Need advice !!!

[doc001]

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1. Does transferring schools hurt your chances for medical school ? I have had to transfer 2 times. The first time was I transfered was in the 2nd week of school so I had no choice but to go to a mediocre school. The second time I transfered is a ok school as well, but I feel like I have to stay here or its just going to look really really bad.

The reason I transfered the first time was becasue I wasn't doing well and I absolutly hated everything about the school. How would a medical school view this ? Advice ?


2. Is summer research really worth it ? Or is having a good mcat score and gpa good enough to get in ?

 

[TheMightySmiter]

1. If you have a good GPA, transferring multiple times probably won't make much of a difference, especially if your GPA went up after transferring. If it went down after transferring, that might look bad.

2. You need to have good extracurriculars to get into med school, not just numbers. I would do summer research, if only to see whether or not you like it. If you do, continue your research during the school year and it will be a stronger EC. If you don't, there's no need to continue. But be sure you're doing volunteering, clinical work, shadowing, etc.

 

[Catalystik]

Since you did matriculate there, I hope you formally withdrew from School #1 so you didn't get a semester of Fs for not showing up.

The worst thing about transferring is that it makes it more difficult to have longevity in your ECs.

Why did you transfer the second time?

 

[krispy]

1) I wouldn't think that transferring would hurt anything, I'm sure plenty of people have transferred and they probably got into medical school just fine. But, you may be asked about it in an interview.

2) I would definitely recommend doing research...but if you didn't want to do it over the summer, I'm sure you could find a professor at your school who needs research assistants during the year.

 

[doc001]

Thanks for the advice so far. The reason I transferred from the second school was because I felt it wasnt a good school for the sciences(based on rankings/stats of successful students). I ended up getting Cs there, so I found it was a good move. I'm doing a lot better now, as a junior, but I feel med schools wont like my "train wreck" of a start. The classes I did bad in at School #1- was 1 year of chm and 1 semester of bio. I retook both and got As, do you think this makes things a lot better ?

 

[Catalystik]

I read in the nontrad forum that someone had 17 transcripts to submit when they applied to med schools. Your three will pale in comparison.

Retaking is good, especially as you totally need to understand that material to do well on the MCAT. You should be aware that MD schools average retaken grades with the original, but if you applied to DO med schools, the retaken grade substitutes for the original, allowing for a more rapid rise of your application GPA.

What is your overall cumulative GPA from all the schools you've attended, including all classes attempted?

 

[sylvanthus]

Dont worry about it, I had 6 transcripts to submit and did fine.

 

[doc001]

My gpa in school #1- was a 2.4 school #2- 2.5 right now its a 3.7. so for me is the best thing going to be to do extremely well on the MCAT ? cause if they average everything i feel like it will still look bad. should i expect to be questioned about this in an interview ?

 

[Catalystik]

We need the composite. Here is a calculator to help you figure it out: http://medschool.ucsf.edu/postbac/pdf/AMCAS GPA_Calculator Version 4 Final.xls

The med school application service will include all your grades. You need to do the same to figure out how much damage control you need.

 

[doc001]

i used the website and I have a 2.8 with everything so far

 

[Catalystik]

As a first semester junior with three semesters to go, if you can get a 4.0 each semester until you graduate, you'd have a 3.25. If you stayed an extra year, you could get up to a 3.4. So with an MCAT of 33+, you'd have a chance at an allopathic med school admission. (Just to give you some sample numbers and the score that compensates for a less than ideal GPA.) Keep in mind that median stats for acceptees are 3.65 and 30.9.

If things don't go quite that well, if you can get your cGPA over a 3.0 and get an MCAT score of 30+, you could qualify for entry into a special masters program, which is another way to redeem a low GPA. See the Postbaccalaureate Forum for more information about this.