To clarify, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that someone with a 3.95 as opposed to a 4.0 will not really have a noticeably reduced chance at admissions due to gpa, correct? I'm wondering, how low can you take that gpa and still have it not affect your application? I myself am starting to get a little worried because every semester my gpa has fallen slightly from a 4.0 to a 3.8. I know it's still a really good gpa and I'm fine with how it is, but have my chances at admission into top medical schools diminished somewhat because of this drop in gpa? Or is it insignificant?
Is there a gpa such that any gpa above it will not hugely affect admissions?
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From statistics..peoples chances seem to go up all the way to 4.0....the MCAT, on the other hand flat lines, around 38-39
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If you go by this table:
https://www.aamc.org/download/157958/data/table25-w-mcatgpa-grid-white-0810.pdf.pdf
your chance of acceptance increases with increasing MCAT/GPA all the way up to 39/3.8. Then again, the grid only goes up by .2 increments for GPA, so it probably doesn't answer your 3.8-4.0 GPA question.
So how about you think about it like this - the average GPA for Harvard/Hopkins is ~3.8. Obviously these schools would have no problem accepting only people with 4.0s, so it seems like after a 3.7-3.8 your GPA won't put you significantly ahead of anyone else.
tl;dr: I pulled a bunch of stuff out of my rectum to answer you.
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IMO, there's little difference between a 3.8 and a 4.0. It essentially means you had A's with some A-'s, maybe one or two B's. My school's pre-health committee "ranks" students, and a GPA of 3.8+ gets the highest ranking.
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If you get rejected by a medical school with a 3.8, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's not your GPA that's holding you back.
Thanks guys for the quick responses. Really appreciate it! I can now breathe easier knowing that my crappy semester (compared to my other semesters) shouldn't hurt me that much as long as I stay on top of everything else.
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I don't believe a 3.8 should hold you back at all. In a lot of cases, the difference between an A and an A- or B+ could definitely not be in your hands (i.e. a crazy prof, etc.).
--And I think adcoms understand that.
--And I think adcoms understand that.
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I personally would draw the line at 3.9-4.0, but I'm not suggesting that medical schools go by that. From my personal experience, it's been extremely difficult to crack 3.90, whereas 3.80+ is much easier.
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What if a student had a 3.9+ in a humanities major but had A-'s and B+'s concentrated in premed, science courses?
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Ah, I misunderstood what you were asking, my bad. You mean what if a student had a 3.9+ GPA in their major but a lower BCPM? This might suggest that the applicant can't handle/isn't as committed to the sciences. I think extra attention will be paid to the MCAT scores to be clear that the applicant can indeed understand and excel at the sciences. Taking a few upper level sciences courses (besides just the premed ones) and getting high grades in them would also be a good way to demonstrate that you actually can handle the sciences.
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You get two different GPAs for this exact reason - your cGPA (includes all your classes, including GEs) and sGPA (only biology, chemistry, math, physics). The latter tends to be the more important one.
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I would say the person with a 3.9 overall GPA but a 3.4 sGPA will have fewer options than a person with a 3.9 cGPA and 3.9 sGPA.
How much each school looks at the two separate GPA's is school specific, though I would guess that at many schools, the science major with a 3.6 cGPA and 3.6 sGPA would be at a SLIGHT disadvantage to the humanities major with a 3.9 cGPA and 3.6 sGPA. That is just a guess though, and probably varies by school.
My n=1 experience, majored in History (originally pre-law) and graduated with a 3.81 cGPA, 4.0 sGPA (7 science credit hours). Returned for an informal post-bac, then additional classes toward a BS for my current job, with a post-bac all-BCPM GPA of 3.56. Overall cGPA = 3.71 and sGPA = 3.60. Was told flat-out at my interview that there were no problems with my academic record and I was accepted EDP. Take my experience for what it is worth.
