High-ish sGPA, Average cGPA. Thoughts?

[UncreativeGenius]

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Hey everyone,

I'm a non-trad that got out of the military about two years ago and immediately started my pre-reqs. When I started, I already had a lot of non-science credits (with a mediocre GPA) and only 3 BCPM credits. As a result of nearly two years of basically taking only pre-reqs and science classes (with a few GEs mixed in) and a strong upward trend, my current stats are:

cGPA: 3.70
sGPA: 3.90

As I'm building my school list for the upcoming Cycle, I'm trying to decide where my GPAs fit in. Schools with an average cGPA closer to mine tend to have a much lower sGPA than mine, and conversely, schools with an average sGPA closer to mine tend to have a much higher cGPA than mine.

I'm going to have a mix of schools that are not solely based on GPA averages, but I'm trying to figure out if I should be adding schools closer to my sGPA or my cGPA? From what I understand, my situation is bit of a rarity.

I won't be taking my MCAT until much closer to the Cycle, so for the moment I'm using MSAR GPA scales as a major factor for narrowing down schools.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Gilakend]

In my opinion your GPA won’t keep you out of any school, your MCAT swill determine where you should apply.

 

[JowellHollyBuddy33]

MCAT will determine your list. GPA won’t be a problem


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile

 

[907914]

What about a similar situation: Military as well, 3.64-3.66 cGPA with a 3.97 sGPA, nothing but prerequisites last two years. Will GPA keep me out of anywhere (Save for Harvard, NYU, Yale types)

 

[jarednogeek]

What about a similar situation: Military as well, 3.64-3.66 cGPA with a 3.97 sGPA, nothing but prerequisites last two years. Will GPA keep me out of anywhere (Save for Harvard, NYU, Yale types)

Need to know MCAT for both of you to know. Take MCAT then come back. You’re good anywhere with a 3.64 528 but not a 3.64 492 if that makes sense. An excellent MCAT can balance a gpa. But both of your GPAs are not bad for mid tier md’s.

 

[LizzyM]

IMHO, military service is equivalent to adding 0.50 to your GPA so the two of you are good anywhere you want to go insofar as GPA is concerned.
Thank you for your service.

 

[UncreativeGenius]

Thanks everyone for the answers! I guess I'll see what happens when I have my MCAT score.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

IMHO, military service is equivalent to adding 0.50 to your GPA so the two of you are good anywhere you want to go insofar as GPA is concerned.
Thank you for your service.

I just want to say that this hasn’t really been my experience. With that much of a boost, my gpa would be equivalent to practically a 4.0, and with a 519 I expected to get love from the two higher ranked schools I applied to and to have zero trouble with the mid-tiers. I ended up getting rejected pre-secondary by one of the higher ranked schools and rejected pre-II by the other. And of the schools I expected to have no problems at (ie, my MCAT was well above their 75%ile or even 90%ile and GPA was within the lower end of their range), I got silence, a WL, and 1 acceptance. TBF, the WL could have been because I didn’t quite fit the mission, but only getting 1 acceptance out of 5 schools (I’m not counting USUHS for obvious reasons) is not what I was expecting.

So I’m sure some schools give a big boost to military, but clearly not all of them do. And I have 7 years active duty including clinical experience plus 7 years of paid clinical experience as a civilian.

I’m not trying to say you’re wrong, just that military folks should still apply to schools that their actual gpa targets as well.

Edited for grammar.

 

[907914]

I just want to say that this hasn’t really been my experience. With that much of a boost, my gpa would be equivalent to practically a 4.0, and with a 519 I expected to get love from the two higher ranked schools I applied to and to have zero trouble with the mid-tiers. I ended up getting rejected pre-secondary by one of the higher ranked schools and rejected pre-II by the other. And of the schools I expected to have no problems at (ie, my MCAT was well above their 75%ile or even 90%ile and GPA was within the lower end of their range), I got silence, a WL, and 1 acceptance. TBF, the WL could have been because I didn’t quite fit the mission, but only getting 1 acceptance out of 5 schools (I’m not counting USUHS for obvious reasons) is not what I was expecting.

So I’m sure some schools give a big boost to military, but clearly not all of them do. And I have 7 years active duty including clinical experience plus 7 years of paid clinical experience as a civilian.

I’m not trying to say you’re wrong, just that military folks should still apply to schools that their actual gpa targets as well.

Edited for grammar.

I will be applying to 20 schools, so if I scaled up that ratio than it would be 4 acceptances, which I would be happy with! Lol I know that isn’t how it works, but honestly getting an acceptance when you only applied to 5 schools is still pretty good. But I agree, it is school specific.

I am going by MSAR and looking at the last two years “Military” percentage. If it is at 2% or higher, I figure they must give *some* military preference, being that the overall military application pool is <0.5%

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I will be applying to 20 schools, so if I scaled up that ratio than it would be 4 acceptances, which I would be happy with! Lol I know that isn’t how it works, but honestly getting an acceptance when you only applied to 5 schools is still pretty good. But I agree, it is school specific.

I am going by MSAR and looking at the last two years “Military” percentage. If it is at 2% or higher, I figure they must give *some* military preference, being that the overall military application pool is <0.5%

Lol yeah. If your MCAT is solid, you should be fine. And that second paragraph is exactly what I did.

 

[LizzyM]

TBH, my experience with military applicants has been with those whose service was in non-clinical roles and who were applying as career changers after active duty in combat zones.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

TBH, my experience with military applicants has been with those whose service was in non-clinical roles and who were applying as career changers after active duty in combat zones.

Yeah my experience included being a weapons specialist who has been on a deployment and has experienced stuff like having my ship get hit by a missile. *shrug* I just think some schools value it as an EC but some way more than others.

It’s nice that you look on it favorably though. It’s a difficult and dangerous lifestyle that I will be happy to take a break from lol. Some schools definitely look on it very favorably. My top choice has like 11% of their class with military experience.