Lowest Grades

[donnap86]

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I just recently joined SDN but have been surfing through here for over a year and I've noticed that when pre-meds share grades everyone seems to have straight A's. I have decent grades but 4 C's 😳 total all in chemistry( absolutely hate it, bio major) and I'm starting to get discouraged 🙁 because other pre-meds here are doing so great and I just don't know if I can get into med school anymore. So, I need some prespective from actual med students that may raise my hopes again. What was the lowest grade you ever recieved as an undergrad and still got into a med school of your choice? Hell, any med school for that matter (US only).

 

[Kathye42]

I had several C's, a lot of B's and some A's. It also depends on your MCAT score and your extracurricular activities.

 

[808premed]

I got all C's in chem as well. But I'm finally going to a US med school. Do well on the MCAT for sure. You might need to do post-bacc or grad school to improve your record (don't even think about taking the chemistry again- it's not worth it). Don't give up if going to med school is truly your dream! 😉

I just recently joined SDN but have been surfing through here for over a year and I've noticed that when pre-meds share grades everyone seems to have straight A's. I have decent grades but 4 C's 😳 total all in chemistry( absolutely hate it, bio major) and I'm starting to get discouraged 🙁 because other pre-meds here are doing so great and I just don't know if I can get into med school anymore. So, I need some prespective from actual med students that may raise my hopes again. What was the lowest grade you ever recieved as an undergrad and still got into a med school of your choice? Hell, any med school for that matter (US only).

 

[dtreese]

I hated chem. You can survive, but biochem & pharm are gonna bite you in the nether regions.

 

[beefballs]

Thank you previous posters for being positive and honest, Pre-Allo would have savaged this guy. Everybodies a bad a$$ on anonymous internet sites.

 

[Sage880]

2.7 Engineering GPA. Don't know what that is but I think it was mostly C's. Spent a year studying for the MCAT and got 36. That saved my ass.

 

[ddmo]

Beware of the pre-allo forum.... you get the impression that every applicant has a 4.0, breast fed aids children in africa, settled for a 44 on the MCAT, and can't decide between a green or red tie for their interviews at Harvard and Hopkins.

This is not the norm, so don't be fooled by the poor sampling. Do well in everything else, and you should be fine. MCATs make up for poor grades.

 

[shiraz84]

Yeah, like everyone else said - study your ass off for the MCAT. Also, if it is possible at your school, retake as many of those classes as possible. Here at UK, undergrads can retake up to two classes. The old grades still show up on your transcript, but they do not factor into the university's GPA calculation; however, from what I have been told, they still factor into the GPA calculation on the AMCAS. Even though it would still affect your GPA, showing med schools that you can do well in chem (even if it's the second time you have taken it) is good. Of course, this only works if you can retake them...

Good luck 🙂

 

[dtreese]

Beware of the pre-allo forum.... you get the impression that every applicant has a 4.0, breast fed aids children in africa, settled for a 44 on the MCAT, and can't decide between a green or red tie for their interviews at Harvard and Hopkins.

This is not the norm, so don't be fooled by the poor sampling. Do well in everything else, and you should be fine. MCATs make up for poor grades.

Do a search on "hunter green." Some classic SDN running jokes center on this.

 

[PineappleGirl]

Yes, and if you want to feel really bad about your grades check out mdapplicants.com. Most everyone has like a 3.8-4.0.

You should be fine with your 4Cs as long as your other grades are good and you rock the MCAT.

 

[Portier]

As a student interviewer (granted at Osteopathic, and not Allopathic) a bare minimal amount of GPA/MCAT composite is necessary to get an interview. I'm sure that the MD schools have more stringent requirements for the GPA/MCAT, but....

After a certain point, all the numbers started blurring together for me. I would think, "Did they make it through a challenging enough curriculum to come here?" If I thought, "Yes," I didn't look at the numbers again...unless there were tons of W/D.

Finally, I knew an MD (while I was in the Navy) who applied to medical school 7 times, and took the MCAT 7 times. Eventually some place let her in. It's all about persistence, I guess. Funny fact: she was taking the MCAT for the 7th time and that evening when she got home there was an acceptance letter in her mailbox.

I decided to save 6 application cycles, and applied DO.

 

[Pyroclast]

donnap86, don't worry, it could be worse. As an undergrad, I got a couple of C's , a D, and an F (don't ask) early on. But I worked hard my last couple of years and took a few classes post-bac. I only managed to bring my cumulative GPA up to about a 3.38 but I did well on the MCAT, and I think schools took into consideration that I wasn't the same student I was back when I did poorly. As long as your bad grades aren't right before graduation, you can even use it in your interviews or in your PS about how you overcame adversity, etc. to become the shining applicant you are today. I certainly don't think my bad grades helped, but they didn't keep me from getting accepted. In fact, I was among the first groups of interviewees at the schools where I applied. So you're not doomed. 😉

And like everyone else said, study your a$$ off for the MCAT. It counts about as much as your entire undergrad GPA. Which is totally unfair, but lord knows I appreciated it come application time.

 

[deuist]

pshawwww... I got lots of C's in college and managed to get in. So long as you don't get anymore, you'll be fine.

 

[jennie 21]

I got two C+'s (second semester orgo and biochem--I suck at chemistry) and several more B-'s (first semester orgo, calc, and an introductory bio class I think) and I still managed to get into my med school of choice. Of course, it helped that I had a strong upward trend in my GPA (got mostly A's, A-'s, B+'s as a junior and senior) and that I got a 38/40 on the MCAT. But I'm a rising third-year at NYU now. Just saying it can be done and a couple of C's won't keep you out of the running. Try to avoid getting any more C's if you can and try to do as well as you can in all your science classes from here on out, an upward trend definitely helps but the earlier it starts, the better (mine didn't start until second semester of junior year, too late to help my GPA that much...I think I had something like a 3.4 cumulative at the end). And as everyone else has suggested, make sure you do well on the MCAT. Good luck!

 

[tinkerbelle]

I had 3 C's, an Usatisfactory (uh... counted as a D/F or something). My gpa was about 3.45. My MCAT was so-so (31). I still managed to get into 5 med schools. So don't worry so much 🙂 Like everyone else has said, you don't need perfect grades or a perfect mcat score to get into med school.

 

[callendm]

Pre-meds suck, do not listen to them. If you want to be a doctor you will make it. Again, pre-meds think they know but have no idea

 

[gary5]

I think my lowest was a B. I had two classes where I had C+'s going into the finals. I studied for 2 weeks for each and crushed the finals. I got A's in both. So my advice is, if you're getting a low grade, make the extra investment.