GPA Vs. MCAT

[Abby95]

Hey guys! I need some advice. I am a junior hoping to apply to medical school next june. I currently have a 3.68 cGPA and 3.2 sGPA. my science gpa is so low because i retook organic chemistry(B+) after receiving a D. I want to attend MD but open to apply to D.O as well. I am making my schedule for next semester and i am a bit torn. I wanted to take 3 science classes, Biostat, Ecology, and Developmental biology to raise my sGPA. If i am able to get As in these classes it will raise it to 3.3-3.4 depending on the grades i get in Biochemistry this semester. I did pretty horrible n Biochem so i am expecting it to either decrease from 3.2 or not increase much.
The problem is, i am registered to take the MCAT May 20th. I wanted to drop to part time or only take about 11-12 credits so i can focus on getting an excellent score. The rest of my application; shadowing, leadership etc is excellent. I just need to fix my GPA and score high on the mcat.
I am not sure if i can handle 3 science class plus other non science class, PLUS study for the mcat. At this point, should forget about taking so many science classes, and focus more on getting a better MCAT score? I do not plan on taking a GAP year. If i apply to D.O schools, i will have a 3.68-3.71 cGPA and 3.58-3.6 sGPA. But i really want to only apply to M.D schools. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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[David513]

If you can score above the 85 percentile (511+) and you have great extracurriculars then you have a solid chance at lower-tier and maybe even mid-tier MD schools. Certainly if you get 511+ score then you will get into a DO school. My advice is to forget overburdening yourself with extra science courses and focus on the MCAT. After all, if you get a great MCAT score and then get rejected from all MD schools because of your GPA then you can take some classes to boost it up and reapply, keeping your excellent MCAT score. If you have a sub-par MCAT score you have zero chance of MD and a toss-up for DO.