other factors are ok) should get you interviewed, what happens from there is up to you and your determination. I can tell you that the biggest concern for most adcoms is recruting students that will stay with it for the long hall, through all the rigors, books, hours, clinicals, cont. ed., ect. Thinking of quiting already does not show that you can do that.If your not willing to stick with it now, than you will never have to worry about proving to them that you can handle med school and will stick with it if accepted.
