This is the opposite of most problems on this forum for sure. I completed my undergrad with 3.81 in International Business Mgmt. Then i attended another University for a semester to finish up the pre-reqs for med school. A lot of family issues prevented me from finishing at that University and I was forced to drop from half my classes and take 2 C's in the other courses. I moved to a different University where I have a 3.4 BPCM GPA. I was wondering what my chances for med school are? I would like to go to USUHS because I have prior service...Any input would be appreciated.
High Undergrad Low post bac
- Thread starter dmofoc
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2010
- Messages
- 31
- Reaction score
- 0
You are right about this being an unusual grade trend...
We get more mature with time, not less. We get drive, ambition, and focus. This leads us to take our classes seriously and to try and get perfect grades.
To go from zero to hero is acceptable. To go from hero to zero is a little different.
Do you have any history of success with science classes in your undergrad?
We get more mature with time, not less. We get drive, ambition, and focus. This leads us to take our classes seriously and to try and get perfect grades.
To go from zero to hero is acceptable. To go from hero to zero is a little different.
Do you have any history of success with science classes in your undergrad?
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2010
- Messages
- 1,204
- Reaction score
- 80
This seems a little needlessly harsh, chen.
OP, your situation is not ideal but it's not unsalvageable either. The downward grade trend may worry some schools, but overall your work sounds strong enough and a good MCAT could mitigate any troubles you had during your postbac work. It sounds like you can explain your difficulties, and medical schools will be more interested in what you learned and how you adapted. I've learned that taking responsibility for where you fall down is very important in the medical school application process, and sometimes it goes a lot further than a perfect application does.
USUHS would be a fine fit for you with prior service, and they were very friendly to one of my non-trad friends that applied. He also had a lower sGPA.
OP, your situation is not ideal but it's not unsalvageable either. The downward grade trend may worry some schools, but overall your work sounds strong enough and a good MCAT could mitigate any troubles you had during your postbac work. It sounds like you can explain your difficulties, and medical schools will be more interested in what you learned and how you adapted. I've learned that taking responsibility for where you fall down is very important in the medical school application process, and sometimes it goes a lot further than a perfect application does.
USUHS would be a fine fit for you with prior service, and they were very friendly to one of my non-trad friends that applied. He also had a lower sGPA.
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2010
- Messages
- 31
- Reaction score
- 0
I was being very honest and essentially saying I share the fear of the OP.
To me, it sounds like he has not completed his pre-reqs, has withdrawn from them, and slipped by with a C in the ones he did pass... AFTER graduating.
This is very alarming and it will require a very humble, focused, and dedicated approach to fix his GPA, get good grades on the remaining pre-reqs, and gather some ECs.
There is a fork in the road and one way is humble and dedicated; the other way is another career, I think.
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2010
- Messages
- 1,204
- Reaction score
- 80
That was not the impression I got at all, it seemed like you were belittling the OP for his struggles. I am sorry if I misunderstood you.
It sounds from his post that he finished his postbac elsewhere, maintaining a 3.4sci GPA. Those Cs will affect his sGPA, yes, but a 3.4 in the remainder of the core courses can get you into medical school.
I have to think that everyone knows that the pre-med science classes are by design among the most harshly-graded classes at any four year school. I think adcomms may view your business program as a less rigorous major, but I could be wrong. 3.45 is respectable.
Example 1. In our bio class, we all wrote a 1-page paper that was curved around a D+. (I didn't score that low).
Example 2. My lab instructor told us she got low B's and C's in her intro science classes, which does not eliminate you for consideration from M.S./Ph.D. programs.
Example 3. The vast majority of my chem class will get a C or below in Intro Chem. A friend of mine is hoping for a B in chem, but is easily acing his hip-hop class.
I could go on and on and on....
Example 1. In our bio class, we all wrote a 1-page paper that was curved around a D+. (I didn't score that low).
Example 2. My lab instructor told us she got low B's and C's in her intro science classes, which does not eliminate you for consideration from M.S./Ph.D. programs.
Example 3. The vast majority of my chem class will get a C or below in Intro Chem. A friend of mine is hoping for a B in chem, but is easily acing his hip-hop class.
I could go on and on and on....
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2010
- Messages
- 31
- Reaction score
- 0
I come from a philosophy where the goal ought to be to prepare yourself for medical school just as much as it ought to be to get accepted to medical school.
One is going to have to be humbled, dedicated, and focused.
You need to take upper-division bio courses to show you can handle them.
It is a bonus to have a well-rounded application and excel in a non-science area. However, you have to prove that you can handle the rigorous science load of medical school. The average admitted GPA is a 3.6. You are well below that, and you need to raise it. All is not lost, but it is time to reverse the trend. You may be able to get in with a 3.4, but it is a risk applying.
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2006
- Messages
- 35,429
- Reaction score
- 15,401
Adcomms love to see upward grade trends. At least you're currently heading upward again. I think after you complete the prerequisites, some As in upper-level science will redeem the more mediocre science grades and reassure adcomms that you have what it takes. If you totally bomb anything, the DO med school grade replacement policy should be kept in mind when you're picking schools to apply to.
Adcomms will be seeing your grades laid out in a year-by-year format, with FR, SO, JR, and SR followed by all the postbac classes lumped together from all schools attended (which diltes the effect of the low grades if you have enough high ones to balance them). Your transcript can and should show that the most recent grades were excellent (hopefully). A good rule of thumb is to never apply with a downward trend.
Adcomms will be seeing your grades laid out in a year-by-year format, with FR, SO, JR, and SR followed by all the postbac classes lumped together from all schools attended (which diltes the effect of the low grades if you have enough high ones to balance them). Your transcript can and should show that the most recent grades were excellent (hopefully). A good rule of thumb is to never apply with a downward trend.
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2004
- Messages
- 660
- Reaction score
- 4
Out of curiosity what about the actual year you took the course? Is that shown? I know that the grades are broken down into FR, SO, JR, SR, PB but in my situation (long story) I got a semester of F's in 1995 due to my leaving school for a necessary full time job (I didn't have the foresight to drop the courses since I was not thinking about med school at the time - I only showed up to the first week of school and then abandoned school for work).
Needless to say those F's are now 15 years old, and when I came back to school 6 years ago I restarted from scratch and pulled a 4.0 during my new freshman year. The problem is - is that AMCAS is going to include those F's into my freshman year calculations (pulling the GPA for FR year to a 2.x). I want medical schools to be able to see that the F's were much older than the rest of my FR year which was a 4.0? Is that going to be possible - will they actually look at the year courses were taken?
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2006
- Messages
- 35,429
- Reaction score
- 15,401
On the AMCAS Academic Record/transcript, after the status column (Fr, So, Jr, Sr, PB) the year is listed, then the term (S1,S2 for semester, eg).
Similar threads
