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deleted962263
Hello! I was just curious...what would admissions commitees rather see: an exceptionally high gpa, or one that shows a strong upward trend? Thanks in advance!
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deleted962263
Ideally both, but when does one outweigh the other?
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I mean it’s ideally a really high gpa because that shows consistent success. But if you don’t have a high gpa, an upwards trend can help
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deleted958249
Admission committees want to see that you’ll be able to handle the rigor of medical school coursework. GPA is just one of the metrics they use to assess that. If you were off to a shaky start in undergrad, they’d want to see you were able to recover, learn from your mistakes, and see an improving trend as you progressed through school. If you were off to a great start, they’d like to see you were able to maintain your grades as coursework got more rigorous. All things considered, however, and while they are extremely important, GPA and MCAT will only get you “to” the door. Other metrics such as your volunteer work, leadership, clinical exposure, and other life experiences are what eventually paint an overall picture of you as an applicant, and will help get you “through” the door, hopefully with an interview invite.
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well....if I told you it's better to have a high upward trend, would you intentionally tank your GPA so you could eventually raise it?
Probably not. Just do as well as you can. Having a solid, consistent GPA is nice but so is showing the ability to overcome challenges and learn from your mistakes
Probably not. Just do as well as you can. Having a solid, consistent GPA is nice but so is showing the ability to overcome challenges and learn from your mistakes
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LOL so funny. I deliberately fuc*ed up freshman year so I could ace the rest and show an upwards trend!!
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Either is fine, for the most part. As a teaching moment, it's a pre-med delusion that all Adcoms want to see the former. But also keep in mind that the Really Top Schools have many, many applicants who had straight A's across the board, so they can ignore the latter.
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965978
So are you saying there are adcoms that don't want to see high grades throughout college and would prefer you to start low and get higher over time?
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No. He’s saying that many people think “omg I need to get a 4.0 all throughout” and feel discouraged when they get their first B or C. Adcoms obviously want students that excel academically, however they appreciate people that had a bad start and learned from their mistakes, improved and did well for the remainder of college.
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I'm trying to say this in the nicest possible way, but if you haven't taken the MCAT yet, do watch out for the CARS section, because I said nothing of the sort.
We Adcoms realize that not everyone is ready for college at age 18. I sure as hell wasn't.
Therefore, we can recognize that a rising GPA trend (Nike swoosh-shaped) are a V or U shaped trend shows the real person. Indeed, a number to med school state on their Admissions website that they weight the last 203 three years of academics more than the entire four years.
To reiterate, it doesn't matter. We want you to do well, period.
Also, it's a mistake to focus on a single metric.
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