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I'm writing this because I was a reapplicant that did postbacc and was accepted to several MD and DO schools. I called several adcoms and have spoken with many friends who were successfull. I took a very active and agrressive approach to figure out the system. I will share what I have learned. Hopefully this can help some of you.
If you have below a 2.7 or even around a 3.0, a post-bac or Masters is pretty much required if you want to get into an MD school. There comes a point in which you can't significantly raise your GPA regardless of how many classes you take. If you are at 2.7 or a 2.8, the most you can raise your GPA is to a 3.0 or a 3.1.
Also, keep in mind that a 3.0-3.2 is not a strong GPA either especially if you have a lot of W's and few scattered F' and D's in your coursework. If that's the case, then you may consider a postbac or Masters. Adcoms don't want to risk taking a student who has poor study habits. A bad trend in grades or a few scatterred bad grades can hurt you. It's one thing if you are 2.9 GPA is due to consistent B's and a few C's. It's much worse if you have A's and then a few scattered D's, and F's in challenging courses like O-chem.
You have to understand with GPA that's it's not just about the numbers. It's how you achieved your GPA. Adcoms want to see consistency. Dropping hard classes and failing difficult classes while getting A's in a many soft classes will not help you regardless if your GPA is a 3.3-3.4. That is why Postbac or a Masters is necessity for most reapplicants. It's not just about the numbers. These applicants need to start over and show a consistent trend of good grades in many difficult classes over a period of time. Postbacs and hard science Masters can help you demonstrate this trend.
Adcoms look for two things in a candidate: intelligence and work ethic. GPA represents your work ethic and discipline. MCAT scores predicts your IQ, and test taking skills. A high MCAT is important because there is a strong correlation between MCAT scores and board scores. So if a student has a high MCAT, the school knows there is a good chance he or she will do well on the boards and represent the school well. But the school also needs to see that you have the work ethic and discipline to stay the course and not flunk out of medical school. A student with a 34 MCAT and a 2.7 or 3.0 GPA shows he is intelligent but lazy.
A postbac or a Masters can alleviate this situation. I would recommend taking a 2 year postbac or Masters and getting nothing less than a 3.5 GPA and realistically a 3.7 or higher to be competitve. Two years is important because it provides a legitimate and long enough time period to demonstrate that you have improved your study habits. Just doing well in two sememsters is not enough to really convince an adcom that you have changed. Also, you will have to take MS1 type of classes that are offerred in medical school like anatomy, biochemistry, cell biology, histology, genetics, physicolgy etc.
This is also another reason why I don't recommend the MPH because it doesn't offer the same level of difficult classes that most postbacc and hard science Masters programs offers. There are exceptions of course as some MPH programs have excellent reptuations. Adcoms want to see that you can handle the coursework in medical school. An MPH won't tell them that. I think the MPH can help students in other ways but this isn't one of them. The MPH is good for borderline students who need something to spruce up their application and provide them research opportunities that boosts the "extra-curricular" or intagibles portion of their application. I recommend the MPH for those who had strong GPA's but for whatever reason didn't score high enough on the MCAT. You would be suprised because there are a lot of those students. They have a 3.5+ GPA but didn't study for the MCAT and bombed it. Those students basically need a year to retake the MCAT. For those students the MPH can be an excellent thing to take in the time off while prepping for the MCAT. It shows adcoms a couple of things. For one, you are still taking classes so it shows your committment to school. And second, you are still studying in a field that is applicable to medicine so you won't look insincere. But I just don't think it can cure a really low GPA because MPH's in general have a reputation for being rather soft curriculum wise. People respect the MPH for it's research and approach but not necessarily for being a grueling academic program.
You will also need to take the MCAT and get a 30 + to be competitive. For an adcom to go to bat for you in the admissions process, they need something to sell you on. Even with a high postbac GPA, that isn't enough. Schools want their admissions numbers to look good. They know that if they accept a student with a low GPA, it will bring their overall GPA down. Adcoms know that if they are going to take a hit GPA-wise by accepting you, they need something in return like a high MCAT to raise their overall MCAT score. This is part of the politics of the admissions process. So you need to do both by getting a high MCAT and postbac GPA.
Most medical school need at least 2 years of coursework to make up for a bad GPA. That's not always the case as some one year programs have a great reputation but in most cases medical school wants to see 2 consecutive years of strong coursework to convince adcoms that you have changed your ways. As one adcom told me: "Anyone can take 20 hours one semester and get all A's, but can they do that for 2 years; that's the issue we have. " This is why a lot of students just go to the Carribean like Ross and AUC, because they don't want to have to start all over and study for 2 years in a postbac or Masters. In that time, they can already be doing rotations in the United States. I'm not advocating going to the Carribean for medical school but showing you why many elect to do that path. Of course, the Carribean has it's own drawbacks so for some of you, it may be worth doing a year or two if it means you can stay in the U.S. and have a REALISTIC chance of acquiring a competitive and selective specialty or hospital residency. I think a foreign medical school is a fine option if you don't mind doing a primary care field. You can shed years off the application process. However,if you want the comforts of living in the U.S. in addition to being competitive for competitive residencies, the Carriibean may not be the best route.
If you have below a 2.7 or even around a 3.0, a post-bac or Masters is pretty much required if you want to get into an MD school. There comes a point in which you can't significantly raise your GPA regardless of how many classes you take. If you are at 2.7 or a 2.8, the most you can raise your GPA is to a 3.0 or a 3.1.
Also, keep in mind that a 3.0-3.2 is not a strong GPA either especially if you have a lot of W's and few scattered F' and D's in your coursework. If that's the case, then you may consider a postbac or Masters. Adcoms don't want to risk taking a student who has poor study habits. A bad trend in grades or a few scatterred bad grades can hurt you. It's one thing if you are 2.9 GPA is due to consistent B's and a few C's. It's much worse if you have A's and then a few scattered D's, and F's in challenging courses like O-chem.
You have to understand with GPA that's it's not just about the numbers. It's how you achieved your GPA. Adcoms want to see consistency. Dropping hard classes and failing difficult classes while getting A's in a many soft classes will not help you regardless if your GPA is a 3.3-3.4. That is why Postbac or a Masters is necessity for most reapplicants. It's not just about the numbers. These applicants need to start over and show a consistent trend of good grades in many difficult classes over a period of time. Postbacs and hard science Masters can help you demonstrate this trend.
Adcoms look for two things in a candidate: intelligence and work ethic. GPA represents your work ethic and discipline. MCAT scores predicts your IQ, and test taking skills. A high MCAT is important because there is a strong correlation between MCAT scores and board scores. So if a student has a high MCAT, the school knows there is a good chance he or she will do well on the boards and represent the school well. But the school also needs to see that you have the work ethic and discipline to stay the course and not flunk out of medical school. A student with a 34 MCAT and a 2.7 or 3.0 GPA shows he is intelligent but lazy.
A postbac or a Masters can alleviate this situation. I would recommend taking a 2 year postbac or Masters and getting nothing less than a 3.5 GPA and realistically a 3.7 or higher to be competitve. Two years is important because it provides a legitimate and long enough time period to demonstrate that you have improved your study habits. Just doing well in two sememsters is not enough to really convince an adcom that you have changed. Also, you will have to take MS1 type of classes that are offerred in medical school like anatomy, biochemistry, cell biology, histology, genetics, physicolgy etc.
This is also another reason why I don't recommend the MPH because it doesn't offer the same level of difficult classes that most postbacc and hard science Masters programs offers. There are exceptions of course as some MPH programs have excellent reptuations. Adcoms want to see that you can handle the coursework in medical school. An MPH won't tell them that. I think the MPH can help students in other ways but this isn't one of them. The MPH is good for borderline students who need something to spruce up their application and provide them research opportunities that boosts the "extra-curricular" or intagibles portion of their application. I recommend the MPH for those who had strong GPA's but for whatever reason didn't score high enough on the MCAT. You would be suprised because there are a lot of those students. They have a 3.5+ GPA but didn't study for the MCAT and bombed it. Those students basically need a year to retake the MCAT. For those students the MPH can be an excellent thing to take in the time off while prepping for the MCAT. It shows adcoms a couple of things. For one, you are still taking classes so it shows your committment to school. And second, you are still studying in a field that is applicable to medicine so you won't look insincere. But I just don't think it can cure a really low GPA because MPH's in general have a reputation for being rather soft curriculum wise. People respect the MPH for it's research and approach but not necessarily for being a grueling academic program.
You will also need to take the MCAT and get a 30 + to be competitive. For an adcom to go to bat for you in the admissions process, they need something to sell you on. Even with a high postbac GPA, that isn't enough. Schools want their admissions numbers to look good. They know that if they accept a student with a low GPA, it will bring their overall GPA down. Adcoms know that if they are going to take a hit GPA-wise by accepting you, they need something in return like a high MCAT to raise their overall MCAT score. This is part of the politics of the admissions process. So you need to do both by getting a high MCAT and postbac GPA.
Most medical school need at least 2 years of coursework to make up for a bad GPA. That's not always the case as some one year programs have a great reputation but in most cases medical school wants to see 2 consecutive years of strong coursework to convince adcoms that you have changed your ways. As one adcom told me: "Anyone can take 20 hours one semester and get all A's, but can they do that for 2 years; that's the issue we have. " This is why a lot of students just go to the Carribean like Ross and AUC, because they don't want to have to start all over and study for 2 years in a postbac or Masters. In that time, they can already be doing rotations in the United States. I'm not advocating going to the Carribean for medical school but showing you why many elect to do that path. Of course, the Carribean has it's own drawbacks so for some of you, it may be worth doing a year or two if it means you can stay in the U.S. and have a REALISTIC chance of acquiring a competitive and selective specialty or hospital residency. I think a foreign medical school is a fine option if you don't mind doing a primary care field. You can shed years off the application process. However,if you want the comforts of living in the U.S. in addition to being competitive for competitive residencies, the Carriibean may not be the best route.
