post bacc or apply this coming cycle?

[minirobot]

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hi guys, sorry if this is a totally tired subject. i'd just like some more input from people familiar with med school stuff. my school's premed advisor is a total joke.

i've currently got a 3.50 cGPA and 3.44 sGPA. even if I get all As next year till i graduate, i'd only raise my cGPA to 3.54 and sGPA to 3.52.

my GPA was pretty consistently bad when i was in CC my first 2 years of college. I really didn't care.. failed precalc TWICE (lol) before passing with a C (i'm actually minoring in math now because I love it--got As in calc I, II, and III here), got mostly Bs and some As in everything else. So when I transferred to my current university, I transferred in with a 3.0 ish GPA.

BUT--the past year and a half (summer included), I have really flourished. I took all of my premed prereqs at my current university and got As in absolutely everything. I have a 4.0 for all the time I have spent at this university, along with first author on a biochem paper, a presentation at a national professional conference, 250 volunteer hours, 200 clinical volunteer hours, a full ride scholarship from a big pharma company, 2 awards in excellence (calc and orgo), founder of an academic club, vp of chem honors society, and vp of community service club. I'm comfortable in my academic abilities and I know that I'll continue to do well till I graduate.

I'm still uncertain as to if I should apply this coming cycle. What would be the minimum score I could get on the MCAT to warrant me applying this cycle? I know a post bacc program could up my GPA, but I feel like it might be repetitive... from what I've read about them, they're a repeat of premed undergrad coursework, all of which I feel like I've mastered.

thanks in advance for your guys' input. 🙂

also, sorry for the wall of text. lol



also, somewhat unrelated question: at my community college, math and science courses counted as 5 credit classes, whereas at my university (which is in a different state), they're counted as 4. like, the same exact courses! using the AMCAS GPA excel calculator, those 1 credit discrepancies make a really big difference in my GPA. is there anything I can do about that?

 

[Goro]

While your GPA is 0.2 points lower than the median for MD acceptees, you're by no means DOA. Invest in MSAR Online and target schools whose median stats are closest to your own, and where your GPAs are > the 10th %iles for those schools. Start with your state schools. For all the others, pay very careful attention to the Acceptance Information pages.

Many schools like rising GPA trends.

You should shoot for an MCAT of at least 510.

You're fine right now for any DO program, including mine.

 

[minirobot]

While your GPA is 0.2 points lower than the median for MD acceptees, you're by no means DOA. Invest in MSAR Online and target schools whose median stats are closest to your own, and where your GPAs are > the 10th %iles for those schools. Start with your state schools. For all the others, pay very careful attention to the Acceptance Information pages.

Many schools like rising GPA trends.

You should shoot for an MCAT of at least 510.

You're fine right now for any DO program, including mine.

Thank you for your reply, sweet Goro! I'm in NC, so my top choice is UNC. I'll definitely aim for a 510.

 

[Toutie]

Quick question about your GPA...is that including the 2 F's in pre-calc? or only the replacement grade of C?

 

[deleted630732]

Anything 510 and above is competitive when looking at average matriculant. Anything above that just helps explain the GPA. The upward trend is impressive and shows that you really can handle yourself at a real university.

 

[minirobot]

Quick question about your GPA...is that including the 2 F's in pre-calc? or only the replacement grade of C?

It includes both Fs! sigh... what was I thinking failing precalc twice? 😛