Getting into Med school with 3.29 cGPA and 3.19 sGPA

[Reinspire]

Wonderful community you guys have here! I've been lurking for awhile and have been considering pursuing my medical field. It seems like a great fit for me, except I'm a little discouraged to apply due to my grades in college.

I just finished college with an sGPA of 3.19 with a cumulative 3.29 at a very competitive and rigorous private institution in a pretty difficult major. I had a slight upwards trend, however. My GPA at the end of freshman year was only a 2.95, after sophomore year it rose to a 3.10, and I ended up with a 3.29 after a difficult year of coursework. My GPA from earlier years was mostly due to lack of motivation and personal issues.

Should I be discouraged to apply due to these statistics? Currently, I just started full-time and the most I can do to help this is probably take a few evening courses via tuition remission but I can't seek out a Masters or similar because of the overwhelming cost associated with it. Furthermore, I need to work full-time to sustain my own expenses.

I plan on taking the MCAT this winter and racking up some additional volunteering/shadowing on weekends on top of a few I already have. I have a few great EC's from college (very involved with several meaningful things to me) and I can work on getting some good recommendations.

Thank you for any advice you may have. The process is extremely daunting for me and my current situation.

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[apumic]

This belongs in the WAMC forum.

Anyway, major doesn't matter. Your institution is of only marginal importance (there are exceptions but unless your school is an Ivy or a CC, you're most likely not one of them -- even if you were, a 3.2-3.3 wouldn't exactly be competitive).

Check the spreadsheet to get a good idea of where you stand in relation to various schools.

I would suggest taking a couple of years off and getting some full-time work experience in a hospital or clinical setting. Following that, apply DO, where a low 3.x GPA isn't such a deal-breaker.

 

[EMS5]

Also, consider a post-bacc or masters if you find something that interests you and you believe you can do well in. If you do well in a grad program it can take a little pressure off your undergrad grades.

Study your a** off and do well on the MCAT

 

[Catalystik]

You could compensate for your low cGPA with a high MCAT score of 34+ for MD schools or a 28+ for DO schools, but that still wouldn't resolve the issue of the low BCPM/science GPA. You'll need a steady stream of As in upper-level sciences over a period of time to do that. Postbac classes will raise your undergrad science GPA, BTW.

Besides taking advanced science classes, you might consider retaking any prerequisite you didn't understand well enough to do well on the MCAT, and also any D or F you earned, to take advantage of the DO med school policy of grade forgiveness if you retake a class (provided credit hours are the same or greater). This would raise your GPAs with AACOMAS (DO application service) faster than taking new coursework, which would be averaged in with everything else. AMCAS does not have grade forgiveness.

 

[Geekchick921]

This belongs in the WAMC forum.

Sure does. Moving it.

 

[Reinspire]

Thanks for the help and apologies for the wrong forum.

As I said, I can't really take a masters or post-bacc because of the overwhelming costs associated with those programs. Plus I had to work full-time to sustain my living costs. The most I can do is take a few evening classes at another school and study very hard for the MCATs.

For a person looking to pursue allopathic medicine, is it worth of it for me to apply with good MCATs and a healthy amount of volunteering and shadowing?

I attended a top 10 private institution and majored in engineering/science for undergraduate.

 

[Catalystik]

For allopathic, you need more than just a good MCAT, as specified above. And you'll need to prove to adcomms that you can survive their curriculum of intense science classes with high grades in upper-level science. And you'll need more ECs than the expected clinical experience and shadowing, like research, nonmedical community service, teaching. Good LORs are essential, as well.

You can get an idea of your likelihood of an acceptance with various MCAT outcomes from this AMCAS data:
http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table24-mcatgpagridall2007-09.pdf