My chances of getting into medical school 3.3 gpa

[adana]

Hello,

I am a sophomore (soon to be junior) undergraduate pursuing a biomedical engineer degree. Up to now, I have a 3.3 gpa and this semester has been a killer. My life has been stressful due to my major, classes, social life, and personal life. Nothing extremely bad happened, but the cumulative effect of all of this got to me.

I believe I am at a crossroads for my future. If I dive into my studies for the next two years, I believe I can pull a 3.5-3.6. If I erode my personal life, and retake some classes, maybe a 3.7. Here is my situation:

I have mostly B's and B+'s with a number of A's and B-'s. I have a C in one of my engineering courses. I dropped out of and retook organic chem 1 (ended up with a B+).

I am currently involved in two research projects. For one of them, I am working with a biomedical engineering group to design a medical device using engineering principles to alleviate her pain. In the other, I am working on a coding project that has a possibly wide application for a clinical setting. This second one is extracurricular and I am working with a clinical therapist professor.

I have not worked or volunteered in a hospital as of yet. I have been a member of an engineering fraternity but have not had a leadership role as of yet.

With regards to the MCAT, I plan on studying for it moderately over the summer to become familiar with it and then take it my fourth year after an intensive 2 month regime.

My major concern is that I feel that I have a hard major that affects my gpa, as can be seen by a 3.3. Can anyone help me analyze my situation? Any recommendations on how to improve my medical school prospects?

Thank you for reading this long post, I appreciate it if you have

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[adana]

Also, I am going to try and get a volunteer opportunity for the summer but I do not have anything lined up at the moment.

 

[plumhill]

Its a little early to be posting in WAMC threads. Basically, you have two years to pick yourself back up. Plenty before you have done it and succeeded. But you're right: you are at a crossroads, and you need to really make some changes if you want to make up for your past academic performance (which, while not completely terrible, is below average for med school applicants).

If you want to have a strong chance at MD schools, you'll have to do better than a 3.5-3.6...we're talking 3.7+ if you want to make a substantial difference. If you're only getting a 3.5-3.6, that'll pull you up to a 3.4-3.45ish, which isn't significantly better than a 3.3

You need to have a very strong performance on the MCAT. Don't start studying too early because you'll start to forget stuff, but spend a solid 3-4 months and study your a** off! Aim for mid-30s. Regarding your research involvement, make sure its not cutting into your time to study...GPA > research. And you absolutely NEED clinical experience. If you can get extensive clinical experience and demonstrate your familiarity/commitment to the medical profession and environment, that will help. Make sure you shadow.

If your grades don't improve tremendously, a 3.3 could still get you into DO school. AACOMAS does have grade replacement, so if you want to retake anything (although I don't think you'll need to, unless you have a C- or below in any class), that will help.