gpa and letters of recs

[sbomb]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi everyone,

I've been hearing mixed things on certain issues. Do the admissions committee consider your ugrad major in addition to your gpa? I had a 3.40 as an undergrad which is a little on the low side but my major was electrical engineering at UCLA. I've heard things that major doesn't matter, but is only a method of diversification. I'm also doing a masters now at UCLA in Biomed Engineering. I have a 3.51 currently and am going to take another year to finish the premed requirements. How heavily do the admissions committees weigh the grad GPA? On paper, my coursework load doesn't seem to be that heavy. I've been taking 2 grad classes and a seminar for S/U credit plus a independent study course for studying for my masters comp test during fall and winter quarters. This quarter, I'm only took 1 o-chem course, 1 seminar, and independent study course since my masters comp test was this quarter. Would my coursework be considered a "rigorous" courseload? I'm trying to max out my GPA and doing as well as I can on the comp test. I'm also considering taking a year off working in the biotech industry to absolutely make sure I want to do med school. I'm concerned about letters of recs. Should I ask professors now to write and save letters of recommendation before I graduate so that they don't forget who I am? How are all of you non-trads getting your letters of recs?

 

[relentless11]

Hi everyone,

I've been hearing mixed things on certain issues. Do the admissions committee consider your ugrad major in addition to your gpa? I had a 3.40 as an undergrad which is a little on the low side but my major was electrical engineering at UCLA. I've heard things that major doesn't matter, but is only a method of diversification. I'm also doing a masters now at UCLA in Biomed Engineering. I have a 3.51 currently and am going to take another year to finish the premed requirements. How heavily do the admissions committees weigh the grad GPA? On paper, my coursework load doesn't seem to be that heavy. I've been taking 2 grad classes and a seminar for S/U credit plus a independent study course for studying for my masters comp test during fall and winter quarters. This quarter, I'm only took 1 o-chem course, 1 seminar, and independent study course since my masters comp test was this quarter. Would my coursework be considered a "rigorous" courseload? I'm trying to max out my GPA and doing as well as I can on the comp test. I'm also considering taking a year off working in the biotech industry to absolutely make sure I want to do med school. I'm concerned about letters of recs. Should I ask professors now to write and save letters of recommendation before I graduate so that they don't forget who I am? How are all of you non-trads getting your letters of recs?

Graduate level GPA is weighted less than undergrad (UG) GPA since most people apply with only an undergrad degree. Therefore it evens the playing field since students in grad level programs are usually highly motivated, and under pressure to do well (e.g.: B- = failing). In your case though, since your UG GPA is decent, and your grad GPA isn't worse than the UG GPA, then I think it won't count against you. It may come down to a combined effect from a very high MCAT score. You know full well that people getting into the UC's have a mean UG GPA of 3.6-3.7, and MCAT of 33. Of course UCLA and UCSF will be higher than that.

In regards to workload, are you doing masters by thesis or masters by exam? It sounds like you are doing by exam, and therefore workload may be an issue. Although adcoms will understand that you have to take some seminars, taking 1-2 classes a quarter is not really putting you under higher workload conditions. I took was concerned about this, and thus for my PhD program, I took about 8-10 units of required coursework (usually 1-2 grad level, 1-2 undergrad, and 1-2 seminars), and 2-6 units of research. I spoke with our admissions director here at UCD School of Medicine, and he had no problems against half of my quarter being for research since I was doing a PhD. On a side note, my friend who did post-bacc only did 1-2 classes a quarter and maintained a 4.0. He got interviews, but adcoms expressed their concern that the 4.0 was the result of just taking 1-2 classes, therefore they were not convinced of his capacity to do well under a full-time courseload, and thus he did not get into med school. There were probably also other factors involved too (like UG GPA). Med school workload is probably up to par with taking 4-5 grad level classes at the same time if not more.

On a side note, to offset that grad GPA vs. UG GPA thing, I did and am still doing undergrad classes to show that I can get A's in those classes too. So yea, its all a balancing game. You obviously want to fullfill your masters requirements but also show them you can get A's doing rigorous coursework. If not then they may question your higher grad GPA since it may be the result of taking fewer classes. I would personally go talk to the people at Geffen, and see what they think since I have not personally encountered anyone doing masters by exam before.

 

[wook]

I'm concerned about letters of recs. Should I ask professors now to write and save letters of recommendation before I graduate so that they don't forget who I am? How are all of you non-trads getting your letters of recs?

I would ask them to write the letters of recommendation now, while you are still fresh in their minds. I would also recommend this in case you end up waiting a few years before applying.

Wook

 

[sbomb]

Wow. 4.0 in post-bacc courses and not even accepted by 1 med school. I'd better be taking like 4-5 courses ugrad courses plus research starting fall.

 

[vtucci]

Wow. 4.0 in post-bacc courses and not even accepted by 1 med school. I'd better be taking like 4-5 courses ugrad courses plus research starting fall.

It depends on what else he was doing at that time. 2 classes is not impressive if that is all you have but if you are juggling it with a full-time job, it paints a different picture. In addition, anyone who gets interviews and no acceptances, they need to check their personality for glaring flaws. When you get to the interview stage, they want to admit you for the most part. So I always wonder when I hear this.

 

[chrisjohn]

Of course ADCOMS look at the applicant's major! Does a “difficult” degree make up for poor grades? Nope. You’re grades ain’t too bad, but your graduate GPS needs to be >3.5 and honestly anything less than a 4.0 isn’t going to help ameliorate your previous undergraduate performance.

Graduate programs take up a huge amount of time, don’t sweat the low number of courses. I was taking the max amount at my school then taking courses at the med school plus doing research. Yea, if you only take thesis hours for two years, then you might have to defend why it took you two years to knock out a thesis, but sounds like you are not going this route.

To make sure you want to do the medical school thing, What?! Be decisive and get prepared to work hard! Ain’t any other way. Non trads have to work at least twice as hard to arrive at the same place.