Trying to gauge my chances

[ams83]

I got my BS in Biomedical Engineering from Saint Louis University with a 3.55 BCPM and a 3.55 overall GPA. I will be attending Duke University for my Master's degree in BME this coming fall. However, over the past year and a half I was involved in a research experience in an orthopaedics clinic with some medical students, and also had the opportunity to interact with the doctor and shadowed a few surgeries for my research. After talking indepth with the med students about medical school, I have really been considering applying to medical schools after my MS degree. The reason I didn't apply to medical schools from the get-go was because I was given unprofessional advice (mainly from peers) about medical school and the advice given from the med students was very different and very appealing to me.

How much will my GPA hurt my chances of getting in? I also have a downward GPA trend due to upper level engineering classes later on in my 4-year degree. I do have plenty of research experience and should have at least 2 publications by the time I apply.

In the meantime, I plan on shadowing doctors and getting clinical experience to gauge my interest in becoming a doctor, but I am a bit concerned that my GPA may have already done quite a bit of damage.

Any response would be really appreciated! Thanks a lot

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[MilkmanAl]

A 3.55 with a BME major is impressive, in my opinion. A straight 3.55 is a decent GPA that will most certainly get you by any screening process, and I think you'll get some kudos for the difficulty of your undergrad. As long as you perform well in grad school and get a 30+ on the MCAT, you're in good shape

 

[flip26]

A 3.55 with a BME major is impressive, in my opinion. A straight 3.55 is a decent GPA that will most certainly get you by any screening process, and I think you'll get some kudos for the difficulty of your undergrad. As long as you perform well in grad school and get a 30+ on the MCAT, you're in good shape

Grad school can really only hurt you (making great grades is expected and thus will not really help you, but making mediocre grad grades can really hurt you since your UG GPA is a little below par).

I would make darn sure you really want that grad degree before spending 2 years in a tough program now that you have decided to aim for med school...

 

[cgscribe]

Agreed with earlier, 3.5 in bio-engineering is plenty good and master's work will look good (granted you do ~3.5 like now) especially with research/pubs. Do 30+ MCAT, I can promise you'll get in somewhere. Keep talking with docs and stuff, make sure medicine's for you; your experience should provide a worthwhile personal statement. Foster your connections, those should get you good letters and good mentors to watch over your application.

 

[ams83]

Hey all,

I really appreciate the responses.

How do you think my downward GPA trend will affect me? I averaged about 3.68 my freshman year down to about 3.3 my senior year (due to upper level engineering classes later on, as I mentioned in the original post). Also, I will be taking 1 or 2 upper level bio classes for my MS degree. Will this help me with the med-school adcom granted I do well in these classes?

Thanks again...

 

[flip26]

That is a pretty steep downward trend...does that trend bode well for graduate level classes?

If your goal is med school, why are you going to grad school? Are you truly dedicated to this grad school program? How confident are you that you will make the As you need to make in the program? What is the grading like in the grad school? There is a bias, often unfair, among adcoms that grad school grades are easier, thus they expect really high GPAs - is this what you have been led to believe is the case at your grad school, or are you at risk of making a sub 3.5 there? What is the typical GPA distribution in the grad school? Is it even realistic to make a 3.8 to 4.0 which is what you need to "impress" med schools?

Be very careful with this next step...you could be torpedoing your chances at med school...

 

[ams83]

Hey Flip,

The reason I am doing the grad program is because I want my MS in BME...it's not to help me get into med school. As I mentioned, I have only recently begun to consider my options for a career in medicine after recent experiences. I haven't by any means made up my mind, but I plan on making up my mind during my MS degree by shadowing docs, hopefully getting clinical experiences etc. I want to make an informed decision.

As far as the grad school grading...I honestly don't know. But I hope to do well b/c I will be taking at most 9 credit hours which should hopefully give me time to study and do well (at least that's the plan).

 

[flip26]

Hey Flip,

The reason I am doing the grad program is because I want my MS in BME...it's not to help me get into med school. As I mentioned, I have only recently begun to consider my options for a career in medicine after recent experiences. I haven't by any means made up my mind, but I plan on making up my mind during my MS degree by shadowing docs, hopefully getting clinical experiences etc. I want to make an informed decision.

As far as the grad school grading...I honestly don't know. But I hope to do well b/c I will be taking at most 9 credit hours which should hopefully give me time to study and do well (at least that's the plan).

Make sure you know what you are getting yourself into, grades-wise, before making a grad GPA that will hurt your chances at med school...med schools expect a high grad GPA without giving any real consideration to how difficult different grad programs may be, so beware...

Good luck.

 

[MilkmanAl]

med schools expect a high grad GPA without giving any real consideration to how difficult different grad programs may be

I seriously doubt that's true. Adcoms aren't populated with ignorant people, and they're going to notice the difference between a BME graduate program and a Master's in breathing. I agree that you're probably going to need something in the mid 3's to keep from hurting your chances, though. On the other hand, a high GPA could seriously bolster your candidacy. It's not all doom and gloom.

As for your downward trend, that's probably not good. It's a pretty typical physics/engineering trend, but it still might raise a red flag. The classes you took will offset your slide a bit, but you still might want to have some statistics to back you up. For instance, I knew that the average physics major's GPA at UNC was between a 2.5 and 2.6 when I applied. Busting that out made my 3.1 look a hell of a lot better, I'm sure.

 

[flip26]

I seriously doubt that's true. Adcoms aren't populated with ignorant people, and they're going to notice the difference between a BME graduate program and a Master's in breathing. I agree that you're probably going to need something in the mid 3's to keep from hurting your chances, though. On the other hand, a high GPA could seriously bolster your candidacy. It's not all doom and gloom.

As for your downward trend, that's probably not good. It's a pretty typical physics/engineering trend, but it still might raise a red flag. The classes you took will offset your slide a bit, but you still might want to have some statistics to back you up. For instance, I knew that the average physics major's GPA at UNC was between a 2.5 and 2.6 when I applied. Busting that out made my 3.1 look a hell of a lot better, I'm sure.

I will let LizzyM and other adcoms speak for themselves here, but there really is a general belief that grad GPAs should be higher because of many factors - and not much effort is expended to differentiate between grad programs - and there are anecdotes from SDNers who say they have encountered this bias with their grad grades.

The real point to the OP is to make sure he is not jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire...sounds like he is not sure what constitutes "good grades" in his grad program, and he may want to know that say a 3.0 is really a good GPA before getting into a mess that will hurt his chances at med school...

 

[MilkmanAl]

Oh yeah, I agree with you.