Upward Trend - will it help at all?

[Lokhtar]

When I finish my post-bac, I will have a 3.52 overall GPA. After my second year of school, I had around a 2.7 (F in Calc IV, bunch of Cs, etc). My last 70 credits of UG, I have a GPA of 3.86.

Currently, I am in a post bacc and just finished the first term with a 4.0. If I can keep a 3.8 (which I will), my overall should be around a 3.52 at the end (its around 3.43 now).

3.53 is below the average, I know, so I am not expecting great things, but will the upward trend come into consideration, since I will have 200+ credits, and the past 100 of them will have been at 3.8-3.9 (including the last 36 at almost 4.0). Since I will have had so many credits, I am not sure what else I can do to improve my GPA, since improvements are already getting very slow.

My science was a 2.0 at the end of the second year (that F hurt), but it will also be a 3.3 when I am done my post-bac. Do you think I'll likely have to do a SMP, or do schools care about the trends? It is hard to get much stronger than the trend I have.

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[Raryn]

If you do well on the MCAT and *apply early* you should get some love. Thats a pretty strong upward trend. It depends on what state you're from too btw... will be a lot harder out of California for example, but if you're from Texas, you should be fine.

 

[Caesar]

When I finish my post-bac, I will have a 3.52 overall GPA. After my second year of school, I had around a 2.7 (F in Calc IV, bunch of Cs, etc). My last 70 credits of UG, I have a GPA of 3.86.

Currently, I am in a post bacc and just finished the first term with a 4.0. If I can keep a 3.8 (which I will), my overall should be around a 3.52 at the end (its around 3.43 now).

3.53 is below the average, I know, so I am not expecting great things, but will the upward trend come into consideration, since I will have 200+ credits, and the past 100 of them will have been at 3.8-3.9 (including the last 36 at almost 4.0). Since I will have had so many credits, I am not sure what else I can do to improve my GPA, since improvements are already getting very slow.

My science was a 2.0 at the end of the second year (that F hurt), but it will also be a 3.3 when I am done my post-bac. Do you think I'll likely have to do a SMP, or do schools care about the trends? It is hard to get much stronger than the trend I have.

I'd say schools care more about the trend than rather you have a 3.6 or 3.2. You should be fine. Good Luck

 

[dienekes88]

OP, you're going to work your butt off regardless of the consideration given to your trend, right? Don't worry about it. Freshman year happened. Hit the books HARD and try to nab that 4.0.

I'd say schools care more about the trend than rather you have a 3.6 or 3.2. You should be fine. Good Luck

That may be a bit of an exaggeration.

 

[Pedsbro]

I'd say schools care more about the trend than rather you have a 3.6 or 3.2. You should be fine. Good Luck

That would be a first... I think that would be extremely rare, if not completely untrue. An upward trend is always good, but it wouldn't trump an already-good, consistent GPA. 3.52 or whatever is not a dealbreaker for all schools with a good MCAT and EC's. If after doing a post-bac, that's the highest it can get, then go for it. You asked about an SMP...not sure you want to do that after already doing a post-bac ($$$). Probably should've done an SMP in the first place, but that's a non-issue now. Apply to your state schools (unless you're a Cali res like me, then you're S.O.L.) and look thru the MSAR for other schools with "lower" GPAs.

 

[Lokhtar]

That would be a first... I think that would be extremely rare, if not completely untrue. An upward trend is always good, but it wouldn't trump an already-good, consistent GPA. 3.52 or whatever is not a dealbreaker for all schools with a good MCAT and EC's. If after doing a post-bac, that's the highest it can get, then go for it. You asked about an SMP...not sure you want to do that after already doing a post-bac ($$$). Probably should've done an SMP in the first place, but that's a non-issue now. Apply to your state schools (unless you're a Cali res like me, then you're S.O.L.) and look thru the MSAR for other schools with "lower" GPAs.

I am doing post-bac for the pre-requisites, not the upper level stuff.

 

[Blade28]

OP, you're going to work your butt off regardless of the consideration given to your trend, right? Don't worry about it. Freshman year happened. Hit the books HARD and try to nab that 4.0.

My advice exactly.

 

[dienekes88]

My advice exactly.

Hahaha. Yep. Almost word for word.

What can I say? I lern gud.

Maybe next time I should footnote it.

 

[Excelsius]

I had read in the non-trad forum that two years of very high GPA (the last two) is pretty much equivalent to an SMP. SMP does not affect your undergrad GPA, yet it is used to measure you up if you can handle the courses. Assuming that someone has close to 4.0 in the last two years and the GPA is over 3.0 to get over most screens, it makes sense that those two years of upwards trend should serve almost the same purpose as an SMP. I think you just have to be smart about it - if you have taken all your pre-reqs in the previous years and bombed them, it might be a good idea to have a science major to take higher level science course to prove that you got it. Doing badly for the first two years in sciences and then having a 4.0 in the last two years in English major might not be enough to prove that you can handle science, necessitating a post-bacc or SMP. Despite low GPA, I think I am going to apply right after undergrad without doing any SMP or post-bacc. If the med schools are really looking for assurance that you can handle the course, two rigorous college years should be good enough. We'll see.

 

[Caesar]

I had read in the non-trad forum that two years of very high GPA (the last two) is pretty much equivalent to an SMP. SMP does not affect your undergrad GPA, yet it is used to measure you up if you can handle the courses. Assuming that someone has close to 4.0 in the last two years and the GPA is over 3.0 to get over most screens, it makes sense that those two years of upwards trend should serve almost the same purpose as an SMP. I think you just have to be smart about it - if you have taken all your pre-reqs in the previous years and bombed them, it might be a good idea to have a science major to take higher level science course to prove that you got it. Doing badly for the first two years in sciences and then having a 4.0 in the last two years in English major might not be enough to prove that you can handle science, necessitating a post-bacc or SMP. Despite low GPA, I think I am going to apply right after undergrad without doing any SMP or post-bacc. If the med schools are really looking for assurance that you can handle the course, two rigorous college years should be good enough. We'll see.

This is roughly the same thing I said. The last 60 hours are taken more seriously than the first at times. If you have a 4.0 for those 4 semesters and someone else had a 3.6 for the same semesters you will have the advantage. I do realize that not every school does this. I realize that trends mean more to some schools than others.

 

[hal9000]

That may be a bit of an exaggeration.

Just a bit.