Prereqs grades vs BCPM GPA

[cam8161]

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I have had a hard time getting A's in most of the usual prereq courses for med school. I have done well in other science and math courses, however, and they have helped me boost my sGPA to a 3.70. I also work at a research lab for credit, so that has helped me boost my GPA a lot too. My question is, how meticulous are med schools in looking at the grades in prereqs courses vs the overall BCPM GPA?

Gen Chem: A-
Gen Chem 2: B+

Physics I: B+
Physics II: haven't taken

Bio 120: C+ (retook it and got an A)
Molecular bio: B

Orgo I: probably C+ or B-
Orgo II: haven't taken

 

[BeancheBlanco]

My guess is they don't really take the time to decipher how exactly you got your BCPM. That's probably why they calculate it to begin with. Not enough time. They will probably note any abnormally low grades though, regardless if it is BCPM or not.

 

[Alucard6]

I can only imagine two scnearios where they look at semester breakdowns:

1.) sGPA significantly lower than cGPA, which leads them to believe your grades were inflated by non-science classes
2.) Low GPA, because they want to see if you had a bad semester or if you were consistent throughout

Most medical schools have 10,000+ applications to look at, they can't bother to analyze semester by semester so I am sure you will be fine. Just do really well on Physics 2 and Orgo 2 to show you have improved from the previous semester.

 

[Heplayer92]

From what my advisor said, most schools will use your BCPM GPA calculated through AMCAS. That's why AMCAS makes you do it, and the main reason why it takes so damn long to get verified. Furthermore, some schools as part of their secondaries may ONLY want to count your pre-req courses as your BCPM GPA. I don't recall what schools do, but maybe someone else has some insight. I have a feeling it's not a popular thing to run into during secondaries.

Like others have stated, upward trends are important.

Also, although grades are not broken down into semester, on the AMCAS application file that adcoms view, your cGPA and sGPA ARE broken down by year. Case Western Reserve med school had a webinar that stated this and showed a slide on it too.

Good luck OP! Do well on those next two courses!

 

[cam8161]

From what my advisor said, most schools will use your BCPM GPA calculated through AMCAS. That's why AMCAS makes you do it, and the main reason why it takes so damn long to get verified. Furthermore, some schools as part of their secondaries may ONLY want to count your pre-req courses as your BCPM GPA. I don't recall what schools do, but maybe someone else has some insight. I have a feeling it's not a popular thing to run into during secondaries.

Like others have stated, upward trends are important.

Also, although grades are not broken down into semester, on the AMCAS application file that adcoms view, your cGPA and sGPA ARE broken down by year. Case Western Reserve med school had a webinar that stated this and showed a slide on it too.

Good luck OP! Do well on those next two courses!

Thanks for the info! Do you know by any chance how I can find out which schools look at the pre req GPA only instead of the total BCPM GPA?

 

[Heplayer92]

Thanks for the info! Do you know by any chance how I can find out which schools look at the pre req GPA only instead of the total BCPM GPA?

Unfortunate I don't, I've been trying to find the same information myself =/ If I get lucky, I'll let you know!

 

[cam8161]

Unfortunate I don't, I've been trying to find the same information myself =/ If I get lucky, I'll let you know!

I'll let you know if I find out something too!

 

[Lamel]

I think BCPM GPA is the number that is available to adcoms. They likely go in depth and look at your pre-req grades too to see how you did; they are probably the most important part of the BCPM GPA.

You want to get As in whatever pre-reqs you have remaining OP.