High cum GPA but very low science GPA

[GABAtam]

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I am a junior who is finishing up a technology degree who also has an interest in pursuing medicine. My health impacted my academics drastically to the point of having a combination of over 10 D’s and F’s in Math courses. I couldn’t move forward in my program without those math courses hence so many repeats. I was eventually kicked out of the program and had to change majors. My health is improving and my GPA demonstrates an upward trend for the last 2 semesters.

I have yet to complete approximately 24 credits of science prerequisites for most medical schools. Considering I get an A in those 24 credits and the retake of the respective F’s and D’s, my AMCAS overall gpa would be above 3.7 but my science gpa would only be a 2.7 due to all of the F’s and D’s.

Do I stand a chance at acceptance or even an interview at a good program with such a low AMCAS science gpa?(I know a lot of schools have unofficial gpa cutoffs and mine doesn’t meet most).

 

[ciestar]

If they’re math credits, apply DO, as they don’t factor math into your science GPA.

 

[907914]

What brought you to the decision to continue to repeat the same failing courses without first improving your health?

Remember pre-meds, prioritize your own well being over your grades. Learn to take time off if your (or your family’s) health is at stake.

 

[GABAtam]

What brought you to the decision to continue to repeat the same failing courses without first improving your health?

Remember pre-meds, prioritize your own well being over your grades. Learn to take time off if your (or your family’s) health is at stake.

I was pressured by my scholarship program. I did not have the necessary academic or healthcare support to understand the gravity and extent of my health condition during that period of time. I have since taken time off to heal. There is a gap in my academic record which demonstrates time off between the bad grades and the A's and B's I have been earning recently.

 

[candbgirl]

You know , even if you retake all of those Ds and Fs both grade will count in your GPAs. There is no grade replacement in AMCAS or AACOMAS .

 

[GABAtam]

What brought you to the decision to continue to repeat the same failing courses without first improving your health?

Remember pre-meds, prioritize your own well being over your grades. Learn to take time off if your (or your family’s) health is at stake.

You know , even if you retake all of those Ds and Fs both grade will count in your GPAs. There is no grade replacement in AMCAS or AACOMAS .

Yes. I mentioned so in my post.

 

[stickgirl390]

You can’t make this decision “assuming” you’ll get all As from here on out.

 

[Rachapkis]

With a 2.7 GPA, you have little to no chance to interview at a good program anytime soon. If you are serious about becoming a doctor, however, you can take several years to remake yourself, and then perhaps you will have a chance. I believe Goro has a post on remaking oneself.

 

[ciestar]

With a 2.7 GPA, you have little to no chance to interview at a good program anytime soon. If you are serious about becoming a doctor, however, you can take several years to remake yourself, and then perhaps you will have a chance. I believe Goro has a post on remaking oneself.

Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

 

[907914]

You can’t make this decision “assuming” you’ll get all As from here on out.

That is not necessarily true. I went from a 3.4 to straight 4.0 last 2 years and just assume I will get a 4.0 in every future class based on who I am now. If OP has a 4.0 track record they can assume that.

They don’t have the track record so they shouldn’t assume, but they theoretically could if they did.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

If OP gets a 4.0 in 30+ credits of upper level science courses, the earlier failures and poor grades can be overlooked, especially if the sGPA is above the magic 3.0 threshold. After that, it's all down to their MCAT and GPA.

 

[Deecee2DO]

You are a junior, so quite young and thus will have the time for re-invention, which i think you'll need to do with a 2.7 sGPA. It can definitely be done with time and effort, so I wouldn't completely trash the idea of becoming a doctor as some may tell you. Being non-trad is not out of the ordinary these days-average age of med students is like 25 or something. You may want to consider DO too since they are more forgiving with this sort of thing. Check out @Goro 's post on re-invention. its a goodie

 

[GABAtam]

You can’t make this decision “assuming” you’ll get all As from here on out.

Yes, I am aware. I was pointing out that regardless if I earned all A’s in those courses, my sGPA would be a max of 2.7. It is a calculation of a best case scenario, not a calculation of a decision.

 

[GABAtam]

You are a junior, so quite young and thus will have the time for re-invention, which i think you'll need to do with a 2.7 sGPA. It can definitely be done with time and effort, so I wouldn't completely trash the idea of becoming a doctor as some may tell you. Being non-trad is not out of the ordinary these days-average age of med students is like 25 or something. You may want to consider DO too since they are more forgiving with this sort of thing. Check out @Goro 's post on re-invention. its a goodie

Thank you for the link. I am actually 25 right now. @Goro’s post brings up more questions than answers.

I have yet to complete the majority of premed prerequisite courses, but I have done very well in the ones that I have taken so far.

1. My F’s and D’s are in math courses that are not prerequisites for most(any?) medical schools.
2. My cumulative gpa (cGPA) is over 1.0 higher than my sGPA.
3. My gpa trend is a strong increase

Given that I haven’t attempted the majority of pre requisites yet (but will before I graduate) and have performed very well in the pre reqs I have taken, would a post-bacc benefit me?

I calculated my sgpa and in order to pull it up to a 3.0 I would have to take 48 credits of BCPM courses. Is this the path that I should be thinking about/planning despite performing well on pre-reqs?

 

[Deecee2DO]

Thank you for the link. I am actually 25 right now. @Goro’s post brings up more questions than answers.

I have yet to complete the majority of premed prerequisite courses, but I have done very well in the ones that I have taken so far.

1. My F’s and D’s are in math courses that are not prerequisites for most(any?) medical schools.
2. My cumulative gpa (cGPA) is over 1.0 higher than my sGPA.
3. My gpa trend is a strong increase

Given that I haven’t attempted the majority of pre requisites yet (but will before I graduate) and have performed very well in the pre reqs I have taken, would a post-bacc benefit me?

I calculated my sgpa and in order to pull it up to a 3.0 I would have to take 48 credits of BCPM courses. Is this the path that I should be thinking about/planning despite performing well on pre-reqs?

That is actually a very good thing that you haven't taken the majority of your pre-med courses yet. DO schools don't include math courses in sGPA so the math grades wouldn't be calculated into this. Some MD but I am not sure if all MD schools include math (maybe AMCAS does but not sure). What premed courses have you taken and what grades did you get in them? Im confused here though if youve done well in your premed courses and you haven't taken the majority of them yet why is your sGPA so low and why would you need 48 credits just to get it to a 2.7? If you aren't including math it should be higher than a 2.7 if you are doing well in them so far

 

[GABAtam]

As of now I have taken:
- 8 Credits of Calculus Physics (A’s in both classes)
- 8 Credits of intro Bio (1st try: C, 2nd try: A)
- 4 Credits of Ecology (B)

To clear up some confusion:
I keep reading that I need a 3.0 sGPA or higher so I calculated that and it looks like
my sGPA could be ~3.0 after 48 more credits (best scenario of all A’s).

The 2.7 comes from: After 24 credits which would consist of biochem, gen chem, and organic chem, another bio my gpa would be a max of 2.7 (best scenario of all A’s)

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Hmm. You might actually be able to get away with that sub-3.0 sGPA, given that you have a high cGPA and what must be a massive upward trend. That being said, you'll need to do well on the MCAT: somewhat conservatively, 508+ for DO schools, 510 for your state MD schools, and 516+ for midtiers. No idea how much autoscreening takes place for the sGPA; if your application reaches a human those upward trends will be looked upon quite favorably.

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

Have you tried talking to your school and explainingthat you had health issues? Sometimes you can get grades retroactively changed to Ws which would look a lot better. It’s a long shot but you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain

 

[GABAtam]

Have you tried talking to your school and explainingthat you had health issues? Sometimes you can get grades retroactively changed to Ws which would look a lot better. It’s a long shot but you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain

Yes. No luck there. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[GABAtam]

Hmm. You might actually be able to get away with that sub-3.0 sGPA, given that you have a high cGPA and what must be a massive upward trend. That being said, you'll need to do well on the MCAT: somewhat conservatively, 508+ for DO schools, 510 for your state MD schools, and 516+ for midtiers. No idea how much autoscreening takes place for the sGPA; if your application reaches a human those upward trends will be looked upon quite favorably.

This is what I am hoping. Everyone here seems to strongly disagree with this though.

 

[deleted889094]

I agree with the reinvention crowd. I had a 3.25 sGPA, 3.55 cGPA, and a 516 MCAT. I had to apply twice and had a lot of difficulty getting in. An sGPA of sub-3 will be really really really difficult.

You could look into an SMP that guarantees interview/acceptance depending on your performance. That might be a good bet given the circumstances. Don't overestimate your chances, though, you're not being evaluated for whether or not you would make a good doctor, but whether or not a school should give you a seat over someone else. There's a lot of competition

Edit: I also had a massive upward trend

 

[DavidTrey]

I agree with the reinvention crowd. I had a 3.25 sGPA, 3.55 cGPA, and a 516 MCAT. I had to apply twice and had a lot of difficulty getting in. An sGPA of sub-3 will be really really really difficult.

You could look into an SMP that guarantees interview/acceptance depending on your performance. That might be a good bet given the circumstances. Don't overestimate your chances, though, you're not being evaluated for whether or not you would make a good doctor, but whether or not a school should give you a seat over someone else. There's a lot of competition

Edit: I also had a massive upward trend

Taking a look at your footnote, I'm assuming these rejections/acceptances were from M.D schools? I'm having trouble understanding why you did not receive any DO acceptances with those stats (especially with the massive upward trend).

 

[deleted889094]

Taking a look at your footnote, I'm assuming these rejections/acceptances were from M.D schools? I'm having trouble understanding why you did not receive any DO acceptances with those stats (especially with the massive upward trend).

Correct. I didn't apply DO