GPA Importance

[rcd]

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What's the real difference between GPAs of say 4.0, 3.8, 3.6 when it comes to admissions?

 

[erin682]

Its really not that simple. I mean are we talking a 4.0 from a poor academic school. Or maybe you have a 4.0 but didn't do another thing the entire time you were in college to be able to have that 4.0. On the other hand a lower GPA from a top rated school (and I mean academically challenged not like how much money you pay to go there) with lots of ECs and community service has a great shot. Plus on top of all that you throw MCAT and personal interviews into the mix. Obviously if you had two completly identical applications and one had a 4.0 the other had a 3.6 the 4.0 would look stronger but even then its no guarantee that the 4.0 would get in.

Basically what I'm saying is if you have a lower GPA there is still a really great chance of getting in. You just have to prove beyond a doubt that you are a well rounded person that can do more things than just excel in the classroom. The same goes if you have a 4.0. You shouldn't feel that you have an easy pass into med school because lots of schools really want to see well-rounded applicants.

Either way good luck!

 

[Reimat]

What's the real difference between GPAs of say 4.0, 3.8, 3.6 when it comes to admissions?

That's like asking the difference between steak and a hamburger- all are good, but one is less common and thus has more value. Yea, I've had hamburgers that would kick an average steak's ass, but if you ask me to pick blindly, I'm gonna pick the steak. So it goes with GPA. The key is if you don't have a top of the line GPA, make yourself stand out elsewhere- especially on the MCAT.

Wow, I'm hungry.. 😀

 

[WatchingWaiting]

What's the real difference between GPAs of say 4.0, 3.8, 3.6 when it comes to admissions?

If you look at the medical school application requirements book put out by the AAMC, you will see that the difference between a 3.5 and a 4.0 is a difference of a 40% admission rate versus a 75% admission rate. In other words, it's a very big difference! Also, don't kid yourself about the activities. They are very important, but only AFTER you have presented suitable academic credentials to the school you are applying to. A 3.8/33 MCAT peace corps alumni will beat a 4.0/35 MCAT with cookie cutter pre-med activities most of the time, but a 3.5/29 MCAT peace corps alumni will lose out to the 4.0/35 MCAT cookie-cutter pre-med most of the time.

 

[twicetenturns]

Ignoring other factors, and with a few exceptions

4.0 competative everywhere (clearly)
3.75 par for elite schools
3.65 par for mid range schools
3.55 par for lower ranked schools
3.5 par for osteopathic schools

add in other factors and we have a range of GPAs getting into all schools. These are just approximations

 

[Law2Doc]

Ignoring other factors, and with a few exceptions

4.0 competative everywhere (clearly)
3.75 par for elite schools
3.65 par for mid range schools
3.55 par for lower ranked schools
3.5 par for osteopathic schools

add in other factors and we have a range of GPAs getting into all schools. These are just approximations

This listing doesn't really work because as prior posters indicated, you cannot ignore the other factors. Big ECs like peace corps, and high MCAT scores count for a lot. The one "other factor" I don't think you can ever ignore when talkng pure numbers is the MCAT, which schools use to validate whether a 4.0 (at XYZ school or in QRS course load) is really equivalent to a 4.0 elsewhere. Frankly a 4.0 and a 26 or below on the MCAT wouldn't be "competitive" anywhere allopathic. Similarly a 3.5 and better than 40 on the MCATs will put you solidly in consideration for all the mid range allopathic schools and looked at by most of the elites. I also note that lots of people (likely the majority attending med school, based on school averages) with a GPA of 3.5 or below get into allopathic schools, so your threshhold for needing to go the osteophathic route is simply way too high...

 

[skoaner]

What's the real difference between GPAs of say 4.0, 3.8, 3.6 when it comes to admissions?

If you don't have a 4.0 you might as well not apply. 🙄

 

[10minutes]

Simple: 4.0 (all A's, crazy people, hehe) >> 3.8 (A's & A-'s in average) >> 3.6 (A-'s and B+'s in average)

All are good, but 0.2 gpa difference is huge (in the same school).

 

[Violet54]

Hi Law2doc just wanted to let you know I got into BU with 26 in my MCAT this year.

 

[Law2Doc]

Hi Law2doc just wanted to let you know I got into BU with 26 in my MCAT this year.

That's great - congrats! But that's why I put quotes around "competitive". There will always be a few people below the numbers indicated who will get in on other non-numerical strengths, and there will be a few people who don't get in who have amazingly high numbers but otherwise weak applications. In an applicant pool of 10,000+ a few exceptions don't throw off the overall thesis. (Then again maybe I should have been safer and said "25 or below" 🙄 ).

 

[45408]

A 3.8/33 MCAT peace corps alumni will beat a 4.0/35 MCAT with cookie cutter pre-med activities most of the time, but a 3.5/29 MCAT peace corps alumni will lose out to the 4.0/35 MCAT cookie-cutter pre-med most of the time.

There's a lot of Peace Corps applicants out there too, you know. There's hardly anything out there that isn't pretty well explored.

 

[skoaner]

There's a lot of Peace Corps applicants out there too, you know. There's hardly anything out there that isn't pretty well explored.

I only know 2 of us who've been to Antarctica and applied! 😛

 

[BigRedPingpong]

peace corps, teach-for-america, and graduate students are quickly becoming a huge minority among applicants. Pretty soon, they're gonna expect people to have graduate degrees B4 med school. Half my class took "time off" before med school. Next year, probably more than half.

 

[45408]

peace corps, teach-for-america, and graduate students are quickly becoming a huge minority among applicants. Pretty soon, they're gonna expect people to have graduate degrees B4 med school. Half my class took "time off" before med school. Next year, probably more than half.

The highest acceptance rates for any group of people, I believe, are for people who apply to begin med school immediately after undergrad, which they did right after high school. Peace Corps and whatnot are not necessary and may not even show the right character traits that the schools are looking for. To each his own.

 

[visualwealth]

get the best grades you can and then pray alot...

 

[WatchingWaiting]

The highest acceptance rates for any group of people, I believe, are for people who apply to begin med school immediately after undergrad, which they did right after high school. Peace Corps and whatnot are not necessary and may not even show the right character traits that the schools are looking for. To each his own.

The best "character trait" for applying to med school is academic excellence as manifested by high grades and MCAT test scores. It is a simple fact that people who apply straight out of college tend to have had the highest grades and MCAT scores, and people who delay for a few years often do so because they know that their grades and test scores were not quite good enough and that they would have to do other things to make up for them. You are certainly correct that someone with a 3.9 gpa/36 MCAT with two years in a lab as an undergraduate and some minimal evidence of community service/clinical activity, isn't going to need Peace Corps or time off, but for someone with a 3.5/28, a year or two off with strong activities in the mean time can certainly help compensate for academically being so-so.

 

[BigRedPingpong]

The highest acceptance rates for any group of people, I believe, are for people who apply to begin med school immediately after undergrad, which they did right after high school. Peace Corps and whatnot are not necessary and may not even show the right character traits that the schools are looking for. To each his own.

I said (peace corps, non-trads, etc.) are "becoming" very popular candidates. I didn't mean already are the majority. My point is trads, my self being a traditional med student, aren't necessarily the majority anymore-at some schools any way. I'm just predicting a trend that's all.

 

[BigRedPingpong]

You are certainly correct that someone with a 3.9 gpa/36 MCAT with two years in a lab as an undergraduate and some minimal evidence of community service/clinical activity,

That's great. I hope you don't get pimped by your interviewer when he asks you "gee, you don't have much clinical experience. What makes you so sure you want to be in this field? That's great you got lab experience...we aren't looking for PhD students...we're making doctors here."

 

[WatchingWaiting]

That's great. I hope you don't get pimped by your interviewer when he asks you "gee, you don't have much clinical experience. What makes you so sure you want to be in this field? That's great you got lab experience...we aren't looking for PhD students...we're making doctors here."

I'm a med student, but thanks for your concern. Also, maybe you haven't heard of MD/PhD programs? Also, the term "pimping" generally refers to factual, and often esoteric, questions designed to humiliate and/or teach. Asking someone to clarify their interest in medicine is pretty standard for pretty much all interviews. It gets asked of even the most clinically experienced applicants, as the vast majority of applicants have pretty limited actual experience with the health care system as a whole (shadowing, a free clinic, volunteering in the ER, and the like provide a pretty limited view of modern medical practice) and, of course, all the face time in the world doesn't mean a particular applicant actually has a coherent reason for going into medicine.

 

[45408]

That's great. I hope you don't get pimped by your interviewer when he asks you "gee, you don't have much clinical experience. What makes you so sure you want to be in this field? That's great you got lab experience...we aren't looking for PhD students...we're making doctors here."

Tell him you've shadowed half a dozen doctors for over 100 hours and you should be okay.

Btw, I think the med student about just pimped you. 😀

 

[BigRedPingpong]

I'm a med student, but thanks for your concern. Also, maybe you haven't heard of MD/PhD programs? Also, the term "pimping" generally refers to factual, and often esoteric, questions designed to humiliate and/or teach. Asking someone to clarify their interest in medicine is pretty standard for pretty much all interviews. It gets asked of even the most clinically experienced applicants, as the vast majority of applicants have pretty limited actual experience with the health care system as a whole (shadowing, a free clinic, volunteering in the ER, and the like provide a pretty limited view of modern medical practice) and, of course, all the face time in the world doesn't mean a particular applicant actually has a coherent reason for going into medicine.

Yeah, you are so right...that's what pimping means... Let me just pull a definition out of my ass too. You are a adslfjsladkjgj, and that word means, often esoterically, you're a dumb ass. So guess what watchingwating you are a adslfjsladkjgj.

 

[45408]

Quit your whining just because you got yourself owned.

 

[BigRedPingpong]

I own your mother

 

[willthatsall]

I love this thread.