Ranked MD school recommendations for 3.3 uGPA? (I might apply to MD programs years from now)

[bittybettysmith]

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What MD programs do you recommend for a 3.3 uGPA if I ever decide to go the MD route, preferably a top 50 school?

 

[deleted1009115]

Would you mind explaining why you are so set on attending a top 50 school?

 

[deleted987519]

Would you mind explaining why you are so set on attending a top 50 school?

+1;

Texas would be the best state to move to (I think) if you can get over the t50 rankings...

 

[deleted1009115]

Getting As in the prerequisites that you still need to do would be a good start in boosting your GPA.

It’s hard to tell without an MCAT score, but your GPA is not so low that you are necessarily uncompetitive. What was your GPA year to year? (Did you have an upward trend?)

 

[Cornfed101]

Wyoming for WWAMI requires that you or your parents live in the state for 5 years, so unless you are planning very far in advance, that is a bad idea.

Also, don't just take hard classes at a CC. Adcoms are not dumb and they will realize that you did that just to pad your GPA.

 

[deleted1009115]

deleted

You would probably benefit from a post-bacc or SMP to boost your GPA. I’m not sure how much med schools will care about a masters in public health—someone else might know more about this.

I would really think about why you want to be a doctor, and whether or not attending a top 50 MD school is necessary to achieve that goal.

 

[coffee&scrubs]

While I'm all for shooting big, the USWNR rankings are sometimes quite random and only based on endowments and other factors that have little to do with the actual medical education students receive. Any of the ranked MD schools (top 100) would be great places to graduate from. By limiting yourself to the "top 50" you are disregarding some great and well known schools (think Georgetown, Jefferson, GWU, Tufts, etc)

 

[Faha]

With your GPAs you will need a MCAT of 514+ to have a 50% chance for a MD acceptance. You will be competitive for DO schools as long as your MCAT is at least 500.

 

[Faha]

MD acceptance anywhere or just at the types of schools I’m looking at?

Your state public schools or lower tier private schools.

 

[Faha]

Ah, so you mean schools not in the top 50.

No. Not top 50. You do not need to attend a top 50 medical school to obtain a license to practice medicine.
Where is your current state of residence ?

 

[Moko]

With a 3.3 GPA, your goal should be getting into any medical school. You are not in a position to be picky about whether a school is in the top 50.

Those who do get admitted with lower GPAs tend to have significant upward trends (or great SMP grades), significant time off (i.e a non-traditional applicant), are URM, and/or have excelled in other aspects of their application, etc. I would not consider your 3.2 > 3.4 GPA as being a significant upward trend

If your goal is to become a physician, taking additional undergrad courses would be more beneficial than taking graduate courses as this would allow you to boost your undergrad GPA. Graduate GPAs are counted and viewed differently by admissions committees (i.e not given as much weight). The only advantage in pursuing a MPH is that it provides a fallback plan in case your medical school journey doesn't pan out. Best of luck to you

 

[Dr.Gains]

Thanks 🙂

The AAMC does not count graduate course work in your cGPA, that is only AACOMAS. If you are really set on attending a T50, you will need to score 90%+ on the MCAT and either do a DIY postbacc to boost your uGPA at a 4-year or do an SMP like others have stated. I don't think the MPH will really help you for admission purposes. University of Cincinnati SOM has a well known 1-year SMP where they have now just started offering guaranteed interviews to the host medical school for eligible SMP students, which is a T50. However, SMPs are high risk and very expensive. You should ask yourself if it's truly worth it for a shot at a T50.

 

[Faha]

Ah, so you mean private schools not in the top 50.
My state public medical school is UMass which I would love(!) to get into— top 50 and I hear fantastic things about it. I wonder what my chances are for that.

With your GPA you will need a MCAT of 514+ to receive an interview at UMass.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

This is probably a long shot, but do med schools weigh grades differently based on whether the undergraduate institution someone attended inflates grades?

No.

Reality check time: You aren't really competitive for ANY MD schools with those GPA's. If you couple those GPA's with a 515+ MCAT then maybe you can realistically apply broadly to low tier MD but anything below that and you will need to consider DO schools.

 

[Goro]

Thanks 🙂

With a 3.3 GPA, MD schools are not viable. You're fine for DO.

IF you're boning for the MD, read my post on reinvention for premeds