DO adcoms care about sob stories?

Started by bears1992
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bears1992

bears1992

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5+ Year Member
My freshman and dual enrollment GPA are poor (2.44GPA) and account for 74 of my 201 credits. I've noticed most people that post about upward trends have some legitimate reason for a poor start (relative died, poorly managed ADD/depression, caretaker for terminally ill relative, etc.). My only explanation is that quiet frankly, I sucked as a student. I was lazy and just did what I could to get a C (I got a C in a class called "Student Success" and had a semester of 5 straight C's). Do adcoms need a valid excuse for a poor start?
 
I doubt it. I doubt they believe half the sob stories anyways honestly. I think being young and dumb is about as legit of a reason as you've got. I have a lot of that. My first year I got like a 1.1. I do have a legit reason, I got on anti-depressants for like 4 months, fixed me up and I've been fine ever since, but I was way off for that year. Sleeping about 14 hours a day. I also had mono. I don't even know if I'll say any of that stuff. When I went back like 3 years later I was like you, C's get degrees attitude (was going criminal justice), and got like a 2.7 my second year. then a 3.1, then 3.6, then 3.8 then 3.9 and if this semester pans out my final year will be a 4.0. I don't think I'll mention the depression or mono, maybe I should but I haven't been planning on it. I think they are most concerned with no matter what it was that was going on, you're past it, you've learned from it and you can handle the medical coursework now. They know people are young and unmotivated. Or so I hope🙂
 
We recognize that not everybody is ready for college at age 18. Hell, I wasn't ready even when I graduated!

What we want to see is that you can handle med school, now.

Poor choice making always looks bad, no matter what the cause.

bears1992 said:
My freshman and dual enrollment GPA are poor (2.44GPA) and account for 74 of my 201 credits. I've noticed most people that post about upward trends have some legitimate reason for a poor start (relative died, poorly managed ADD/depression, caretaker for terminally ill relative, etc.). My only explanation is that quiet frankly, I sucked as a student. I was lazy and just did what I could to get a C (I got a C in a class called "Student Success" and had a semester of 5 straight C's). Do adcoms need a valid excuse for a poor start?
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This is the kind of question that needs to be on an FAQ.

Question: Will a sob story help me in admissions?
Answer: Absolutely never. No exceptions.

Adcom 1: "Hey look at this guy. In 6 months, his whole family was murdered, he was diagnosed with 5 cancers, struck by lightning, and then captured by Somali pirates and forced to to mine salt until he was saved by navy SEALs."
Adcom 2: "that sucks, what's his GPA?"
Adcom 1: "2.8"
Adcom 2: "well then he can do a masters like everyone else and apply next year."

There are 2 hard rules of medical school admissions:
1) there is no substitute for good grades.
2) medical schools don't need applicants who compensate for weaknesses in their application, they can get applicants who have it all.

This can be confusion though, because, IF you have the grades, IF you have a good application, and IF you have proven you can handle a medical school workload, THEN a story about OVERCOMING hardship MAY put you ahead of an applicant without that story.

Note that "overcoming" is the key word here.
 
Displays of resilience are always good, and we like come from behind stories. It's in our national DNA.


Peach Newport said:
This is the kind of question that needs to be on an FAQ.

Question: Will a sob story help me in admissions?
Answer: Absolutely never. No exceptions.

Adcom 1: "Hey look at this guy. In 6 months, his whole family was murdered, he was diagnosed with 5 cancers, struck by lightning, and then captured by Somali pirates and forced to to mine salt until he was saved by navy SEALs."
Adcom 2: "that sucks, what's his GPA?"
Adcom 1: "2.8"
Adcom 2: "well then he can do a masters like everyone else and apply next year."

There are 2 hard rules of medical school admissions:
1) there is no substitute for good grades.
2) medical schools don't need applicants who compensate for weaknesses in their application, they can get applicants who have it all.

This can be confusion though, because, IF you have the grades, IF you have a good application, and IF you have proven you can handle a medical school workload, THEN a story about OVERCOMING hardship MAY put you ahead of an applicant without that story.

Note that "overcoming" is the key word here.
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Goro said:
Ahhh, legacies...totally different ballgame.
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I should clarify my post.
How would my upward trend look with a 10000 million dollar donation to my school of choice? I'm looking at Ross but I'll settle for St. George's or that J Hopkins school was up north. I'm just hoping that donation will help them see I am very committed to being a doctor or whatever.
 
bears1992 said:
This is incorrect. Donating 10 million dollars to Touro-NY would certainly make up for a 0.5GPA with no volunteering and a murder conviction.
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As a Touro NY student, I'm wondering why you say this. Has Touro NY shown a willingness to accept subpar students in return for donations in the past or something?
 
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