Grades/MCAT's or tons of experience??

[Toejam]

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Which do you think has more weight on gaining admission to medical school? Provided your GPA is over 3.0 and your MCAT's are around a 27, do you think that a lot of actual clinical experience and higher coursework is more attractive than a higher GPA and higher MCAT's???

 

[Cdc28p]

If you're asking whether you should spend time on clinical experience or improving your numbers, I would say go with numbers first. I don't know what "GPA above 3.0" exactly means, but if it's less than 3.6 or so, you should improve it. A 27 MCAT needs improvement as well. Work hard rising those numbers before spending time on extracurriculars. (Ideally, you should do both. If you don't have much time at the first place, focus on grades and MCAT.)

Low numbers won't get you the secondaries/interviews regardless of how much clinical experience you have.

 

[encee]

I agree w/ what the previous SDNer said. Without the grades/ #s, the other stuff does not have enough pull to get someone into school. I have heard this from many pre-med advisors and people who sit on med school adcoms.

I really encourage people in college who want to go to med school to get the best grades possible. It can prevent much headache, heartache, and delay.

 

[none]

A 3.0+ and a 27 are not good enough for admission in the majority of cases, regardless of your extracurricular activities.