GPA vs MCAT vs Work Experience?

[952995]

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Which is more important to a med school app?

Do you HAVE to shadow a doctor to apply? Could you just volunteer at the Red Cross or Planned Parenthood?

 

[premedalt]

Yes

 

[Goro]

Which is more important to a med school app?

Do you HAVE to shadow a doctor to apply? Could you just volunteer at the Red Cross or Planned Parenthood?

MCAT > GPA, but both are important, and pre-meds should NOT look at single metrics. The entire app counts.

I'm a big fan of work experience, and think it should be a requirement for med school!

Do you HAVE to shadow a doctor to apply?
Yes. You need to know what a doctor's day is like.

Could you just volunteer at the Red Cross or Planned Parenthood?
That's not shadowing. That's clinical volunteering....which is also required (or rather, clinical experience is also required). You need to show AdComs that you know what you're getting into, and show off your altruistic, humanistic side. We need to know that you're going to like being around sick or injured people for the next 40 years.

 

[907914]

Which is more important to a med school app?

Do you HAVE to shadow a doctor to apply? Could you just volunteer at the Red Cross or Planned Parenthood?

As Goro said, MCAT means more than GPA. If MCAT is stellar, it can ‘make up’ for a sub par GPA (not a terrible GPA, but a 520/3.4 should feel more confident then a 512/3.6). And if that threshold is met, then Work experiences matter more. If your MCAT and GPA don’t meet muster, then your work experiences are basically useless.