General Question

[tata100]

Hi I was just curious about my chances of getting into the medical school?
I had a bad semester due to some personal problems at home which is why I got a C- on genetics but I still maintain a 3.7 GPA and have an MCAT score of 34.
Are the stats good enough to get me into medical school or do i need to improve my GPA more...
Thanks

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[Zona Pellucida]

Should be okay with good ECs/Letters/etc. GPA is good. MCAT is good.

C- isn't good but Genetics is not a pre-req and a few bad grades don't matter as long as your GPA is still up there.

Should be moved to 'What are my Chances?'

 

[RevMD]

Hi I was just curious about my chances of getting into the medical school?
I had a bad semester due to some personal problems at home which is why I got a C- on genetics but I still maintain a 3.7 GPA and have an MCAT score of 34.
Are the stats good enough to get me into medical school or do i need to improve my GPA more...
Thanks

First off, what you year are you in and when are you planning to apply?

Based on what you provided so far, I think you are in better shape than most people considering your GPA must have been higher before last sem and that MCAT score is something to be proud of. Best thing to counter this is by making sure you explain in a very brief and subtle way in your AMCAS or secondary apps when they ask about whether there were any difficulties that impacted your performance your during college. Might also help if you ask your advisor to include some positive spin about this when getting an LOR. But for now, I would just focus on getting back on track and blocking out those distractions. Bringing your grades back up next sem will show med schools you can overcome difficulties. Hope everything is alright at home.

Also, I think you might want to retake that genetics course since AMCAS will not accept anything lower than a C grade in any class (correct me if I am wrong).

 

[Catalystik]

Yes, your stats are good enough to get you into med school. You do not need to repeat the Genetics class, unless you want to (it is a good class to understand well, going into med school). Applicants have worse grades than yours and do fine anyway, due to having enough As to compensate for their less ideal grades.

There are several common Secondary essay topics where you can address your difficult semester, like "Describe a challenge and how you overcame it," or "Discuss a stressful issue and how you handled it," or "Use this space to discuss any factors that may have impacted your academics."

Now finish your next semester strong to prove your poor performanance wasn't the real you.

 

[boostedct9a]

I was told by my advisor that genetics is being looked at more and more by medical schools. If this is true, I would repeat the course. After that you should be pretty competitive (Depending on how good your EC's and LOR's are). Also be sure that you are able to explain why you got the C- because they might ask in an interview.

 

[bravofleet4]

I don't think you should have to retake the class. Only do it if you have the time. If it does come up during an interview, it's more likely to see how well you respond to criticism than to really find out why you didn't do so well in it. I mean I've heard some of these interviewers will ask you why you got a B in a course just to mess with you.

You're GPA and MCAT are competitive. EC's are very important as well as LOR's. Without them, you could get rejected by all the schools. You should focus on those as you can't significantly improve your GPA in the course of a year. When you're ready to ask about those just post here or make another thread.

 

[tata100]

Thanks everyone for your replies...
It was very helpful.