GPA Cutoff

Started by Moebius
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Moebius

Moebius

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Hey Guys. I was wondering if its a good idea to apply to Med school with a GPA lower than 3.4? I am afraid that a lot of schools will automatically reject an applicant since the average is 3.6. I have a strong upward curve after freshman year. 😀

Appreciate any comments. 👍
 
Moebius said:
Hey Guys. I was wondering if its a good idea to apply to Med school with a GPA lower than 3.4? I am afraid that a lot of schools will automatically reject an applicant since the average is 3.6. I have a strong upward curve after freshman year. 😀

Appreciate any comments. 👍
Click to expand...

my cousin was c/o 2009 from medical school w/ a 28 MCAT and 3.0. He worked as an EMT all through college.

don't let the crazies tell you your stats are bs. as long as you have solid ECs and an MCAT to match, you're absolutely fine. go enjoy the sunshine!
 
Thanks. I think I might do a year of postbac just to get it to a 3.5 range. This will probably delay a couple of things, but it will be worth it.
 
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Worse that happens is you get rejected.

Applying to med school is like hitting on a hot girl. You won't know until you try. And you might get lucky.
 
Moebius said:
Thanks. I think I might do a year of postbac just to get it to a 3.5 range. This will probably delay a couple of things, but it will be worth it.
Click to expand...

probably wise. but seriously... the AVERAGE is a 3.6. that means that some people have to be below that. so you never know.
 
Yea, best advice I've read on here is just simply apply when you're at your best and be confident in your application.

And you should check the MSAR for indiv. school cutoffs if you haven't already.

Does anyone know if the MSAR cutoffs (bottom 10th percentile) are absolute cutoffs?
 
I thought the MSAR only showed the range from 10th to 90th percentile. So there are still some below/above that range.
 
Moebius said:
Hey Guys. I was wondering if its a good idea to apply to Med school with a GPA lower than 3.4? I am afraid that a lot of schools will automatically reject an applicant since the average is 3.6. I have a strong upward curve after freshman year. 😀

Appreciate any comments. 👍
Click to expand...

One of my good friends got a few acceptances with a 3.4 and 30+ MCAT. He had some good leadership ECs and some unique volunteering however, both of which non-medically related. Absolutely you can do it.
 
from what i understand, the auto-rejects cut-offs are really low.. like 3.0 to maybe 3.1-3.2

that said you wouldnt be doing yourself any favors by applying now instead of when you have your best food forward (higher gpa after postbacc)... i say dont apply unless you have some cash to burn and would be happy with any md accetance.
 
If you feel that the other aspects of your application are complete and if you would rather not do a Post-bacc (which I would highly recommend), you might as well give it a shot. You certainly aren't in the threshold for an auto rejection, so I wouldn't worry about that. Apply to all of your state schools and some other low-mid tier M.D. schools. If you're willing to go D.O. (which doesn't seem entirely necessary, but may save you from applying multiple times and putting a lot more effort into padding your GPA and ec's), you may have more luck there.

In the end, just hope and pray that your upward trend at least gets your foot in the door.
 
Moebius, are you a minority? It is statistically easier for you to get an acceptance as long as you're above a 3.2. Maybe even for overrepresented majorities if you have great ECs
 
Consider DO if you're interested in that route.

Some schools would suggest you enroll in a Special Master's Program, but certainly 3.2-3.4 isn't too low to get in somewhere, but your extracurriculars are going to be even more important than usual.

BerlinDude said:
Worse that happens is you get rejected.

Applying to med school is like hitting on a hot girl. You won't know until you try. And you might get lucky.
Click to expand...

No applying to medical school is more like paying a bunch of girls $100 dollars each to ask them out, and they get back to you a few months later.
 
Thanks for all the helpful advice guys! 😀

I am probably going to either do a postbac or stay another year at college. During this year, I can continue to work on my ECs. I started out with about a 2.2 my freshman year (30 hours). It was very tough raising the GPA. I think I will apply to DO schools as well to be safe.
 
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