Hi, I am a sophomore in Engineering and will complete my engineering degree in aSummer 2007. I have been studyding for MCATs with a friend and plan on taking the exam in April. My GPA is around 3.4 and I plan to maintain that GPA for rest of my engineering degree. It is very hard to increase the GPA since I'll be taking hard engineering classes in the near future. What kind of GPA and a MCAT score would I need to get into MED SCHOOL for Fall 2007? Will my engineering degree help in anyway? Thanks,
Engineering Student
- Thread starter Milind
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I graduated with a chemical engineering degree in 2003. It was incredibally tough - there were times when I didn't know if I was going to make it through. Its very hard to keep a high GPA. I'm not sure if ADCOM's take majors into account when considering grades, but I don't think they give preference to one major over another. The GPA is what counts. Though I do think they will recognize the different paths that candidates take in college.
Stick with it (as long as you like your major) and try to find time to pack in some EC's and volunteering, etc. Good luck and hang in there. 👍
Stick with it (as long as you like your major) and try to find time to pack in some EC's and volunteering, etc. Good luck and hang in there. 👍
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Milind said:
If you maintain that 3.4 and get decent MCAT score, you will be alright (assuming you have "decent" amount of extracurricular activities).
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Milind said:
milind, i am a 4th year electrical engineering student and going through the interview process....let me tell you..it all depends where you interview. although I have noticed that schools that consider themselves to be research power houses tend to appreciate engineers more than the clinically oriented schools.
at all of my interviews i was asked why engineering?
one guy also told me that they felt that engineers are too introverted and incapable physicians (before the interview even started)
😱
however, at some other interviews the interviewers complemented my choice of major and my gpa.
low gpa(<3.5,3.6) in an engineering major is still not an excuse for most schools so keep that gpa up.
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I feel you on the GPA thing. I graduated with a 3.5 GPA in Chemical Engineering but my BCPM is only a 3.3. I feel it was harder to maintain a higher GPA because of the courseload, I mean I was taking OChem, Physics, Calc 3 and a Chem Eng. class all in the same semester. Hopefully the AdCom will recognize this for all the engineering majors out there. I scored 33 on my MCAT so maybe that will help out.
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BSChemE said:
yea, i think it's gonna be fun to see how my gpa pans out after next semester (spring junior year)....taking pharamceutical engineering, extracellular matricies, biomechanics, medical ethics, and research
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I did the engineering major for two years and then decided I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life..and I switched to premed. I just felt i culd get more out of it by also switching majors so i changed to neurobiology. I barely kept a 3.7 in engineering (but that included a bad semester of personal issues), but since engineering doesn't count as sciences my overall GPA is slightly less than my science GPA which i think is a bit unusual.
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Don't worry 🙂 You should get in somewhere. I have a 3.4 gpa (31 MCAT) and was a biomedical engineer. For some reason think I'm really smart since I was an engineer (hey, if they want to think that, it's fine with me.....). Plus, your engineering design projects will make you stand out. Interviewers are always amazed and interested in my senior design project.
I know people on this forum always debate about how little your school matters or how schools don't care if you were an engineer. I think that is true for the really top schools (i.e. Hopkins, Harvard, Cornell, etc). But I think in general, schools do understand. Despite my gpa, I've received a whole bunch of interview invites and even have an acceptance already.
Point of all my babbling: you have a good shot at getting into medical school 🙂
P.S. Psycho, keeping a 3.7 in engineering is awesome! You should have counted you engineering classes as physics. That's what I did. It actually helped my science gpa a bit...
I know people on this forum always debate about how little your school matters or how schools don't care if you were an engineer. I think that is true for the really top schools (i.e. Hopkins, Harvard, Cornell, etc). But I think in general, schools do understand. Despite my gpa, I've received a whole bunch of interview invites and even have an acceptance already.
Point of all my babbling: you have a good shot at getting into medical school 🙂
P.S. Psycho, keeping a 3.7 in engineering is awesome! You should have counted you engineering classes as physics. That's what I did. It actually helped my science gpa a bit...
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just keep in mind, as an undergraduate student, your gpa carries a lot of weight in how people view you. it's all people have to judge your accomplishments/dedication on. it's not really fair, but a low gpa (which yours isn't) says a lot to most people about your work ethic, motivations, etc. so study hard so you can earn a chance to study even harder in medical school!
fyi, my gpa was about 3.3 entering in to my junior year, when the real engineering classes start, and i graduated with a 3.67 in aerospace. so just get motivated to work hard and a higher gpa isn't out of the picture just b/c you're headed into upper level engineering classes.
good luck!
fyi, my gpa was about 3.3 entering in to my junior year, when the real engineering classes start, and i graduated with a 3.67 in aerospace. so just get motivated to work hard and a higher gpa isn't out of the picture just b/c you're headed into upper level engineering classes.
good luck!
B
Blade28
I was a bioengineering major in college. I think that partially made up for my GPA. 🙂
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Blade28 said:
EE here. a 3.4 is very respectable for engineering. do well on the mcat, get good recommendations, and do well at the interview, and i don't see why you should have any problems getting in.
one thing that helps is if the schools in your area recognize the program as being challenging. every school in my state - from emory to mcg to mercer - has acknowledged to me that the curriculum i went thru is extremely tough adn that they will take that into consideration.
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tinkerbelle said:
Actually it hurts my GPA slightly, so I didn't really want to count it.
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CaptainJack02 said:
MIT???
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Psycho Doctor said:
😀 i wouldn't have the will to live if i went there. georgia tech, has an excellent reputation around the southeast, esp in georgia, which is where emory, mercer, and mcg are and why they told me they respect an engineer coming out of tech.
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CaptainJack02 said:
ah awesome! Yea they have a great reputation; i applied their too for engineering and then withdrew my app
