Need Advice

[Boaterbob]

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Hi everyone,

Just wanted to see where people think I fit into when applying to medical school. Here's my info. Let me know what you think my chances are:

• Undergrad GPA Cum 2.3 graduated 7 years ago
  • didnt have a great undergrad experience not focused retook the intro bio and chem classes twice. Placed on academic probation one semester
• After school- work at a huge academic medical center
  • "unofficially entered a post bac program"
    • retook both Bio classes and into chem class including labs getting 3.5 average.
    • currently in orgo and physics and will most likely end with a 3.5 average as well.
    • B+ in Microbio from a community college
    • completed an MBA from a pretty good school with a cum GPA of 3.8 graduated with honors
• I'll be 30 in a few months. Wouldnt change anything about my life because all of the experiences good and bad made me who I am today.
• Still have MCATs to do. Historically I am an ok test taker so I my score may range between 28-33

What are my options?

 

[Stratego]

Unfortunately, your undergrad GPA, though earned long ago, figures largely in the med school application process. Even if you earned a second bachelors degree for the same number of credit hours as before, getting straight As, your highest GPA would be 3.1. Your excellent grad school GPA would not be considered. The median uGPA for those accepted to allopathic med schools is 3.65.

If you are determined to become a physician, your best bet IMO would be to plan on applying to osteopathic medical schools, repeat the classes you did poorly in, and take advantage of the DO application policy of only including the most recent retake grade when figuring the application GPA (if the credit hours are the same or more). This would allow your GPA to rise more rapidly than applying though AMCAS (MD) which averages all grades. If your GPA is low due to one bad semester or a bunch of Fs, this plan would not take long to institute. Further, while the median GPA for DO school acceptees is 3.45, there are schools that will consider you with an uGPA as low as 2.5, though you probably need a very good MCAT score to prove you understand the material. And one more thing: their application figures grad school GPA into an overall GPA, so that may further make a positive impact on your acceptability.

 

[apumic]

What is your overall UG GPA (w/ the PB)? Med schools, for the most part, seem to care less about graduate GPAs but your PB will help. Unfortunately, with a 2.3, I suspect it may take more than a 3.5 to really offset your previous work. 3.5 is generally below average for a matriculant to begin with so your chances seem marginal to me. Have you taken any upper division science (and done well -- i.e., A's)? That would help to relieve any concerns about your ability to succeed academically.

Overall, I suspect you'll need to score mid-30s on the MCAT to make up for your less-than-stellar GPA. If we assume they will focus about 50/50 on your UG & PB GPAs, you have a bit under a 50% chance of getting into an MD school. You may want to consider DO schools as well as they are much more likely to consider your past experiences and are generally more forgiving of weak GPAs and MCAT scores. Also, you should realize that a 28 is still significantly above average -- about the 60th percentile (even though it's not particularly great in terms of getting into med school). A typical MCAT testee gets about a 25 (18-32) MCAT or a 21 (16-26) ACT or a 1015 (905-1025) SAT or a 500 (400-600) GMAT (numbers in parentheses are ranges of Mean+/-1 SD or the 14th and 84th percentiles respectively). You could try the spreadsheet on the WAMC board for a more realistic estimation of what you might get on the MCAT.