how "bad" is a 3.7 - 3.75?

[bayer]

Does that GPA lock you out from top 20 schools, which have 3.9 medians? I'm an ORM male, too

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[nabilesmail]

Make up for it in MCAT. Top schools are more about experiences/EC's/being Unique.

If you have a 3.75/36 + Average EC's you probably won't get in, a 3.75/36 + Great EC's good chance at a top school

 

[bayer]

Make up for it in MCAT. Top schools are more about experiences/EC's/being Unique.

If you have a 3.75/36 + Average EC's you probably won't get in, a 3.75/36 + Great EC's good chance at a top school

I might have a coauthor pub and a first author, some service leadership, maybe some entrepreneurship leadership type stuff...I think I'll apply junior year so I'm just another premed...

Nah... look at the 10th percentiles at those schools. You'll be fine.

10th is like 3.7 right? Do those people have outstanding EC's/stories?

To be clear my goal is just to get in somewhere

 

[911 Turbo]

I might have a coauthor pub and a first author, some service leadership, maybe some entrepreneurship leadership type stuff...I think I'll apply junior year so I'm just another premed...

10th is like 3.7 right? Do those people have outstanding EC's/stories?

To be clear my goal is just to get in somewhere

lol... no it isn't

 

[bayer]

lol... no it isn't

Well I've always wanted to go to my IS public schools... just ruling things out at this point and trying to figure out what to focus on this upcoming year (I'm a soph)

 

[darkjedi]

I had a 3.6 cGPA. Doesn't lock you out, you just need to make up for it in great EC's and a solid MCAT.

 

[cookiemonsters]

3.7-3.75 is like the 5'11" of GPAs... yeah it's above average, but damn you were so close to 6'

 

[rodmichael82]

I had a 3.6 cGPA. Doesn't lock you out, you just need to make up for it in great EC's and a solid MCAT.

You also had a 3.9 sGPA. Good job in picking an excellent school!

 

[circulus vitios]

You will most likely have to settle for a school that is arbitrarily ranked 21 or greater. The shame and humiliation, I know.

 

[mcloaf]

You will most likely have to settle for a school that is arbitrarily ranked 21 or greater. The shame and humiliation, I know.

Unbearable.

 

[rodmichael82]

You will most likely have to settle for a school that is arbitrarily ranked 21 or greater. The shame and humiliation, I know.

So embarrassing that it might not even be worth wasting a couple hundred bucks on primary applications.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

3.7-3.75 is like the 5'11" of GPAs... yeah it's above average, but damn you were so close to 6'

🙁 I'm 5'11" and 3.79.

 

[Fakhter]

My goal is to be accepted to medical school. EVERY MD medical school is prestigious in my opinion.

 

[487806]

My goal is to be accepted to medical school. EVERY MD medical school is prestigious in my opinion.

So... DO isn't prestigious but a Caribbean MD is? Harsh man. 👎thumbdown

 

[darklabel]

So... DO isn't prestigious? Harsh man. 👎thumbdown

Classic case of simply caring about the title and nothing more since he obviously doesn't care about the quality of the school. Just the fact he can get an M.D. behind his name.

 

[huskydock]

3.7-3.75 is like the 5'11" of GPAs... yeah it's above average, but damn you were so close to 6'

Oh how true that is. ALMOST 6 foot...

 

[StudyShy]

Oh no! I have a 3.7...must go into podiatry. 🙂

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

Oh no! I have a 3.7...must go into podiatry. 🙂

Even worse, I fear your only option now is DO school.

 

[Aerus]

Nah... look at the 10th percentiles at those schools. You'll be fine.

Never assume you'll be one of those 10th percentile people. If you're one of them, you probably won't need to make a thread like this.

 

[911 Turbo]

Never assume you'll be one of those 10th percentile people. If you're one of them, you probably won't need to make a thread like this.

What?? He's talking about the bottom 10%

 

[StudyShy]

Even worse, I fear your only option now is DO school.

Oh no! I will never be a real doctor, lol.

 

[JustintheDoctor]

If you do well on the MCAT and go above and beyond or EC's

 

[Alejandro]

once you're above the 3.6-3.7 threshold, your gpa matters less and less. **Insert diminishing returns here**

TBH, the opportunity lies in improving your extracirriculars. make sure you have adequate hospital volunteering, and as well as shadowing clinicians. If you have an opportunity to work in healthcare, that will be huge, as well as doing other activities such as Americorp or TFA.

I usually get the impression that the 3.6 >> crowd often lacks in EC's, so I'd definitely focus on that if you really want to standout. That being said, this is a generalization, but often times I see that being the case.

I would almost say that the numbers matter based on how much you want them to matter. People who agonize over every detail in class to bump their 3.6 or 3.7 higher and forget about being well-rounded with extracirriculars will be judged more on their grades because they simply don't have anything else to be judged on! And the converse, is likely too: more interesting activities can result in adcoms ignoring your gpa.

I applied with a sub 3.5 ORM and managed to secure 8 interviews and a couple acceptances. Just keep that in mind.

 

[yehhhboiii]

🙁 I'm 5'11" and 3.79.

How does it feel to fall short?

get it? short?

okay never mind

 

[Narmerguy]

A 3.75 isn't that bad 😕

With a score like that, it will not be the reason that you don't get into a top school. If the rest of your application is lackluster, then perhaps yes.

 

[Euxox]

What?? He's talking about the bottom 10%

Yes and those bottom 10% people didn't get in because they were lucky, they got in because they had a good MCAT and killer ECs. If you have to ask if your ECs are good enough to make up for your GPA, they probably aren't.

 

[bayer]

A 3.75 isn't that bad 😕

With a score like that, it will not be the reason that you don't get into a top school. If the rest of your application is lackluster, then perhaps yes.

i'm just scared because i see lots of 3.7/35 type guys who applied broadly with no acceptances on mdapps. not even to top schools necessarily.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

i'm just scared because i see lots of 3.7/35 type guys who applied broadly with no acceptances on mdapps. not even to top schools necessarily.

It wasn't because of their stats. They most likely had some combination of lackluster ECs, bad LORs, bad PS/essays, or botched interviews. They may also have applied very late, or had a transcript that was half W's, or had an IA/criminal history, etc. Point being, there are many ways an application can be deficient while still have great stats.

As an example, I knew a guy with a 3.7/31 who was convinced it was his MCAT that held him back from getting accepted in his first round of med schools, and got him wait listed on everything the second time. Meanwhile he had only applied to 2 or 3 schools, had very little clinical experience and volunteering, a small amount of shadowing, worte his PS in a night, and had submitted his primary in early October. He still ended up eventually getting an acceptance.

 

[DrCaliBoy]

3.7-3.75 is like the 5'11" of GPAs... yeah it's above average, but damn you were so close to 6'

lol im both there in gpa and height..soo close smh

 

[Fakhter]

So... DO isn't prestigious but a Caribbean MD is? Harsh man. 👎thumbdown

That's pretty self explanatory so quit trying to manipulate what I said

 

[Lamel]

3.7 is bad? I have always heard that 3.7+ makes you competitive anywhere.

 

[JerryAf]

You guys are worrying me, I'm a first year with a 3.73 cGPA and 3.84 sGPA...

 

[cookiemonsters]

3.7 is bad? I have always heard that 3.7+ makes you competitive anywhere.

I don't think so... the median GPA at most of the top schools is 3.9 and the bottom 10% is approaching 3.7. The 3.7 ORMs who get in at those schools probably had amazing MCAT, well-rounded ECs, and a little luck on their side.

 

[Lamel]

I don't think so... the median GPA at most of the top schools is 3.9 and the bottom 10% is approaching 3.7. The 3.7 ORMs who get in at those schools probably had amazing MCAT, well-rounded ECs, and a little luck on their side.

Do you have a source for that claim (3.9 average GPA for most top schools)?

Here is data from the 2008-2009 MSAR http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/downloads/gpamcat.pdf

The only schools with a median close to 3.9 are Harvard (3.87), JHU (3.87), and WashU (3.91).

The rest of the top 20 range from 3.75-3.85 for the medians.

Perhaps the averages have changed since 2009 though enough to make it close to 3.9 medians?

You guys are worrying me, I'm a first year with a 3.73 cGPA and 3.84 sGPA...

You're perfectly fine. Keep increasing the GPA to become even stronger, but that GPA shouldn't keep you out of any medical schools. the challenge ahead of you is maintaining/increasing it.

 

[bayer]

Do you have a source for that claim (3.9 average GPA for most top schools)?

Here is data from the 2008-2009 MSAR http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/downloads/gpamcat.pdf

The only schools with a median close to 3.9 are Harvard (3.87), JHU (3.87), and WashU (3.91).

The rest of the top 20 range from 3.75-3.85 for the medians.

Perhaps the averages have changed since 2009 though enough to make it close to 3.9 medians?




You're perfectly fine. Keep increasing the GPA to become even stronger, but that GPA shouldn't keep you out of any medical schools. the challenge ahead of you is maintaining/increasing it.

you can find a spreadsheet version of 2011-2012 msar online. few schools have 3.7 medians these days, most are 3.8/3.8 ish. there are tons of schools with 3.9 medians now. but the spreadsheet only goes to 1 decimal place so it might be rounding up

 

[Lamel]

you can find a spreadsheet version of 2011-2012 msar online. few schools have 3.7 medians these days, most are 3.8/3.8 ish. there are tons of schools with 3.9 medians now. but the spreadsheet only goes to 1 decimal place so it might be rounding up

Wow you are right, although it does go to 1 decimal point only. But damn the competition has gotten fierce.

WashU has an average MCAT of 38 😳

 

[487806]

That's pretty self explanatory so quit trying to manipulate what I said

I'm just restating whatever you said. There really isn't any manipulation involved.

Wow you are right, although it does go to 1 decimal point only. But damn the competition has gotten fierce.

WashU has an average MCAT of 38 😳

Well yeah. WashU loves high stats.

 

[KnuxNole]

I didn't know this was a serious topic at first...assumed it was a parody topic 😳

 

[bayer]

Wow you are right, although it does go to 1 decimal point only. But damn the competition has gotten fierce.

WashU has an average MCAT of 38 😳

exactly why i'm worried. 3.7/3.7 is median even for low-mid tiers

 

[487806]

exactly why i'm worried. 3.7/3.7 is median even for low-mid tiers

No it's not. 3.5-3.6 is the average for low-mid tier schools.

 

[Fakhter]

I'm just restating whatever you said. There really isn't any manipulation involved.



.

"So... DO isn't prestigious but a Caribbean MD is? Harsh man"

that's not repeating what I said.....

 

[Aerus]

What?? He's talking about the bottom 10%

Generally, when picking schools, you should ignore the bottom 10-15th percentile. Always assume that they have something you don't.

 

[Narmerguy]

I don't think so... the median GPA at most of the top schools is 3.9 and the bottom 10% is approaching 3.7. The 3.7 ORMs who get in at those schools probably had amazing MCAT, well-rounded ECs, and a little luck on their side.

"Approaching 3.7" is very vague.

Duke's 10% GPA: 3.58, BCPM: 3.48
Harvard 10% GPA: 3.71, BCPM: 3.69
Columbia 10% GPA: 3.57, BCPM: 3.48
UPenn 10% GPA: 3.66, BPCM: 3.63
Stanford 10% GPA:3.63, BPCM: 3.53

That's just a handful right there. A 3.7 is very different from a 3.53 or a 3.48 and these are some of the most selective schools in the country. I think having a great GPA is absolutely important, but people also are getting a little carried away with the "stats" required to be successful.

 

[Eaglefan]

"Approaching 3.7" is very vague.

Duke's 10% GPA: 3.58, BCPM: 3.48
Harvard 10% GPA: 3.71, BCPM: 3.69
Columbia 10% GPA: 3.57, BCPM: 3.48
UPenn 10% GPA: 3.66, BPCM: 3.63
Stanford 10% GPA:3.63, BPCM: 3.53

That's just a handful right there. A 3.7 is very different from a 3.53 or a 3.48 and these are some of the most selective schools in the country. I think having a great GPA is absolutely important, but people also are getting a little carried away with the "stats" required to be successful.

i agree that you shouldn't have trouble getting in somehwere (even US MD) with 3.7. It's a pretty good GPA.

However looking at bottom 10% stats, you have to know that these are the ones with disadvantaged stories, great MCATs, multiple first author papers, national athletes etc. Things making up for it.

 

[Narmerguy]

i agree that you shouldn't have trouble getting in somehwere (even US MD) with 3.7. It's a pretty good GPA.

However looking at bottom 10% stats, you have to know that these are the ones with disadvantaged stories, great MCATs, multiple first author papers, national athletes etc. Things making up for it.

My point is that a 3.7 is well above the 10th percentile even for these top schools. You need not make special assumptions about what they must do to become accepted.

You can get in anywhere with a 3.7 without having to resort to absurd ECs like national athletes or multiple first author papers.

 

[circulus vitios]

3.7-3.75 is like the 5'11" of GPAs... yeah it's above average, but damn you were so close to 6'

Welcome to the manlet club. 😎

 

[Disinence2]

I really don't think a 3.7 is all that bad as long as you have a good balance of meaningful activities and can destroy the MCAT.

Best of luck! People have gotten into medical school with much lower!