How do adcoms view your GPA if you have other degrees?

[desklamp]

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My undergrad GPA was horrid...sub 3.0 as pre-med at Johns Hopkins. I wasn't partying or anything like that-- or blaming it on anyone-- but circumstances were that I was young, an idiot, and in an abusive relationship. I'll leave it at that.

Since graduating, I worked a bit, and since I obviously couldn't apply to med school (I couldn't gain admission to any SMPs either, believe me I tried), I decided to go to pharmacy school instead, since it was my "backup" career I guess. However every time I volunteer in the free clinic, every time I talk to the med students, every time I work or hang around the hospital, I find that I really don't want to just be filling prescriptions and counseling patients on how they are going to get the runs when they take XYZ drug... I still want to be a med student, interviewing patients and diagnosing them. If I could go back to my undergrad I would punch myself in the face. with a poop hot dog.

So my question is this. Will my pharmacy school grades count for anything? It's been about 5 years since I graduated college and I am not in the same situation I was back then. Of course I will finish my Pharm D first, I plan to try and make use of it to become a better doctor. So by the time of application it will have been around 7 years post undergrad. My current GPA is a 4.0, I have multiple research projects, volunteer at free clinics, scholarships, etc etc. Basically making up for my assfoolery as an undergrad.

I looked at the AMCAS which does a cumulative UNDERGRAD gpa...which I assume pharmacy school is not a part of? Do you just...address it in the PS? Just wondering if anyone had any insight. Thanks 🙂.

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

It looks go that you were able to keep a 4.0 in pharmacy school and will be valued upon, not to mention quite a few pharmacists have attended med school.
What the adcoms want to know however, is whether you truly think this is the profession for you. You've obviously given a lot of thought for not wanting to be a Pharmacist anymore, you'd want to have a good explanation for it.

 

[LifeTake2]

Yes, a good PharmD GPA will help at the interview stage.

However, if you don't 1) bring your undergrad GPA up or 2) rock the MCAT you won't ever get looked at by most schools so your grad work won't matter.

If you really want this, you are going to have to go back and work on your undergrad GPA. If you look in the non-trad forum there are numerous threads on GPA remediation for ideas.

 

[desklamp]

Yes, a good PharmD GPA will help at the interview stage.

However, if you don't 1) bring your undergrad GPA up or 2) rock the MCAT you won't ever get looked at by most schools so your grad work won't matter.

If you really want this, you are going to have to go back and work on your undergrad GPA. If you look in the non-trad forum there are numerous threads on GPA remediation for ideas.

Oddly enough, my pharmacy school gives me two GPAs. My pharm school GPA and my "transfer GPA" which combines my ugrad + pharmacy, which makes it about a 3.2 (still low i know).

I have about 2 years worth of awful grades to account for. I don't even know that 1 year of post bacc would do anything to that haha. I'll take a look though.

Another issue is cost. My loans are building up year by year in pharmacy school and taking another 2 years to do an SMP or post-bacc would absolutely destroy my finances. I suppose I could defer them for 2 years but the interest will be building the whole time.

I suppose I was hoping that I could use my PharmD as a "post bacc" and perhaps retake a few pre-reqs here and there. But whatever it takes in the end, I guess.

 

[raltima07]

Is your pharm school associated with an undergrad? Maybe you can register for classes for free and add some quick and easy classes to get the GPA up, even just a little bit

 

[jessiemsy]

I am post-bac student. I did my undergrad in international relations and my gpa was ok, 3.4 nothing special. But since then I've been to grad school and got like a 3.9 there and my post-bac science classes were 4.0 I recently was accepted and my undergrad grades never came up. I know it's a little different since you were pre-med and that's where your pre-req grades are coming from, but I'm sure with your 4.0 pharm grades you've proven that you can handle the science classes. I would not give up at all. Ad coms love to see an upward trend and a maturing student.

 

[tiedyeddog]

I would think that getting such high marks in Pharm school would help you out, I think you've thought it out well and have great reasons for earning an M.D. I would try and see what happens.

 

[opo]

So is there no place on the application for graduate GPA? That wouldn't make any sense to me if they only looked at undergrad GPA... Like you said, you will have been out of undergrad almost 7 years and probably matured a lot. You have also proven that you can make great grades in an environment that is harder than undergrad (not sure which school you go to, but I know most all have similar curriculum) I understand that you can talk about it in your personal statement but they might not even give you a shot by the time they read it if all they see is a lower GPA from 7 years ago. It just wouldn't seem fair to me that someone who has obviously gotten their stuff together still gets judged by an undergrad GPA from a long time ago.

 

[tiedyeddog]

So is there no place on the application for graduate GPA?

I am pretty sure there is, but they will still see your undergrad GPA.

 

[LifeTake2]

I am pretty sure there is, but they will still see your undergrad GPA.

Yes, they calculate your undergrad and Grad GPA.

However, since the purpose is comparison and most applicants don't have a Grad GPA, the screening schools do is based upon undergrad only.

Thus, while *someone* will look at the Grad GPA at some point, it is has drastically last weight and won't override an unacceptable undergrad performance.

In addition, you can't compare Grad grades even between 2 programs in the same field, much less 2 different subjects. Therefore, it can't be used to compare two candidates making it a subjective value.

 

[pdxjazz]

Yes there is a place on the AMCAS application for Graduate GPA. Your undergraduate GPA for each year & cumulative GPA will also be on there.

I would think with a good PS, and a rock solid MCAT you would have a good chance. As others have said, you have matured and done well since then. The MCAT will be a key factor, so plan on spending at least several dedicated months to study for it, take it only once when you are doing very well on practice exams and feeling highly confident. I also think taking a practice MCAT exam before studying is counterproductive and causes needless stress. The MCAT forum was very helpful and you should utilize it when that time comes.