If you get accepted with <3.3 Science GPA should you go to med school

[DrLady]

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Originally posted by pathdr2b
ONCE AGAIN, I don't create threads for people like you. These are for people like Galen that may have a real question or concern based on the thoughts and experiences of others.

Yes some of this thread is petty given all the names I've been called. However, being the MATURE person I am my response was with humor not additional name calling. But I guess you didn't notice that which is not suprising since you misread my original post. Don't be so uptight that you confuse maturity and humor. I'll take a doctor with a good sense of humor anyday which you obviously are not.

And yes, I going to go down in SDN history as having argued with everybody. I think I have about 19,989 more to go

Give me a fu(king break! One post of mine and you make assumptions about how I am uptight and don't have a good sense of humor. You're just like certain typical premeds here who make assumptions based on one post.

Sure sure, go down in SDN history. You are definitely MATURE.

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by DrLady
Give me a fu(king break! One post of mine and you make assumptions about how I am uptight and don't have a good sense of humor. You're just like certain typical premeds here who make assumptions based on one post.
Sure sure, go down in SDN history. You are definitely MATURE.

Make that 19, 988 to go!

 

[DALABROKA]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
As a matter of fact I have taken a few courses with medical students: Medical biochemistry, Phramacology, and Cell Biology.

The primise behind this thread was watching a college classmate suffer from medical school classes, to boards, and on to residency. I saw him "slide" by his prerequisites making mostly B's and C's and getting A's in everything else to keep his GPA high. He repeated USMLE's 1 and II 2X and took 6 years to do a 4 year residency I'm sure because his skills weren't "tight".

A better question of me might be why do I care about people I don't even know. Having succefully gained admission to medical school under the most dire of academic circumstances I think gives me something credible to say. Plus unlike so many of you I didn't have ANYONE sharing/advising/helping me make decisions after I was initially rejected by medical schools, including the one that accepted me years later. I certainily could have benefitted from a thread like "Postbacc vs MS" or what are you going to do if you don't get in".

So to you young people, you can listen from folks like myself and Adcadet, Brill, many others that have been in the world for "longer than a minute" and have succesfully navigated the system and seen others be not so successful. Or you can do as some of you are doing and totally reject any idea different from your obviously narrowed way of thinking.

Carry on and I shall save my experiences/stories for the disadvantaged students I mentor in the DC area.

OH PLEASE 🙄

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by DALABROKA
OH PLEASE 🙄

19,987............................ anyone else?

 

[Ramoray]

i have not followed this thread but bottom line is if you have a 3.3 gpa you should definetly NOT be allowed to practice medicine.

 

[DALABROKA]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
19,987............................ anyone else?

🙄 🙄

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by Ramoray
i have not followed this thread but bottom line is if you have a 3.3 gpa you should definetly NOT be allowed to practice medicine.

Now let's just see if folks have the "balls" or "boobs" to jump down your virtual throat they way they did mine for NOT stating what you so boldly state. Hey, don't hate the messenger, hate the message and roll on Ramoray for standing up for your opinion!!!!!

 

[scootad.]

First off, I'd like to say this topic is highly entertaining. Alas it doesnt take much to entertain me.

Secondly, I agree all applicants w/ below 3.3 should not be admitted to med school. Burn em at the stake!

 

[relatively prime]

I think the MCAT score matters. If you can get a 35 on the MCAT what's it matter what your gpa is?

If you have a <3.3 gpa and a <26 MCAT... then you might have issues.

 

[yaoming]

So while you have been taking your medical courses, how many conversations did you sample with your classmates (one college classmate does not count)? How many of them told you they came straight from undergraduate with below 3.3? How many of them told you they had a high gpa? Of those who did tell you their gpa, what did they tell you about their exam scores and if they were failing? Since 3rd year clinical grades are the most important grades in medical school, did you speak to post 3rd years who had below undergrad 3.3 or high gpas, and how are they doing now? Please increase your sample size and be more accurate to strengthen your credibility.

I am going to assume temporarily that you did not hold many intimate conversations with other medical students, because if you did, you will discover you are not the only one with a disadvantaged background and older age. Over half of my class took at least 2 years off, some due to financial hindrance.

I am not "rejecting" your opinion. I am involving myself in an open debate, and I ask that if you want me to change my opinion from my own current experience, then provide more concrete and numerical evidence. President Bush should also do the same about Iraq.

I know some posts in here makes you feel defensive, but you are beginning to appear immature as well. Try to evade from that by speaking with less emotions and more with cognition.

yaoming
MS1

Originally posted by pathdr2b
As a matter of fact I have taken a few courses with medical students: Medical biochemistry, Phramacology, and Cell Biology.

The primise behind this thread was watching a college classmate suffer from medical school classes, to boards, and on to residency. I saw him "slide" by his prerequisites making mostly B's and C's and getting A's in everything else to keep his GPA high. He repeated USMLE's 1 and II 2X and took 6 years to do a 4 year residency I'm sure because his skills weren't "tight".

A better question of me might be why do I care about people I don't even know. Having succefully gained admission to medical school under the most dire of academic circumstances I think gives me something credible to say. Plus unlike so many of you I didn't have ANYONE sharing/advising/helping me make decisions after I was initially rejected by medical schools, including the one that accepted me years later. I certainily could have benefitted from a thread like "Postbacc vs MS" or what are you going to do if you don't get in".

So to you young people, you can listen from folks like myself and Adcadet, Brill, many others that have been in the world for "longer than a minute" and have succesfully navigated the system and seen others be not so successful. Or you can do as some of you are doing and totally reject any idea different from your obviously narrowed way of thinking.

Carry on and I shall save my experiences/stories for the disadvantaged students I mentor in the DC area.

 

[DukeBluDevl02]

why are people still talking about this? doesn't anyone have anything better to do with the last six months of your freedom???

 

[Dr.Tong]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
19,987............................ anyone else?

right here

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by Dr.Tong
right here

OK then 19,986!

 

[penn03]

Your reasons for delaying matriculation due to GPA are far too broad to be valid in any sense or practical application.

 

[UCLA2000]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
First let me clarify. I am referring to <3.3 being the ONLY GPA you have NOT including grad school and postbacc work.

I have to strongly agrue that a person in this situation should delay a year and take additional science courses as a postbacc for 3 reasons:

1) I think the ability to maintain at least a 3.3 in the sciences is a good indication that reasonably consistent study habits are in place. Everone knows that the "issue" with medical school being difficult has more to do with the volume of work than the type of courses.

2) Even a person with a 35 on the MCAT with a <3.3 GPA I think may have a problem. Getting a score like this shows that a person can take a standardized test, a one time effort. Medical school is a marathon not a race so again, being able to maintain consistent study habits are key.

3) There is a correlation between GPA and performance on the USMLE step 1, 2, and 3.

HAHAHAHAHA are you serious?

1. if you get accepted to med school go.
2. There is NO correlation between gpa and USMLE performance. There is NO data to back that up. There can't be because of things like GRADE INFLATION and differences between schools. Do you believe a 3.3 from Harvard is equal to a 3.3 from Bob's undergrad?

There IS some evidence of a correlation between MCAT score and USMLE score.

 

[brubum]

This is my first post, but I could not just read these posts and not say anything. My God, there are so many reasons why someone with a science GPA of 3.3 would get accepted into med school and do well. If his MCAT scores were really good, perhaps there's a perfectly innocuous reason for his grades that we don't know about. I would imagine that any school that accepts him believes that he will become a good doctor. If they gave him the benefit of the doubt, why can't some of you?

 

[pathdr2b]

Speaking of GPA's....................................

 

[exmike]

pathdr, since you insist on resurrecting a thread from the dead...

Source: AAMC

The Average SciGPA of a matriculated student in the class of 2007 was 3.55 with a standard deviation of .35 This means 16.7% of entering medical students had a SciGPA BELOW 3.2

I dont have a standard curve in front of me here but i'm willing to venture that upwards of 25-30% of first year medical students have SciGPA's below 3.3

I dont think we're equipped as applicants to surmise what gpa's are required for success in med school. lets leave that to the adcomms.

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by exmike
pathdr, since you insist on resurrecting a thread from the dead... I dont think we're equipped as applicants to surmise what gpa's are required for success in med school. lets leave that to the adcomms.

I'm not arguing about success, but success at what price? I am a person with an undergrad GPA MUCH lower than 3.3 and the fact of the matter is that there's no way I could of made it in medical school for one simple reason: I didn't have the study skills needed to successfully navigate a medical school curriculum. In my mind a GPA < 3.3 USUALLY indicates that the study skills needed to do well WITHOUT GREAT DIFFICULTY is just not there, at least this was the case for me. What graduate school did for me besides given me a decent GPA, was to force me to develop study habits needed to be successful in any field.

I believe that GPA is in no way the sole measure of a person's future success HOWEVER, a person without good study skills which is sometimes reflected in GPA, may graduate from medical school but MAY have many challenges in doing so.