Gpa

[Twinbird24]

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I'm a little confused about GPA, I've heard that a 4.0 is from 89% to 100%, then I've also heard that a GPA of 4.0 is 95%+. What is the lowest GPA/ percentage that one could have to still be considered for acceptance into med school? Thanks.

 

[deleted316655]

If you're still in high school I wouldn't worry about that yet. Either way getting in to medical school depends on a lot of things, so your GPA alone won't make or break your application.

 

[Ischemic]

I'm a little confused about GPA, I've heard that a 4.0 is from 89% to 100%, then I've also heard that a GPA of 4.0 is 95%+. What is the lowest GPA/ percentage that one could have to still be considered for acceptance into med school? Thanks.

First of all your GPA will be dependent on factors beyond your control like what the school designates as A, B, C or if they do A-, B+, B- etc. Also professors can make the cutoff to specific grades however they want it to be so there is no rule that says getting an 85 is a B+ it could be an A- or C. Whatever he pleases. Next, your competing against bright college students that also want a good grade and everything will be based on a curve. So, worrying about your GPA at this point is a waste without knowing what you're working with. Start getting used to your grade being a function of a curve rather than exact letter grade equivalents.

 

[EMS5]

Start worrying about finishing high school. get good grades and have a good time.

 

[wristbandMD]

This depends greatly upon your schools grading system. There are true GPAs and then there are scaled GPAs. Also, beyond this there are curves and professor based scales.

I'll give you a few examples:

At one Ugrad school, the GPA was scaled and it went something like this:
A=4.0, A-=3.7, B+=3.3, B=3.0, B-=2.7, etc.
However, the professor determines what it takes to get an A, B+, C-, etc. In one class, a professor required you to receive a 91.5% to get an A, in another class a teacher required a 98% to receive an A, but most classes required a 94 or 95% to receive an A. (There is no A+.)

At another university, the GPA was true. So, if you received a 98%, you would figure out the actual GPA. (.98 * 4.00=3.92). In this case, I received an A, but it is listed on my transcript as 3.92, whereas the A's at the other schools are listed as a 4.0 on my GPA.

Hope this helped a bit!

 

[TrumaJunkie]

If you're in high school it doesn't matter. If you don't get into the college of your choice you can do a community college for two years and then transfer to a 4 year college. Some of the most successful pre-medical students took the route.
If you're in college you want to have a 4.75 or better to apply to medical school. If you don't there are some medical schools that will accept a 4.5 or you can do med. school outside of the US.

 

[EMS5]

If you're in high school it doesn't matter. If you don't get into the college of your choice you can do a community college for two years and then transfer to a 4 year college. Some of the most successful pre-medical students took the route.
If you're in college you want to have a 4.75 or better to apply to medical school. If you don't there are some medical schools that will accept a 4.5 or you can do med. school outside of the US.

Sarcasm did not transfer I'm hoping?

 

[Twinbird24]

Thanks for the replies. It seems a little unfair for the applicant that the GPA is measured like this; A student could have a 98% average and it would be a GPA of 3.92, while another applicant could have an average of 90% and it would be a GPA of 4.0. Whoever is reviewing the applicants admission would think that the applicant with GPA 4.0 is a better student, academically. No?

Also, Ischemic, If I may ask, what was your GPA when you were accepted into med school?

 

[Richardh]

as a side note: when you're a pre-med in college, yes; gpa is important but so is your science gpa.

your science gpa is included in your overall gpa but some medical schools tend to look your science gpa more closely 🙂 this is because your overall gpa can include any number of classes that can potentially boost your gpa. now i am not saying that these classes (typically the non-science classes) are easy that you can automatically get an A but often a pre-medical student tends to get an A in these non-science classes while not doing so well in the science classes (bio, chem, physics, research). so make sure to do well in your science classes 😀

 

[Ischemic]

Thanks for the replies. It seems a little unfair for the applicant that the GPA is measured like this; A student could have a 98% average and it would be a GPA of 3.92, while another applicant could have an average of 90% and it would be a GPA of 4.0. Whoever is reviewing the applicants admission would think that the applicant with GPA 4.0 is a better student, academically. No?

Also, Ischemic, If I may ask, what was your GPA when you were accepted into med school?

Yeah, it does seem a little unfair but that's why they have the MCAT to help level the playing field somewhat. Med schools use MCAT and GPA as an initial screening factor and then they'll invite you for an interview etc. This is also why to some extent it really doesn't matter where you go to college. As long as you can perform well in your undergrad of choice you can have a decent shot at getting into a medical school. It may play a small role in the overall picture, but not gonna make or break you. You don't have to go to HYP for that. Premed is premed anywhere. Don't let people try to tell you otherwise. And this is coming from someone who went to a top 10 institution.

My GPA was between a 3.3-3.4 when I got in, primarily due to going to a school that's known for being really hard academically on its students. Also why I'm telling you school prestige isn't that important. Hind sight, I would have probably gone to my state school where I'd have more fun and gotten a better GPA.

 

[Twinbird24]

Wow I thought 3.3-3.4 was pretty low for med school application, must have been a pretty tough school, but GPA isn't the only thing they look at.

Other med students have told me before that I should take whatever undergrad I wan't, as long as I get the prerequisites. I'll probably take Bio because I find it pretty easy and fun, or Biomed.

 

[Richardh]

biomed 🙂

 

[QuizzicalApe]

I'm a little confused about GPA, I've heard that a 4.0 is from 89% to 100%, then I've also heard that a GPA of 4.0 is 95%+. What is the lowest GPA/ percentage that one could have to still be considered for acceptance into med school? Thanks.

It's all variable. Just do the best you can when you hit college. There isn't really a hard and fast GPA for becoming a doctor, since it is weighted with your clinical experience, extracurriculars, research, and minimums will vary between school to school, MD or DO.

Generally, if you decide you want to pursue a DO over an MD, you have a little more breathing room, but you still want to get your work on. The point of having the high GPA as a requirement is less to draw in the people who excel at Art History and Calc and more to bring in people who have developed the work ethic and study habits to do will in med school's busy environment.

Not to scare you, though. I had plenty of free time in college and still have a fair amount of time to nap and chill out in med school. Just keep in mind that you're going to have to know how to tackle school like it is your job.

 

[kyllllle]

It entirely depends on your school's grading system. Mine does 90+ is 4, 80-89 is 3, and so on, then 1 point extra for pre AP and 2 points extra for AP classes. Some do a +/- system, where it gets more complicated.
I would say if you are on a 4.0 scale, where 4 is the highest possible grade, then aim for a 3.5 or higher to get in to a good college. If its like mine, where in theory you could get a 5. something by taking AP classes, aim for a 4-4.5 I'd say.
But it all depends on how your grading system is, and how many AP classes your taking. For example, if you get an 85 in a pre AP class, this would get you 4 points. If you got a 95 in a level class, you would also get 4 points, but the AP class would look better on your transcript. So even if you sacrifice a whole letter grade in a pre AP class, or 2 letter grades in an AP class, it would look better than an A in a level class, and give you the same amount of points, since you most likely worked harder to earn that grade.

 

[Twinbird24]

biomed 🙂

I think I might like plain bio better, biomed involves more chem/physics/math, from what I know. Just wondering, are you taking biomed right now?

It's all variable. Just do the best you can when you hit college. There isn't really a hard and fast GPA for becoming a doctor, since it is weighted with your clinical experience, extracurriculars, research, and minimums will vary between school to school, MD or DO.

Generally, if you decide you want to pursue a DO over an MD, you have a little more breathing room, but you still want to get your work on. The point of having the high GPA as a requirement is less to draw in the people who excel at Art History and Calc and more to bring in people who have developed the work ethic and study habits to do will in med school's busy environment.

Not to scare you, though. I had plenty of free time in college and still have a fair amount of time to nap and chill out in med school. Just keep in mind that you're going to have to know how to tackle school like it is your job.

I'm pretty good at managing my time and I don't plan on procrastinating on every project and cramming before every test.

It entirely depends on your school's grading system. Mine does 90+ is 4, 80-89 is 3, and so on, then 1 point extra for pre AP and 2 points extra for AP classes. Some do a +/- system, where it gets more complicated.
I would say if you are on a 4.0 scale, where 4 is the highest possible grade, then aim for a 3.5 or higher to get in to a good college. If its like mine, where in theory you could get a 5. something by taking AP classes, aim for a 4-4.5 I'd say.
But it all depends on how your grading system is, and how many AP classes your taking. For example, if you get an 85 in a pre AP class, this would get you 4 points. If you got a 95 in a level class, you would also get 4 points, but the AP class would look better on your transcript. So even if you sacrifice a whole letter grade in a pre AP class, or 2 letter grades in an AP class, it would look better than an A in a level class, and give you the same amount of points, since you most likely worked harder to earn that grade.

I took AP math and English in gr.11, but I'm taking University level now because math and english classes don't interest me, I only took them because the teachers told me it will be fun and that it's not even that much harder