Low GPA High MCAT

[Cloud 9]

I have seen some threads but they are irrelevant to what I am seeking because I am talking about a very low GPA, like 2.8ish...this post is for my brother and I'm helping him with his applications and I'm wondering how do his chances look as a URM with an MCAT of at least 36 and a GPA of around 2.8, good LORs, good healthcare activities? My mom graduated from the residency program at Morehouse in the 90s and her mentor is now the director of some sort who still talks to her and she was a very very good student. Just gauging his chances and wondering if anyone could also provide some schools that are more MCAT friendly. Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[jissho]

According to official AAMC data, students with sub 3.0 undergraduate GPA's do get accepted to medical school. The high MCAT will definitely work in his favor but there is no crystal ball when it comes to medical school admissions.

 

[kaernm]

Did he take the MCAT already or is he hoping for at least a 36? Schools are usually nice to their alumni, but is he only trying to go to Morehouse? Morehouse is a good school, but they do not have alot of seats

 

[Cloud 9]

According to official AAMC data, students with sub 3.0 undergraduate GPA's do get accepted to medical school. The high MCAT will definitely work in his favor but there is no crystal ball when it comes to medical school admissions.

Great! Could you give me a link?

Did he take the MCAT already or is he hoping for at least a 36? Schools are usually nice to their alumni, but is he only trying to go to Morehouse? Morehouse is a good school, but they do not have alot of seats

No he wants to apply to a lot of schools, as I think he should. I'm trying to find a list of schools that would be more friendly to his situation. He got As in his science courses and understands them well and is very intelligent, has been a good test taker all of his life, just the past year he went through some stuff and got 8 Fs (just did not even take the exams) which is what brought his GPA down.

 

[jissho]

https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/

 

[kaernm]

!!!!!

 

[Bernoull]

So ur brother had a disastrous semester and his gpa tanked, that aside, he's done well in other aspects of his application. I think if he applies to a good selection of schools, he'll get it.

ADCOMs will see his gpa by yr (Freshman, Soph, Jr, Sr) and quickly see the oddball semester, therefore they'll see an academically capable applicant who invariably had a bad semester. The high MCAT also speaks to his academic capability. The next thing the ADCOM would want to know is "what happened"? At this point of the application process (pre-interview), ur brother can't explain to them his circumstances THEREFORE it's imperative that he include a short paragraph in his personal statement addressing his gpa this way, when the ADCOM see's the disastrous semester, they'll know the context and better evaluate his gpa.

The paragraph addressing this should basically have 3 components:
1. what happened
2. what caused it/why it happened
3. What have u done to prevent a recurrence

ADCOM will be very interested in #3 bcos med sch is more stressful and demanding therefore if #2 were to recur they want some assurance that he wouldn't fail all his classes. In other words, what has he learned from the experience, how is he a better, more resilient student?

Gdluck

 

[kaernm]

[Good Luck

 

[Cloud 9]

[Good Luck

Thank you and to you as well

So ur brother had a disastrous semester and his gpa tanked, that aside, he's done well in other aspects of his application. I think if he applies to a good selection of schools, he'll get it.

ADCOMs will see his gpa by yr (Freshman, Soph, Jr, Sr) and quickly see the oddball semester, therefore they'll see an academically capable applicant who invariably had a bad semester. The high MCAT also speaks to his academic capability. The next thing the ADCOM would want to know is "what happened"? At this point of the application process (pre-interview), ur brother can't explain to them his circumstances THEREFORE it's imperative that he include a short paragraph in his personal statement addressing his gpa this way, when the ADCOM see's the disastrous semester, they'll know the context and better evaluate his gpa.

The paragraph addressing this should basically have 3 components:
1. what happened
2. what caused it/why it happened
3. What have u done to prevent a recurrence

ADCOM will be very interested in #3 bcos med sch is more stressful and demanding therefore if #2 were to recur they want some assurance that he wouldn't fail all his classes. In other words, what has he learned from the experience, how is he a better, more resilient student?

Gdluck

Exactly, that is what I told him needs to be done too.

The application I think we can take care of.

So what I'm looking for is this: In Pharmcas, they give you summary pages of each school that details their average or lowest accepted PCAT score and their average and minimum GPA accepted, along with prerequisites required, recommendations required, contact info, etc.

I was wondering if such a thing existed for medical school admission, so we could create our list of schools to apply to. Like is there a website that lists the minimum cut off GPA, etc for each school?

This is an example of what I'm talking about.

 

[kaernm]

Thank you and to you as well



Exactly, that is what I told him needs to be done too.

The application I think we can take care of.

So what I'm looking for is this: In Pharmcas, they give you summary pages of each school that details their average or lowest accepted PCAT score and their average and minimum GPA accepted, along with prerequisites required, recommendations required, contact info, etc.

I was wondering if such a thing existed for medical school admission, so we could create our list of schools to apply to. Like is there a website that lists the minimum cut off GPA, etc for each school?


The Medical School Admissions Book comes out every year. You can also go to each medical school's website and get info from there.

This is an example of what I'm talking about.

The Medical School Admissions Book comes out every year, and you can also go to the website of each of the schools that you are interested in. When does your brother plan on taking the MCAT?

 

[jissho]

Thank you and to you as well



Exactly, that is what I told him needs to be done too.

The application I think we can take care of.

So what I'm looking for is this: In Pharmcas, they give you summary pages of each school that details their average or lowest accepted PCAT score and their average and minimum GPA accepted, along with prerequisites required, recommendations required, contact info, etc.

I was wondering if such a thing existed for medical school admission, so we could create our list of schools to apply to. Like is there a website that lists the minimum cut off GPA, etc for each school?

This is an example of what I'm talking about.

You probably will be able to copy of the MSAR at your school library. The two sites below may be of some help.

General info about MSAR
https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/requirements/62892/msar/

Link to Purchase MSAR
https://services.aamc.org/publicati...ion=Product.displayForm&prd_id=296&prv_id=367

 

[Bernoull]

Thank you and to you as well



Exactly, that is what I told him needs to be done too.

The application I think we can take care of.

So what I'm looking for is this: In Pharmcas, they give you summary pages of each school that details their average or lowest accepted PCAT score and their average and minimum GPA accepted, along with prerequisites required, recommendations required, contact info, etc.

I was wondering if such a thing existed for medical school admission, so we could create our list of schools to apply to. Like is there a website that lists the minimum cut off GPA, etc for each school?

This is an example of what I'm talking about.

When ur brother is narrowing down schs from MSAR, he shouldn't factor in his gpa bcos it's aberrant and ADCOMs will see it as such. As far as selecting schools he may be competitive at, he should use his mcat as a guage of his academic competitiveness NOT his gpa. However he should apply to a broad range of schools; a good rule of thumb is apply to 1/3 reach; 1/3 competitive and 1/3 safeties.

Again, everything i say presupposes that he addresses my gpa issue in his PS.

Gdluck

 

[touchadream]

I have seen some threads but they are irrelevant to what I am seeking because I am talking about a very low GPA, like 2.8ish...this post is for my brother and I'm helping him with his applications and I'm wondering how do his chances look as a URM with an MCAT of at least 36 and a GPA of around 2.8, good LORs, good healthcare activities? My mom graduated from the residency program at Morehouse in the 90s and her mentor is now the director of some sort who still talks to her and she was a very very good student. Just gauging his chances and wondering if anyone could also provide some schools that are more MCAT friendly. Thanks!

My spouse had a very very low college GPA and did very well on the MCAT, got into more than one med school. He went back to college, took pre-med sciences, aced them the next time around, and clearly was a mature candidate with every capability, but probably not great guidance at young age as first kid in family to go to college, kind of lost for those years, intervening family events, etc. It will work out. I would look personally at number of applicants and number of places. Don't worry about getting wait-listed either, there are always, it seems, people who show up for a day or two and quit and voila! you are in. Good luck. Personally I think that adversity will make him a better student, a better doctor and a better person. Some of the young, excuse me, arrogant college grads who haven't ever had any issues, also haven't lived life and it takes judgment and perspective to be a great doc.

 

[doc44ever]

GPA and MCAT are combined together to make one solid statistic on a chart. Med schools also look at research opportunities and volunteering work during undergrad. Its important to cover that low GPA with tons of other things but surely the 36 MCAT score will work in favor.

 

[aaj117]

check out my mdapps, i had a similar split of mcat vs gpa

 

[Telekinesis]

check out my mdapps, i had a similar split of mcat vs gpa

Just saw your madpplicants page. WOW! Impressive! What advice would you give to someone who had two bad years on a 5 yr degree plan? As far as ECs and what not?