Premed Advisor Misinformed?

[MedPR]

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b students do fine in med school.quit hatin'. Bs are not bad grades and most med student do fine with a b average. His gpa can get him in lots of places and he could improve and do even better

How many 3.0 students do you see matriculating? I'm not talking about someone who got a 2.5 for 4 years of undergrad then did 2 years of 4.0 post-bacc work and raised their GPA to a 3.0. I'm talking about a 3.0 ("B student") throughout undergrad who gets in and does well. I don't think anyone would consider someone who completed 4 years of undergrad with a 3.0 to be competitive for medical school or qualified to complete medical school.

I have yet to see any example of a matriculant who has a <3.5 total GPA who doesn't have an upward trend or post-bacc work of higher than 3.6. In other words these people had problems for a year or two, then got themselves together and performed well academically. They proved that they are capable of being 3.6+ students.

Do you really think 3.8/30 students are applying to DO schools when they have nice cozy in state MD schools to apply to?

I forgot this was in the pre-DO forum. Let me rephrase. Do you really think someone with a 3.2/26 + mission trip is going to out-compete a 3.6/26 all else equal? And a 3.6/26 is an average matriculant, so what about a 3.8/28 student? At the risk of sounding like a douche, I have a 3.22/33 and I'm applying DO. A 3.2/26 with a mission trip is not more competitive than me, all else equal.

 

[GypsyHummus]

I forgot this was in the pre-DO forum. Let me rephrase. Do you really think someone with a 3.2/26 + mission trip is going to out-compete a 3.6/26 all else equal?

No, I dont think that a 3.2 could out compete. But how is the science GPA weighed in conjunction with the cumulative? Like I said, 3.2 sGPA but 3.5 cGPA (hopefully increasing next year!) I just wish I could be done with undergrad now lol

 

[MedPR]

No, I dont think that a 3.2 could out compete. But how is the science GPA weighed in conjunction with the cumulative? Like I said, 3.2 sGPA but 3.5 cGPA (hopefully increasing next year!) I just wish I could be done with undergrad now lol

GPA is arguably the most important aspect of an MD application, and one of the most important even for DO. For DO, it also happens to be one of the easiest things you can improve on because of the grade replacement policy. A mission trip certainly won't negatively impact your application, and if it's something you really want to do (for yourself, not just for your application) then by all means do it. However, don't make the mistake of thinking that it will help you anywhere near as much as raising your GPA to a 3.5 will.

All I'm trying to say is that GPA matters.. a lot. Always address the weakest parts of your application first.

As far as your question, you would be in a better position if your sGPA was a 3.5 and cGPA was a 3.2.

 

[Whiskeypunch]

How many 3.0 students do you see matriculating? I'm not talking about someone who got a 2.5 for 4 years of undergrad then did 2 years of 4.0 post-bacc work and raised their GPA to a 3.0. I'm talking about a 3.0 ("B student") throughout undergrad who gets in and does well. I don't think anyone would consider someone who completed 4 years of undergrad with a 3.0 to be competitive for medical school or qualified to complete medical school.

I have yet to see any example of a matriculant who has a <3.5 total GPA who doesn't have an upward trend or post-bacc work of higher than 3.6. In other words these people had problems for a year or two, then got themselves together and performed well academically. They proved that they are capable of being 3.6+ students.




I forgot this was in the pre-DO forum. Let me rephrase. Do you really think someone with a 3.2/26 + mission trip is going to out-compete a 3.6/26 all else equal? And a 3.6/26 is an average matriculant, so what about a 3.8/28 student? At the risk of sounding like a douche, I have a 3.22/33 and I'm applying DO. A 3.2/26 with a mission trip is not more competitive than me, all else equal.

Depends on the school... some schools are very very high MCAT friendly. Just remember to emphasize how much of a lightning bone setter you want to be.

 

[MedPR]

Depends on the school... some schools are very very high MCAT friendly. Just remember to emphasize how much of a lightning bone setter you want to be.

I guess it could happen, but I don't think it's likely that a B student for 4 years goes out and dominates the MCAT.

 

[COMedic2Doc]

Of note is that there are plenty of non-trads or underdogs (GPA <3.5) that are being accepted to both MD and DO schools. There's not a large majority, and for many it requires having exceptional ECs as well as a strong MCAT in order to make the cut. In addition it requires adcoms being able to clearly see an upward trend in the student's academic performance as well. I would agree that the majority of students have a >3.5 but that doesn't mean all.

 

[Whiskeypunch]

I guess it could happen, but I don't think it's likely that a B student for 4 years goes out and dominates the MCAT.

Of course it's likely. Take a relative of mine for example. He did an engineering discipline at a good school with pretty rough grade deflation, ended up with a high 2 something. He also got a 36 on the MCAT and is wicked smart.

Plenty of people I know who are heading to DO schools were lazy in college, or decided on medicine late, but rocked the MCAT. I really don't think it's that uncommon. Grades show you consistently show up and do work over time. Standardized tests reflect aptitude, critical thinking skills and knowledge. Ideally your history should reflect both things, but people aren't perfect.

 

[psychgirrrl]

B students do not make it through medical school. End of story.

An overarching statement such as this is bound to be proven wrong at some point in your life.

 

[HalfListic]

If there is one spot left in a class and you have a 3.2/30 and the other people have 3.8/30. You're probably not getting that one spot.

B students do not make it through medical school. End of story.

My man, you have a 3.0 sGPA...what are you trying to say? Did you mean C students? B students are just fine, as long as they can get some A's here and there

 

[MedPR]

Of note is that there are plenty of non-trads or underdogs (GPA <3.5) that are being accepted to both MD and DO schools. There's not a large majority, and for many it requires having exceptional ECs as well as a strong MCAT in order to make the cut. In addition it requires adcoms being able to clearly see an upward trend in the student's academic performance as well. I would agree that the majority of students have a >3.5 but that doesn't mean all.

See below.

My man, you have a 3.0 sGPA...what are you trying to say? Did you mean C students? B students are just fine, as long as they can get some A's here and there

Like I said, I'm talking about people who have a 3.0 GPA over 4 years with no upward trend. I explicitly stated that lots of nontrads have a great upward trend from a 2.0 (or less) and therefore ended up with sub-par overall GPAs. However (as I also said), they demonstrated their ability to earn >3.6 GPA.

Someone who gets a 2.0 for 2 years and a 4.0 for 2 years will have roughly a 3.0 GPA. Does that mean they are a B student? No. Someone who averages a B for 4 years (again, someone who has a 3.0 throughout their college career) is a B student. This student never showed any ability to excel in their coursework. A 2.0 to 4.0, however, did despite maybe having only a cGPA of 3.0.

In short, a 3.0 with an upward trend is better than a 3.0 maintained for 4 years

How many 3.0 students do you see matriculating? I'm not talking about someone who got a 2.5 for 4 years of undergrad then did 2 years of 4.0 post-bacc work and raised their GPA to a 3.0. I'm talking about a 3.0 ("B student") throughout undergrad who gets in and does well. I don't think anyone would consider someone who completed 4 years of undergrad with a 3.0 to be competitive for medical school or qualified to complete medical school.

I have yet to see any example of a matriculant who has a <3.5 total GPA who doesn't have an upward trend or post-bacc work of higher than 3.6. In other words these people had problems for a year or two, then got themselves together and performed well academically. They proved that they are capable of being 3.6+ students.

 

[cliquesh]

Mcat dominates gpa. A lot of people can get a 3.9 in college if they are selective with their classes.

 

[MedPR]

Mcat dominates gpa. A lot of people can get a 3.9 in college if they are selective with their classes.

I wish you were right, but I keep seeing that GPA is more important.

 

[HalfListic]

I wish you were right, but I keep seeing that GPA is more important.

Agreed...I wish it were true too, but GPA is easily the heaviest weighted part of an app to virtually any school

 

[Iliketoytles]

I don't understand why a 3.2 sGPA would raise eyebrows. In my school all it takes to get a 3.2 is a B in a 5 credit lab course.

Anything less than an A is looked down upon? How do explain the average of the matriculant class of 2011 being a 3.38 if 3.2s are looked down upon? Statistically, that just does not make any sense.

I'm not sure if someone gave you an actual answer for this question... so here's my take on it:

Anything less than an A is not looked down upon. But if you consider all the premed classes (or science classes in general) that a premed student has to take, eyebrows will (and SHOULD) be raised at someone who gets B's across the board. "B" isn't bad; it's average.

So the problem with getting too many B's, isn't that medschools look down upon it... it's just that there are so many students in the applicant pool who have Aced many of their classes. So when a B student is compared to his fellow applicants, he doesn't stand out much... or he does in an overly "average" way. Just my take on it.