Low GPA

[generous_arbiter]

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So my GPA is low. I am a chemistry major with a double minor in Environmental science and Religion at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY. By Fall 2021 I would have completed my entire degree. My cGPA a 3.5. My science GPA is a 3.22. I need to boost my overall and science GPA.
My EC include:-
Safe Haven Bible Club-SACOR
Environmental Club-Memeber
Caribbean Students Association- member
Chemistry Club-member
Volunteer at the Multicultural Affairs Office
What can you do with a science degree? Conference - speaker and volunteer
Student Lab Assistant-2019-2020(I stopped due to Covid I will continue once classes go back to normal)
CUNY Summer Undergrad Research Program 2019
CSTEP member and CSTEP Peer Mentor
I also have a human rights blog
I am currently helping 5 children all under the age of 12 with school work with Covid.
I also just got into Rutgers SURF 2021... (Research at this programs seems to about Pharmacy and Toxicology will that count as clinical experience?)

Ethnicity: Mixed with African, East Indian, Venezuelan and Carib( Amerindian tribe).
Citizenship: Dual citizenship with Trinidad and the US
Residency: NY
List of Medical Schools:-
This isn't in any special order:-
Rutgers
CUNY
SUNY Upstate Medical
Stony Brook University
Hofstra University
University of Miami
University of Virginia Commonwealth
Uniformed Services University
( I have no issue with relocating to another state for Med school. Nothing at the moment is holding me down to NY.)

 

[stinkycheeseperson]

You need to combine all your credits. How many, and what is the gpa for all your courses and then all your science courses for anything you have ever taken for college credits?

You need to re-take physics 1, a D is not acceptable for med school. You don't have a choice there.

The MPHs won't help and you should only do them if you want to go in that field, never mind that you're gonna pay out the butt for at least one of them.

What do your ECs look like? Do you have any clinicals? Do you volunteer anywhere? Why medicine and not public health or policy or straight environmental science? When are you planning to take the MCAT?

 

[candbgirl]

Everything you have posted means nothing to us. It’s so unorganized and listing individual grades means nothing. In the stickied section in this forum , there is a HOW TO FORMAT My WAMC thread. Could you please use that format and redo your thread? It would really be helpful for everyone? One of the main things you have to do is provide a cGPA and a sGPA for all of your classes. The information you provided doesn’t provide any information really.
After you post the new format people will be happy to help you.

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

OP this should help you out. Don't list your grades individually, instead list your total cGPA and sGPA. No-one will be able to advise you on schools unless you have a MCAT score. Hope this helps!

How to format your WAMC thread

Suggested information to include when creating a WAMC thread are as follows:

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)
4. Ethnicity and/or race
5. Undergraduate institution or category
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
7. Research experience and productivity
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
9. Non-clinical volunteering
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
11. Relevant honors or awards
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important

Most importantly, please include a list of schools you are interested in applying to. It is much easier for users to help you when you have taken the time to construct your own school list first!

 

[generous_arbiter]

Everything you have posted means nothing to us. It’s so unorganized and listing individual grades means nothing. In the stickied section in this forum , there is a HOW TO FORMAT My WAMC thread. Could you please use that format and redo your thread? It would really be helpful for everyone? One of the main things you have to do is provide a cGPA and a sGPA for all of your classes. The information you provided doesn’t provide any information really.
After you post the new format people will be happy to help you.

I just edited my comment. This was my first thread I posted and wasn't sure on what to do...

 

[generous_arbiter]

OP this should help you out. Don't list your grades individually, instead list your total cGPA and sGPA. No-one will be able to advise you on schools unless you have a MCAT score. Hope this helps!

How to format your WAMC thread

Suggested information to include when creating a WAMC thread are as follows:

1. cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
2. MCAT score(s) and breakdown
3. State of residence or country of citizenship (if non-US)
4. Ethnicity and/or race
5. Undergraduate institution or category
6. Clinical experience (volunteer and non-volunteer)
7. Research experience and productivity
8. Shadowing experience and specialties represented
9. Non-clinical volunteering
10. Other extracurricular activities (including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc)
11. Relevant honors or awards
12. Anything else not listed you think might be important

Most importantly, please include a list of schools you are interested in applying to. It is much easier for users to help you when you have taken the time to construct your own school list first!

Hi, I have edited the post thank you for the list it helped alot. This was my first time posting on this forum so I wasn't sure on what I was doing

 

[generous_arbiter]

You need to combine all your credits. How many, and what is the gpa for all your courses and then all your science courses for anything you have ever taken for college credits?

You need to re-take physics 1, a D is not acceptable for med school. You don't have a choice there.

The MPHs won't help and you should only do them if you want to go in that field, never mind that you're gonna pay out the butt for at least one of them.

What do your ECs look like? Do you have any clinicals? Do you volunteer anywhere? Why medicine and not public health or policy or straight environmental science? When are you planning to take the MCAT?

I plan to take the MCAT in 2022...

 

[Ms Procrastinator]

So my GPA is low. I am a chemistry major with a double minor in Environmental science and Religion at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY. By Fall 2021 I would have completed my entire degree. My cGPA a 3.5. My science GPA is a 3.22. I need to boost my overall and science GPA.


How many hours do these volunteer gigs add up to?

Volunteer at the Multicultural Affairs Office
What can you do with a science degree? Conference - speaker and volunteer
I am currently helping 5 children all under the age of 12 with school work with Covid (do you volunteer or do you get paid?)

You seem to lack clinical experience which is very important for applying to med school. You should try to get a volunteer position in a hospital, hospice, planned parenthood or anywhere you would be in contact with patients. You could also get a paid clinical job to fill the requirements for clinical experience. Basically, do something that gets you in physical contact with patients (150 hours+ is standard). You should also consider shadowing physicians to get a feel of what they do on a day to day basis (around 50 hours).

Ethnicity: Mixed with African, East Indian, Venezuelan and Carib (Amerindian tribe). What racial box do you generally check when asked?
Mixed/other? I have no problem considering a Trinidadian URM but each school is different. On one hand Venezuelans and SE Asians are considered ORM, but indigenous people and Africans are considered URM. I personally think you'd qualify as URM.

Can't really advise on a list of schools unless you have an MCAT score since they go hand in hand.
List of Medical Schools:-
This isn't in any special order:-
Rutgers
CUNY
SUNY Upstate Medical
Stony Brook University
Hofstra University
University of Miami
University of Virginia Commonwealth
Uniformed Services University
( I have no issue with relocating to another state for Med school. Nothing at the moment is holding me down to NY.)

Your science GPA does need increasing. You should use extra resources like Khan academy and Youtube to help with any problems you have with your science courses or utilize your school's tutoring programs/ Supplemental instructors (if they have any).

So I really can’t do physics. My professor isn’t going to help me at this point regardless that I am at her office hours asking questions and bringing my own. In Spring 2021 I am taking Physics 2 Physical Chemistry 2 and Statistics. Fall 2021 is Bio Chem and Instrumental along with Senior Project. Like I said I need help boosting my science gpa. My schools Chem program is extremely minute not small but minute. The advance Chem classes that don’t clash with bio major classes are offered once every other year or every four semester.

Someone asked you why medicine and not public health or policy or straight environmental science? Are you sure you're interested in medicine and not something in environmental science? There's no reason you should do two masters in Environmental Science unless that's the career route you want to take. A simple DIY postbac should help repair your science GPA. For GPA repairs try this link Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

I am also contemplating doing 2 Masters one MPH concentration in Environmental Science and MSc. Environmental Sciences, before applying to Med school or doing a SMP. I am heavily involved on campus and work in the lab at my school. I am also Head of Chemistry in my lab (I help over see all the chemistry labs to ensure they are set up properly and take charge once my boss is absent).
I am a student leader and did a SURP in 2019. Can you please help me with my GPA issue?

Since you don't plan on taking the MCAT til 2022, you have a while to fix your application. When you do you can update this thread. This forum will help you with any questions you have on the MCAT MCAT Forum.

 

[candbgirl]

Thanks for posting using the WAMC grid.

1)Your GPAS are below the average GPA for matriculated students at MD schools(3.7x). Your sGPA is especially low(3.6x). After you graduate you should plan to take a couple of full time semesters of upper level science courses and get all As. Do this as a DIY post bacc so the grades will be counted in your uGPA. A graduate degree will not help your uGPA in MD school admissions. It does help with DO schools.
2)Why are you planning on 2 graduate degrees that have nothing to do with medicine? I have to agree with some of the other posters. Are you really sure you want to be a doctor? It really doesn’t seem like it. Nothing in your application screams, or even hints, at a strong desire to spend the next 40+ years dealing with the sick, injured and dying.
3) Your ECs are not impressive for a med school applicant. You seem to have no shadowing or clinical experiences. You should have around 50 hours of physician shadowing including several hours with a primary care doc. You also need 200+ hours of clinical experiences with direct patient contact. This can be paid or volunteer.
@Ms Procrastinator made several excellent suggestions of where you can find opportunities.
3). I really can’t tell what you have in the nonclinical volunteering serving the unserved/underserved in your community. From what you listed ,everything seems to be pretty much on campus and very much in your comfort zone. You have to get off campus and out of your comfort zone. You should have 200+ hours in this area too. Find a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen and start volunteering. You could also coach a sports team for disadvantaged kids or help at a camp for disabled kids, or visit vets at a Veteran Homes, or almost anything that shows your altruism. If you end up a doctor you will be serving people very unlike yourself every day.
4). You are, at some point, are going to have to tell your story of how you got to medicine and why. Currently, I’m not sure you could do that effectively. Maybe you know exactly how you got here but your activities do not reflect any kind of a journey to medicine.
5) Perhaps spend time reading @Goro ‘s Guide for Reinvention. Also spend time reading the WAMC threads and see what other applicants have done to build their applications .
6) And most importantly, before you go any further figure out IF you really want to be a doctor and why. And if you do, make a plan to get there.

 

[generous_arbiter]

So my GPA is low. I am a chemistry major with a double minor in Environmental science and Religion at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY. By Fall 2021 I would have completed my entire degree. My cGPA a 3.5. My science GPA is a 3.22. I need to boost my overall and science GPA.


How many hours do these volunteer gigs add up to?

Volunteer at the Multicultural Affairs Office
What can you do with a science degree? Conference - speaker and volunteer
I am currently helping 5 children all under the age of 12 with school work with Covid (do you volunteer or do you get paid?)

You seem to lack clinical experience which is very important for applying to med school. You should try to get a volunteer position in a hospital, hospice, planned parenthood or anywhere you would be in contact with patients. You could also get a paid clinical job to fill the requirements for clinical experience. Basically, do something that gets you in physical contact with patients (150 hours+ is standard). You should also consider shadowing physicians to get a feel of what they do on a day to day basis (around 50 hours).

Ethnicity: Mixed with African, East Indian, Venezuelan and Carib (Amerindian tribe). What racial box do you generally check when asked?
Mixed/other? I have no problem considering a Trinidadian URM but each school is different. On one hand Venezuelans and SE Asians are considered ORM, but indigenous people and Africans are considered URM. I personally think you'd qualify as URM.

Can't really advise on a list of schools unless you have an MCAT score since they go hand in hand.
List of Medical Schools:-
This isn't in any special order:-
Rutgers
CUNY
SUNY Upstate Medical
Stony Brook University
Hofstra University
University of Miami
University of Virginia Commonwealth
Uniformed Services University
( I have no issue with relocating to another state for Med school. Nothing at the moment is holding me down to NY.)

Your science GPA does need increasing. You should use extra resources like Khan academy and Youtube to help with any problems you have with your science courses or utilize your school's tutoring programs/ Supplemental instructors (if they have any).

So I really can’t do physics. My professor isn’t going to help me at this point regardless that I am at her office hours asking questions and bringing my own. In Spring 2021 I am taking Physics 2 Physical Chemistry 2 and Statistics. Fall 2021 is Bio Chem and Instrumental along with Senior Project. Like I said I need help boosting my science gpa. My schools Chem program is extremely minute not small but minute. The advance Chem classes that don’t clash with bio major classes are offered once every other year or every four semester.

Someone asked you why medicine and not public health or policy or straight environmental science? Are you sure you're interested in medicine and not something in environmental science? There's no reason you should do two masters in Environmental Science unless that's the career route you want to take. A simple DIY postbac should help repair your science GPA. For GPA repairs try this link Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

I am also contemplating doing 2 Masters one MPH concentration in Environmental Science and MSc. Environmental Sciences, before applying to Med school or doing a SMP. I am heavily involved on campus and work in the lab at my school. I am also Head of Chemistry in my lab (I help over see all the chemistry labs to ensure they are set up properly and take charge once my boss is absent).
I am a student leader and did a SURP in 2019. Can you please help me with my GPA issue?

Since you don't plan on taking the MCAT til 2022, you have a while to fix your application. When you do you can update this thread. This forum will help you with any questions you have on the MCAT MCAT Forum.

So last year i applied to SURP programs that allowed me to take my training in Eniro Science and use it in medical/health field. Unfortunately Covid happened and the programs were cancelled. So I do not have any clinical experience. IO have applied at those same places you mentioned while I was in Brooklyn and the organization said they will contact me when a spot is available. I decided to improvize by tutoring kids instead. I have about 400 hours volunteering in that field. This year i did the same as last year I applied to programs that will give me that clinical experience as i am having difficulty getting it. The Rutgers program I got through with is in the field of Pharmacology/Toxicology and Environmental Health Sciences.