Strong upward trend vs. SMP

[canijust]

I feel like the purpose of SMP is to show that you could thrive in med-school level courses. I have a very strong upward trend where I started out with a 2.3 sgpa and probably will end with a 3.3 sgpa. Basically, my last two years of college shows huge growth since my earlier two years.

Would med schools take this as an indicator that I could take their classes? Or is an SMP the better way to go? It just seems like a waste of time if I can show that I can take med school level courses by getting good grades in the later years of college...

This is also a bitter cry from a low-gpa applicant 🙂

What do you guys think?

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[•Syzygy•]

mine was similar, 2.35 overall to 3.3. but i still knew an smp was required for any shot at md schools

 

[boogiecousins94]

I feel like if you got 3.7+ last two years an SMP is not worth the money- you could just take more classes on your own as a post-bac. If you do well on the MCAT that should also reinforce the trend, but I am applying with a 3.3 (3.7 last two years) and 515 with no SMP so I'll let you know how that goes.

 

[canijust]

@boogiecousins94

You're applying this cycle? How are you making up for the low gpa?

 

[boogiecousins94]

@boogiecousins94

You're applying this cycle? How are you making up for the low gpa?

I have average amount of volunteering, shadowing etc. but I have like 3500+ hours of research experience, one first author paper, one published scientific book chapter, at least 4 national/international abstracts, research management experience, worked in 3 different labs and 3 different med schools, been working full time in a lab for over a year at a top 5 med school post graduation etc. so that's like the selling point of my app haha honestly who knows if I'll get in buy my mcat expires after this year so I thought I should at least apply to some places before that expires as it would've been a waste of an mcat

 

[DBC03]

I had a 2.2 my freshman year. All other years were higher than 3.5, with increasing GPA each year and a 4.0 postbacc. I'm not having an amazing application cycle, but I do have two IIs. This is mostly due to being a non-traditional student with extensive work experience and a high MCAT (which is what the two schools were looking for - my first interviewer basically said that the non-trad students typically do much better at their school). I've heard (but cannot verify) that it might be better to determine your route if you have your MCAT score - with a high MCAT you might have better luck with a postbacc instead of an SMP (and avoid the risk), but I am definitely not an expert in this area.

 

[DBC03]

I have average amount of volunteering, shadowing etc. but I have like 3500+ hours of research experience, one first author paper, one published scientific book chapter, at least 4 national/international abstracts, research management experience, worked in 3 different labs and 3 different med schools, been working full time in a lab for over a year at a top 5 med school post graduation etc. so that's like the selling point of my app haha honestly who knows if I'll get in buy my mcat expires after this year so I thought I should at least apply to some places before that expires as it would've been a waste of an mcat

I would love to see how your cycle goes as well. It's definitely not easy being a low GPA applicant. I'm pretty sure I'm at the bottom of the pile at nearly all of the schools I applied to. But I haven't gotten any rejections, yet, so there's that...

 

[boogiecousins94]

I would love to see how your cycle goes as well. It's definitely not easy being a low GPA applicant. I'm pretty sure I'm at the bottom of the pile at nearly all of the schools I applied to. But I haven't gotten any rejections, yet, so there's that...

My trend was 2.65-2.9-3.7-3.7 and I'm at 100hrs of BCPM credits now. I've taken two postbac courses with 3.7 at an ivy so hopefully that helps a little but I know its only 2 classes.

I applied to 29 schools, only heard from 3 (all rejections), but they were Case, WVU, and Tulane. WVU I knew I had no shot at since I have no rural experience I just did it at the last minute, Case is clearly a reach I just didnt know if my research would help (oddly haven't heard back from Cleveland Clinic part yet, complete for 2 months) and Tulane just has a lot of apps and even tho I was complete in late July they gave a lot of interviews out early

 

[•Syzygy•]

My trend was 2.65-2.9-3.7-3.7 and I'm at 100hrs of BCPM credits now. I've taken two postbac courses with 3.7 at an ivy so hopefully that helps a little but I know its only 2 classes.

I applied to 29 schools, only heard from 3 (all rejections), but they were Case, WVU, and Tulane. WVU I knew I had no shot at since I have no rural experience I just did it at the last minute, Case is clearly a reach I just didnt know if my research would help (oddly haven't heard back from Cleveland Clinic part yet, complete for 2 months) and Tulane just has a lot of apps and even tho I was complete in late July they gave a lot of interviews out early

what do you mean "rural experience" for WVU?

 

[boogiecousins94]

what do you mean "rural experience" for WVU?

I applied seeing that they accept a lot of OOS, but now I realize that it may be a lot of WVU undergrads who were OOS.

What I meant by rural is that, at least the way I interpreted it, is that WV as a state seems to have a lot of health disparities associated with rural environments. Since its a state school, I would assume they want to recruit people who would help solve the health issues in WV and I feel as those with more "rural" health experiences would fit their mission? Idk if they actually think that way thats the way I interpreted it though

 

[•Syzygy•]

I applied seeing that they accept a lot of OOS, but now I realize that it may be a lot of WVU undergrads who were OOS.

What I meant by rural is that, at least the way I interpreted it, is that WV as a state seems to have a lot of health disparities associated with rural environments. Since its a state school, I would assume they want to recruit people who would help solve the health issues in WV and I feel as those with more "rural" health experiences would fit their mission? Idk if they actually think that way thats the way I interpreted it though

i see. yeah thats the impression i got as well.

however, you were right that virginia schools are some of the more friendly state schools to out of staters which is why i applied. worth a shot

 

[DBC03]

My trend was 2.65-2.9-3.7-3.7 and I'm at 100hrs of BCPM credits now. I've taken two postbac courses with 3.7 at an ivy so hopefully that helps a little but I know its only 2 classes.

I applied to 29 schools, only heard from 3 (all rejections), but they were Case, WVU, and Tulane. WVU I knew I had no shot at since I have no rural experience I just did it at the last minute, Case is clearly a reach I just didnt know if my research would help (oddly haven't heard back from Cleveland Clinic part yet, complete for 2 months) and Tulane just has a lot of apps and even tho I was complete in late July they gave a lot of interviews out early

I applied to 34 schools, but I wasn't complete super early (early to mid August) and some are ridiculous reach schools that might only give me a glance (but I've heard like reinvention, so you just never know). I was 2.2-3.59-3.63-3.77-4.0 postbacc. Freshman year had extenuating circumstances that are quite easy to explain I learned a lot from that year. Unfortunately I have a TON of hours as an engineering student, so every 4 credit course I take will only up my GPA by 0.01 points at this point (I've calculated it at approximately $700-$800 per 0.01 GPA points 😕 I'm working only part time right now, so I really can't afford to take more than one additional semester of courses).

No kidding on Tulane - I thought about throwing my name in there at one point, but gave up when I saw they were through most of their spring interviews. I hope you get good news from the Cleveland Clinic - they really like a lot of research there, so you might have a good cycle with them!

Good luck to you!

OP - keep in touch with me throughout the cycle if you're interested in how my cycle went. I'll try to keep you posted.

 

[canijust]

did you guys all take one gap year? If you do postbacc during your gap year, would that mean you're taking 2 years off to wait for your postbacc transcript to become available?

 

[boogiecousins94]

If I were to matriculate in 2018 I would have taken two gap years. I had one month off after graduation and have been working full time in research since. I've only been able to take a couple of post bac classes due to work, but if you were to be a full time student then yes if you want those grades to count you'd do the post bac in gap year #1 and apply during gap year #2

 

[canijust]

Any updates guys? I know it's still early, but if you hear back anything please let me know!

Hope everything goes well.