How does someone with less than a 3.0 end up in med school?

[dpk211]

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If someone graduated with something other than a science degree and they want to go to medical school so they decide to go back to school. How exactly can they get there.

There is a doctor at our hospital who was a male nurse but he went back to school and became a nephrologist. I heard some nurses talking about him one day and they said he was actually not the greatest student.

Any ideas how he might have ended up in med school? He graduated from Temple. I'd ask him myself but I don't know him very well and he is an angry man.

 

[rhesuspieces]

If someone graduated with something other than a science degree and they want to go to medical school so they decide to go back to school. How exactly can they get there.

There is a doctor at our hospital who was a male nurse but he went back to school and became a nephrologist. I heard some nurses talking about him one day and they said he was actually not the greatest student.

Any ideas how he might have ended up in med school? He graduated from Temple. I'd ask him myself but I don't know him very well and he is an angry man.

Super high MCAT, some freakishly outstanding EC...or friends in all the right places

 

[rafflecopter]

A special mind control device aimed directly at an admission's committee member's head will do the trick.

 

[deleted307836]

There is a doctor at our hospital who was a male nurse but he went back to school and became a nephrologist. I heard some nurses talking about him one day and they said he was actually not the greatest student.

First of all, your source for this information is not very reliable. Not to stereotype, but nurses aren't really known as bastions of non-gossip.

But yeah otherwise what Rhesus said.

 

[Sesom]

lor from a politician

 

[apumic]

A long drawn out conspiracy in which you pay for someone else's medical education and in turn they get onto an adcom themselves and let you in. Or a mind control gun. Those work pretty well...unless the person is wearing an aluminum foil hat. Those protect people from mind control guns, so make sure the adcom you're aiming at isn't wearing aluminum foil like this guy:

 

[muhali3]

To list a few reasons: URM status, being a non-trad who got a 4.0 postbacc but had a horrible GPA during undergrad, high MCAT, bridge programs, SMPs, and almost all non-GPA aspects of the application.

 

[dpk211]

To list a few reasons: URM status, being a non-trad who got a 4.0 postbacc but had a horrible GPA during undergrad, high MCAT, bridge programs, SMPs, and almost all non-GPA aspects of the application.

URM, I forgot to point out that he is African-American.

I also know he did his residency in Harlem.

But even then, with grade averaging, I don't know how he became competitive. Temple is not a bad school either.

The nurses weren't gossiping, apparently he told them of his story.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I really hate it when people with a low GPA get into med school. They've already proven they can't handle academic rigor at a college level, so what makes anyone think they'll be able to cut it in med school? Waste of class seat, if you ask me.

 

[mTOR]

^lol. was gonna hop on that until I saw your mdapps page

 

[gatorade848]

I really hate it when people with a low GPA get into med school. They've already proven they can't handle academic rigor at a college level, so what makes anyone think they'll be able to cut it in med school? Waste of class seat, if you ask me.

win

 

[xanthomondo]

Wow, I'm surprised it took so many posts for someone to say "its because he's black!!!!!"

 

[theWUbear]

I really hate it when people with a low GPA get into med school. They've already proven they can't handle academic rigor at a college level, so what makes anyone think they'll be able to cut it in med school? Waste of class seat, if you ask me.

Way to generalize MilkmanAl.


I have a 2.97. That include a BA in math where i got a 2.6, followed by a second BA in Biology with a 3.95, and a SMP with a 4.0 including honors in medical school classes. There are plenty of applicants like me who have proven they can handle academic rigor at a college and medical school rigor yet have a low GPA; it's quite hard to bring it up when it's weighted down.

win

lose

 

[echen]

Way to generalize MilkmanAl.


I have a 2.97. That include a BA in math where i got a 2.6, followed by a second BA in Biology with a 3.95, and a SMP with a 4.0 including honors in medical school classes. There are plenty of applicants like me who have proven they can handle academic rigor at a college and medical school rigor yet have a low GPA; it's quite hard to bring it up when it's weighted down.

if you had a 3.95 in bio, why didn't you just apply to med school with the bio BA? 😕

 

[xanthomondo]

Way to generalize MilkmanAl.


I have a 2.97. That include a BA in math where i got a 2.6, followed by a second BA in Biology with a 3.95, and a SMP with a 4.0 including honors in medical school classes. There are plenty of applicants like me who have proven they can handle academic rigor at a college and medical school rigor yet have a low GPA; it's quite hard to bring it up when it's weighted down.




lose

ah ha youre so full of fail

 

[aSagacious]

Way to generalize MilkmanAl.

 

[theWUbear]

Oh. That was sarcasm.

..derp

 

[ejw5075]

Oh. That was sarcasm.

..derp

It's OK, you wouldn't have known that unless you clicked on his mdapps.. There are certainly many people on here who say things like he did.. I had the same rxn u did at first.

 

[aSagacious]

Oh. That was sarcasm.

..derp

It's alright. Rule of thumb: assume that anything posted on any thread is either a joke or sarcastic until proven otherwise

 

[theWUbear]

Sorry Al! Thx for the forgiveness SDN 😎 Consider this thread hijack ova

 

[rhesuspieces]

The nurses weren't gossiping, apparently he told them of his story.

Yeah, but "man, I was kind of a slacker in college" can turn into "Did you know he had a 2.5 and was a horrible student?" when the doctor is a douche and the nurses are eager to spread gossip to further confirm said douchery.

 

[dpk211]

I really hate it when people with a low GPA get into med school. They've already proven they can't handle academic rigor at a college level, so what makes anyone think they'll be able to cut it in med school? Waste of class seat, if you ask me.

I disagree with that statement. People change and doctors are not gods. Doctor's make mistakes too.

 

[LizzyM]

I know of at least one white guy who managed to get admitted to at least one med school with a <3.0 gpa.

Undergrad: highly regarded liberal arts college, applied science major, no med school pre-reqs, had planned to work in gov't or an NGO

Worked a variety of jobs, did EMT, got the "medicine" bug.

post-bac >3.8, MCAT >36, all while employed as EMT.

 

[DbDan]

I disagree with that statement. People change and doctors are not gods. Doctor's make mistakes too.

🙄 Look at his MDApps, or read the thread. He is someone with a low GPA who made it into med school... he was being sarcastic.

 

[xanthomondo]

🙄 Look at his MDApps, or read the thread. He is someone with a low GPA who made it into med school... he was being sarcastic.

I don't understand this. Does he just read that post and get so furious that he can't read a single other post in the thread?

 

[MilkmanAl]

What's funny is you don't even need to read another post to get the joke. 😛

 

[deleted357625]

if someone graduated with something other than a science degree and they want to go to medical school so they decide to go back to school. How exactly can they get there.

There is a doctor at our hospital who was a male nurse but he went back to school and became a nephrologist. I heard some nurses talking about him one day and they said he was actually not the greatest student.

Any ideas how he might have ended up in med school? He graduated from temple. I'd ask him myself but i don't know him very well and he is an angry man.

urm

 

[Narmerguy]

It's funny...Milkman's shenanigans aside, I pretty much knew the entire content of this thread without opening it.

 

[fahimaz7]

I really hate it when people with a low GPA get into med school. They've already proven they can't handle academic rigor at a college level, so what makes anyone think they'll be able to cut it in med school? Waste of class seat, if you ask me.

Bold statement there. Do you really feel that all of the 3.0-3.2 UG GPA's are unable to withstand the rigors of medical school? If that's the case, I fit that bill.. and after two years in medical school I'm in the top 20% of my class.


Not all 3.0's are the same. I know a lot of people in my class that had 3.8+ GPA's in undergrad, and are now sitting at/below a 3.0 GPA in medical school.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Bold statement there. Do you really feel that all of the 3.0-3.2 UG GPA's are unable to withstand the rigors of medical school? If that's the case, I fit that bill.. and after two years in medical school I'm in the top 20% of my class.


Not all 3.0's are the same. I know a lot of people in my class that had 3.8+ GPA's in undergrad, and are now sitting at/below a 3.0 GPA in medical school.

Nice. 👍

 

[sgtbrushes]

Bold statement there. Do you really feel that all of the 3.0-3.2 UG GPA's are unable to withstand the rigors of medical school? If that's the case, I fit that bill.. and after two years in medical school I'm in the top 20% of my class.


Not all 3.0's are the same. I know a lot of people in my class that had 3.8+ GPA's in undergrad, and are now sitting at/below a 3.0 GPA in medical school.

This is why it is impossible for me to have faith in humanity. I know people make mistakes, but... really? L2 appreciate sarcasm. Or at a bare minimum, L2 read when people explicitly explain their sarcasm. Twice.

 

[gettheleadout]

This is why it is impossible for me to have faith in humanity. I know people make mistakes, but... really? L2 appreciate sarcasm. Or at a bare minimum, L2 read when people explicitly explain their sarcasm. Twice.

Deep breaths...

 

[gatorade848]

Whites are superior!!! Stop admitting monkeys to medical schools. Shame on White women that sleep with these monkeys. At my hospital we make sure that these women know what we think of them.

ban hammer incoming in 3,2,1...

 

[apumic]

Whites are superior!!! Stop admitting monkeys to medical schools. Shame on White women that sleep with these monkeys. At my hospital we make sure that these women know what we think of them.

 

[fahimaz7]

Nice. 👍

Last edited by fahimaz7; Today at 10:03 AM. Reason: Hook line and sinker.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Yes, I can read. Doesn't mean it's not nice. 😉

 

[fahimaz7]

This is why it is impossible for me to have faith in humanity. I know people make mistakes, but... really? L2 appreciate sarcasm. Or at a bare minimum, L2 read when people explicitly explain their sarcasm. Twice.

Do you read every single post on a thread prior to replying to one that catches your eye? If this thread causes you to "lose faith in humanity", then you are going to have a really rough road ahead of you.

Milk and I got back a long time, and I should have remembered his/her hardship in the first place. Either way, his words are not out of line for your general SDN poster, which is why I responded the way that I did.

 

[MCAT guy]

Deleted.

 

[MCAT guy]

Having done GPA repair my self, having 3.0 years and then 4.0 years, I am a firm believer that your GPA is just a reflection of effort and efficiency, with a small sprinkle of intelligence on top.

 

[MCAT guy]

Dammit I tried to delete it when I read above and realized the sarcasm. Can you delete that???

lol, I don't care. 🙂

 

[MilkmanAl]

Oh GujuDoc, you are one in a billion.

 

[dpk211]

haha. Yeah sorry I should read the rest of the thread rather then the one post before I respond. That's why I tried to delete it before anyone could see it. lol.

But back to being on topic and this is directed to the OP,

1. SMPs, postbacs, etc. work because the kids who make it to med school from them eventually pass. The kids who I knew who didn't make it in a US medical school were not actually below 3.5 GPA kids but 3.5+ GPA kids. there were other circumstances usually in all of the known cases that know personally.

2. GPAs are not all equal. A 3.1 in engineering or from Molecular and cell bio or chem as it is taught at UC berkley is not the same thing as a 3.1 from an easier school's biology degree. This is why tests like MCAT help offset lower GPAs to some degree along with upper trends and that which I mentioned in point 1 (SMPs and postbacs).

So how do they view upward trends as it relates to the overall GPA?

 

[gatorade848]

So how do they view upward trends as it relates to the overall GPA?

they want to see an upward trend; 3.3 with 3.8+ in the last 2 semesters is 10X better than a 3.3 all 8 semesters

 

[dpk211]

they want to see an upward trend; 3.3 with 3.8+ in the last 2 semesters is 10X better than a 3.3 all 8 semesters

You mean they will actually look at every application and break it down. My fear is that they just see the overall and then if it doesn't meet the cutoff, they just shred it.

 

[RookTookIt]

You mean they will actually look at every application and break it down. My fear is that they just see the overall and then if it doesn't meet the cutoff, they just shred it.

That's probably true, but I don't think that 3.3 is low enough to be screened out of a full review of your application.

 

[gatorade848]

That's probably true, but I don't think that 3.3 is low enough to be screened out of a full review of your application.

every med school have a minimum cutoff for application consideration, but they are rather low. my top 20 instate has a 3.0, 24 cutoff but the admitted average is still 3.7, 30. I think as long as your grades is above the minimum they will look at your apps.

 

[courtnes]

I tried responding earlier but I guess it didn't take.

I was also accepted with a 3.00 cum GPA. <insert long personal story here> I did a very competitive postbac and wound up with a 3.35 sGPA (low due to orgo but mitigated by an extra year of bio classes with all A's) and did well on the MCAT (11P/11V/12B/Q). Between undergrad and postbac, I did several years of research including a few pubs and got a very nice handful of other ECs, none of which were of the truly impressive saving a small developing nation kind, and got some excellent recs. Basically, it's possible to get in with a low GPA but all the other aspects of your application have to make you stand out.

If I could do it all over again, I'd save myself the uncertainty of applying with a low GPA, though that point's moot since I didn't decide to go into medicine until after college. That said, this was my first interview cycle, I was lucky enough to receive three interviews and was accepted by one of those schools in November. I have one decision still pending (likely a WL) and a WL.

 

[dpk211]

The AMCAS application has every single grade you've ever earned listed in the chronological order it was taken.

Then after that it shows rows with the following:

Freshman year
Sophomore year
Junior year
Senior year
Postbac if you've done this
Graduate GPA if you have one

Then it has a series of columns. for each of those rows listed above. It has one for AO GPA which is all classes that are not biology, chemistry, math and physics (aka non science classes). it has another column for BCPM. And an overall column

At the end of the fresh, soph, junior, senior, and postbac if that applies is also a cummulative row before grad GPA row.

So it breaks it down.

Upper trends are viewed positively amongst adcoms esp. if you do well in the next higher level course of a course you got a C in. So if you got a C in ochm 1 and an A in ochm 2 and biochm that will help your case and be viewed positively.

Interesting. I always thought that when the adcoms receive your application there is a cover page that shows gpa and mcat in big numbers and then if they like what they see, they just open the application. If they don't like it, they don't bother going any further. Are you saying that because you pay the application fee, that they are required to view your whole app?

 

[dpk211]

Yes they review the whole application. No the first thing they see is biographical information. Then coursework pages, then grades, then activities, then mcat, then personal statement.

In the new amcas there will be some section about high school as well.

If you are disadvantaged there is an essay for that as well.


You can sign up for amcas if you want to learn what its like. It won't count as applying unless you hit submit.

High School? Why?

 

[dpk211]

Heck if I know. I just read it on here cuz someone got something from their premed advisor in cali and posted a thread on this forum.

You seem pretty cool, how do you know all this insider stuff? I might need to pm you sometime.