Undergraduate Grades

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Medic2doc

UNECOM Class Of 2012
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I am currently set to begin a SMP program next year, but am getting a little worried because Organic chemistry 2 is not going well this semester, and it looks like I will probably receive a C in the class. my undergrad GPA is mediocre , but i am looking forward to the SMP and feel that i will be able to do very well. My question is IF i do well in the SMP, to what extent will my undergraduate grades and pre-requisites play a role with my admissions process?

thanks in advance
 
depends on the school... I've contacted one school that told me they'll let my post-bacc work over at least 2 semesters in the sciences "replace" my sub-par performance in undergrad... granted this is a tier three school with a huge class that gets the last pick of med students in my state.
 
What classes will you be taking in this SMP. If its like Georgetowns SMP, where they take med school courses, then those will count for your grad GPA. Although doing well in these classes look great, because they ARE med school classes, they will not add anything to your undergrad GPA assuming these are grad/med level courses.

Also, as stated by UMP, it depends on the school. If you apply to Georgetown, they will recognize that those are their med school courses, and can gauge your performance very well. However if you apply somewhere else, they may just see it as a grad level course which may be deemed as comparable or NOT comparable to med school courses. Which leads to your undergrad GPA.

Since the vast majority of people apply with only undergrad coursework, they would weigh your undergrad GPA more vs. grad GPA. This is why advisors and schools often tell you to take more post-bacc courses to boost your undergrad GPA rather than go to grad school. Don't get me wrong, grad courses are not inferior to undergrad coursework. Grad courses can only be considered a positive thing, but to what extent depends on the school, and your entire application.

There are a few non-trads out there that have PhD's where during interviews, their interviewers placed more relevance on their recent grad coursework vs. their undergrad classes. But at the same time, I can say that their degrees, GPA weren't the only factors that got them an interview and acceptance.

As much as I want to say that SMP coursework could make up for deficiencies in undergrad, it probably won't. You will need to prove to the adcoms through doing well in your SMP, and doing well on the MCAT, and if possible take upper division courses during your SMP. You realy need to reevaluate how you study. In terms of workload, OChem is nothing compared to what some grad courses are like, let alone med school courses offered through SMPs. If SMPs are anything like grad school, a B- could get you kicked out. So work hard, and hang in there! :luck:
 
i don't entirely agree with the above poster and am slightly confused regarding his position. however, i will say this: a post bac program, in general, is useful for compensating for a low science/cumulative gpa. it will greatly boost your chances (if you do well) of a med school interview/acceptance, provided that your MCAT is solid and your undergrad extra-curriculars are adequate. ymmv.
 
zahque said:
i don't entirely agree with the above poster and am slightly confused regarding his position. however, i will say this: a post bac program, in general, is useful for compensating for a low science/cumulative gpa. it will greatly boost your chances (if you do well) of a med school interview/acceptance, provided that your MCAT is solid and your undergrad extra-curriculars are adequate. ymmv.

There is a difference between SMP (e.g.: Georgetown), which the original poster is asking about, versus post-bacc. Based on the Georgetown SMP, unless his SMP is different, then his coursework will count as grad school, NOT post-bacc. Hence the term, Special Masters Program. (see http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=265142)
 
relentless11 said:
There is a difference between SMP (e.g.: Georgetown), which the original poster is asking about, versus post-bacc. Based on the Georgetown SMP, unless his SMP is different, then his coursework will count as grad school, NOT post-bacc. Hence the term, Special Masters Program. (see http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=265142)

I think zahque is well aware of that, and I'm confused by your post as well.

relentless11 said:
As much as I want to say that SMP coursework could make up for deficiencies in undergrad, it probably won't. You will need to prove to the adcoms through doing well in your SMP, and doing well on the MCAT, and if possible take upper division courses during your SMP.

Huh? The point of the SMP is to show you can handle what is essentially the first year of medical school (minus gross anatomy), and believe me, you will NOT have time to take extra upper division classes. At least not at the Georgetown SMP, because they fill in the gaps with additional graduate courses. Plus, most people in the SMP already have a decent MCAT.

relentless11 said:
If you apply to Georgetown, they will recognize that those are their med school courses, and can gauge your performance very well. However if you apply somewhere else, they may just see it as a grad level course which may be deemed as comparable or NOT comparable to med school courses. Which leads to your undergrad GPA.

This is true to an extent, but many schools know about Georgetown's SMP and accept a number of its graduates each year. Besides the fact that the SMP has been around for 30 years and most schools know what it is, a letter is sent out near the beginning of the year explaining what the SMP is and that you will be competiting, as they put it, "against Georgetown's own highly selected first year medical school class". So, it is not just another graduate program, hence the "special" part.

As for which schools accept a significant number of SMP graduates, the main ones that come to mind are Drexel, SLU, NYMC, RFU and Penn State, and a smaller number at EVMS, VCU, Tulane and GWU. And a few people have gotten into incredible schools like UPenn, USC, Case Western, UPitt, UCSD, UCI and UCD. It is true that the UC's don't recognize your work in the SMP until after you've completed the entire year, but it is not going to hurt your application. Well, unless you failed out of the program.
 
tacrum43 said:
Huh? The point of the SMP is to show you can handle what is essentially the first year of medical school (minus gross anatomy), and believe me, you will NOT have time to take extra upper division classes. At least not at the Georgetown SMP, because they fill in the gaps with additional graduate courses. Plus, most people in the SMP already have a decent MCAT.

And that is exactly my point, although an SMP is a great alternative to improving your application, you take grad/med school courses. Therefore based on AMCAS, these go towards your graduate GPA, NOT undergrad.

tacrum43 said:
This is true to an extent, but many schools know about Georgetown's SMP and accept a number of its graduates each year. Besides the fact that the SMP has been around for 30 years and most schools know what it is, a letter is sent out near the beginning of the year explaining what the SMP is and that you will be competiting, as they put it, "against Georgetown's own highly selected first year medical school class". So, it is not just another graduate program, hence the "special" part.

I agree, BUT, we have not established that the OP's SMP is at the well known Georgetown program. I was using Georgetown as an example since it involves med school courses. Hence my generalization regarding grad school courses below:

relentless11 said:
Don't get me wrong, grad courses are not inferior to undergrad coursework. Grad courses can only be considered a positive thing, but to what extent depends on the school, and your entire application.


tacrum43 said:
As for which schools accept a significant number of SMP graduates, the main ones that come to mind are Drexel, SLU, NYMC, RFU and Penn State, and a smaller number at EVMS, VCU, Tulane and GWU. And a few people have gotten into incredible schools like UPenn, USC, Case Western, UPitt, UCSD, UCI and UCD. It is true that the UC's don't recognize your work in the SMP until after you've completed the entire year, but it is not going to hurt your application. Well, unless you failed out of the program.

Didn't I say that?
relentless11 said:
Don't get me wrong, grad courses are not inferior to undergrad coursework. Grad courses can only be considered a positive thing, but to what extent depends on the school, and your entire application.

In summary considering we do not know which SMP the OP is involved with, or the med schools the OP wants to get into, the point remains. I mentioned the SMP at Georgetown because 1) they started the term SMP, 2) they take med school courses. The grad/med school courses, regardless of where it was taken will be counted towards the grad GPA. Taking more classes, grad or undergrad can only be a positive thing, however in the eyes of schools that have a lesser emphasis on SMP's, such as your UC example, it may be more beneficial to take a few undergrad courses to boost the undergrad GPA. They certainly won't bar you from applying if you did an SMP or grad school, but given a choice under those conditions, post-bacc is a better route. In fact, I am at UC Davis, and they put far more emphasis in post-bacc, than SMP's. 1) because lack of SMP's in CA, and 2) improvement of undergrad GPA by post-bacc is better than grad school and/or SMPs.
 
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