Hi All,
From observing both MSAR data and general trends on here, I've noticed that there tends to be a pretty low disparity between cGPA and sGPA. I know that many schools have cutoff GPAs and will autoscreen applicants who fall below their minimum threshold. I was wondering if this applies to both cGPA and sGPA, or if exceptions could be granted in the event that the latter is significantly higher than the former.
I'll try to keep my summary brief. I began my undergraduate career as an Economics major and held several internships throughout the business industry, although I didn't focus on my grades nearly as much, and had a 2.5 GPA to show for it. However, due to some major health issues that occurred during my senior year, I ended up realizing that I had a huge passion for medicine. Subsequently, I decided to quit my position in the wealth management industry, and declared two science minors so as to take the medical school prerequisites as well as beef up on upper division science courses. I thought about doing a post-bacc, but figured that my GPA would have made me a weak applicant, so I decided to essentially re-up for another four semesters of school.
Currently, I just finished my fifth year of college, during which I essentially took all science courses, including all of the medical school prerequisites (sans Physics I and II w/ labs), and maintained a 3.5 GPA for the entire year, boosting my overall undergraduate GPA to about a 2.7. In addition to these classes, I also accumulated about 100 hours shadowing a UCLA-affiliated physician and another 100 hours working in an Organic Chemistry lab as a research assistant, along with volunteering twice a week doing CNA work at a local health clinic. This summer I landed a position in a cardiology lab, and since it will be full-time for the entire summer, I'm planning on accumulating quite a bit of hours and experience there as well, with the potential to have my work published.
I'm planning on finishing up my minors for my sixth and final undergraduate year starting this fall, with the fall semester consisting of a full-time load (Physics I and Lab, along with three other upper division science courses), and the spring semester consisting of two classes: Physics II w/ Lab and another upper division science class. The idea for deciding to go part-time in the spring would be to give myself adequate time to study for and take the MCAT (I've already started studying), setting me up nicely for the June 2018 cycle.
I crunched the numbers, and calculated that even in the best case scenario in which I'd maintain a 4.0 during my final year, my cGPA for undergrad would be about a 2.9, and in the event I maintained another year of 3.5 work, that would put me at around a 2.8. However, since my final two years would have consisted of strictly prerequisites and science courses, my sGPA would be in the 3.5-3.7 range.
I've heard from a number of sources that for every 0.1 below a 3.7, your chances of acceptance to MD programs gets significantly lower, and below a 3.0, your app is trash that's screened out. With that said, I was hoping that the possibility might exist that schools might consider my sGPA, which currently sits at a 3.5 with the potential to improve, despite my cGPA being at a number that would normally be autoscreened out.
I realize there are other variables at play here as well, such as MCAT scores, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, etc., but if anyone can share their insights on this particular question it would be much appreciated. @Goro ?
Cheers.
From observing both MSAR data and general trends on here, I've noticed that there tends to be a pretty low disparity between cGPA and sGPA. I know that many schools have cutoff GPAs and will autoscreen applicants who fall below their minimum threshold. I was wondering if this applies to both cGPA and sGPA, or if exceptions could be granted in the event that the latter is significantly higher than the former.
I'll try to keep my summary brief. I began my undergraduate career as an Economics major and held several internships throughout the business industry, although I didn't focus on my grades nearly as much, and had a 2.5 GPA to show for it. However, due to some major health issues that occurred during my senior year, I ended up realizing that I had a huge passion for medicine. Subsequently, I decided to quit my position in the wealth management industry, and declared two science minors so as to take the medical school prerequisites as well as beef up on upper division science courses. I thought about doing a post-bacc, but figured that my GPA would have made me a weak applicant, so I decided to essentially re-up for another four semesters of school.
Currently, I just finished my fifth year of college, during which I essentially took all science courses, including all of the medical school prerequisites (sans Physics I and II w/ labs), and maintained a 3.5 GPA for the entire year, boosting my overall undergraduate GPA to about a 2.7. In addition to these classes, I also accumulated about 100 hours shadowing a UCLA-affiliated physician and another 100 hours working in an Organic Chemistry lab as a research assistant, along with volunteering twice a week doing CNA work at a local health clinic. This summer I landed a position in a cardiology lab, and since it will be full-time for the entire summer, I'm planning on accumulating quite a bit of hours and experience there as well, with the potential to have my work published.
I'm planning on finishing up my minors for my sixth and final undergraduate year starting this fall, with the fall semester consisting of a full-time load (Physics I and Lab, along with three other upper division science courses), and the spring semester consisting of two classes: Physics II w/ Lab and another upper division science class. The idea for deciding to go part-time in the spring would be to give myself adequate time to study for and take the MCAT (I've already started studying), setting me up nicely for the June 2018 cycle.
I crunched the numbers, and calculated that even in the best case scenario in which I'd maintain a 4.0 during my final year, my cGPA for undergrad would be about a 2.9, and in the event I maintained another year of 3.5 work, that would put me at around a 2.8. However, since my final two years would have consisted of strictly prerequisites and science courses, my sGPA would be in the 3.5-3.7 range.
I've heard from a number of sources that for every 0.1 below a 3.7, your chances of acceptance to MD programs gets significantly lower, and below a 3.0, your app is trash that's screened out. With that said, I was hoping that the possibility might exist that schools might consider my sGPA, which currently sits at a 3.5 with the potential to improve, despite my cGPA being at a number that would normally be autoscreened out.
I realize there are other variables at play here as well, such as MCAT scores, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, etc., but if anyone can share their insights on this particular question it would be much appreciated. @Goro ?
Cheers.
Last edited:
