URM 2.7 uGPA 4.0 SMP 523 MCAT

[MD57]

Hi everybody!

I graduated from one of HYP with a really bad GPA (cGPA and sGPA both 2.7), but the rest of my application at the time was pretty solid, so I decided to do an SMP program and did very well (4.0). I took the MCAT three times. My scores are 496, then 508, then 523! I am currently working as a clinical research coordinator, and will be applying in this next cycle.

I am a URM (black male).

ECs
- Paid clinical experience as medical scribe, PCA
- Hundreds of clinical volunteering hours in large hospital, free clinic, hospice, international medical trip
- Substantial non-clinical volunteering as literacy tutor, with Habitat for Humanity, and at local soup kitchen
- 2 years of neuroscience research, 1 year of clinical research (w/ 1 publication), and one summer international public health research internship
- ~80 hrs of shadowing (various specialities)

Leadership in various school organizations.

Good LORs

What are my chances at the various tiers of schools? What should my list look like?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

@Goro, @LizzyM, @Faha, @gyngyn: this is a bit of an unusual case. A Yale graduate with an abysmal undergrad GPA completes an SMP, gets strong ECs, and finishes it with a 4.0 SMP and 523 MCAT, though that after two previous attempts. And he's a Black man. What's your advice?

 

[RocuROMANium]

What the hell?!? You went from a 496 to a 523? That’s insane! Now tell me how you did that. Congrats by the way

 

[Goro]

Hi everybody!

I graduated from one of HYP with a really bad GPA (cGPA and sGPA both 2.7), but the rest of my application at the time was pretty solid, so I decided to do an SMP program and did very well (4.0). I took the MCAT three times. My scores are 496, then 508, then 523! I am currently working as a clinical research coordinator, and will be applying in this next cycle.

I am a URM (black male).

ECs
- Paid clinical experience as medical scribe, PCA
- Hundreds of clinical volunteering hours in large hospital, free clinic, hospice, international medical trip
- Substantial non-clinical volunteering as literacy tutor, with Habitat for Humanity, and at local soup kitchen
- 2 years of neuroscience research, 1 year of clinical research (w/ 1 publication), and one summer international public health research internship
- ~80 hrs of shadowing (various specialities)

Leadership in various school organizations.

Good LORs

What are my chances at the various tiers of schools? What should my list look like?

Start list with wash you and radiate outwards. Be sure to include your state schools, and the hbc's. You are not merely golden but Platinum

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Have some mid tiers on your list as well. "Platinum" is a little strong due to the low undergrad GPA, but OP's really reinvented himself and might see a Harvard acceptance.

 

[LizzyM]

Enter the data into WARS and let me know what you get. It is a bit unusual and might be screened out due to low uGPA but, on the other hand, some schools may have a policy of putting eyeballs on every URM application which may be the saving grace here.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Enter the data into WARS and let me know what you get. It is a bit unusual and might be screened out due to low uGPA but, on the other hand, some schools may have a policy of putting eyeballs on every URM application which may be the saving grace here.

Agreed, and OP has a strong reinvention story. In your opinion, however, is he Harvard or Stanford material? Nothing wrong IMO with him applying to those schools, but he needs to have midtiers, state schools, and HBCUs on his list due to that poor undergrad GPA and possibly also due to the multiple MCAT retakes. Platinum rock star? I have my doubts, though OP could get lucky and wind up at Yale the year after next.

 

[Arsartium]

Hi everybody!

I graduated from one of HYP with a really bad GPA (cGPA and sGPA both 2.7), but the rest of my application at the time was pretty solid, so I decided to do an SMP program and did very well (4.0). I took the MCAT three times. My scores are 496, then 508, then 523! I am currently working as a clinical research coordinator, and will be applying in this next cycle.

I am a URM (black male).

ECs
- Paid clinical experience as medical scribe, PCA
- Hundreds of clinical volunteering hours in large hospital, free clinic, hospice, international medical trip
- Substantial non-clinical volunteering as literacy tutor, with Habitat for Humanity, and at local soup kitchen
- 2 years of neuroscience research, 1 year of clinical research (w/ 1 publication), and one summer international public health research internship
- ~80 hrs of shadowing (various specialities)

Leadership in various school organizations.

Good LORs

What are my chances at the various tiers of schools? What should my list look like?

Our applications are actually incredibly similar (<3.0 uGrad GPA, high MCAT, 10,000+ clinical hours, 4.0 SMP GPA, black male). I don't know the effect of multiple MCAT exams, but I can offer the schools with which I had the most success. Despite your poor uGPA, the vast majority of mid and low-tier schools will pretty much ignore it in favor of the SMP GPA.

I received IIs from virtually every mid/low tier school I applied to, whereas success with upper tiers was more variable. Listed below are schools that granted me an interview invite. Notice that many have their own SMP programs. That's no accident.

The schools in blue require the Casper exam. (Do it early, you can't study for it anyway.) Anyway, I suggest two categories.

PRACTICAL (Median MCAT <90st percentile)

Loyola Stritch
U. Miami
Drexel
Howard
Penn State
Tulane
U Illinois – Chicago
Virginia Tech
U Vermont
U. Mass (or insert your state school here)

COMPETITIVE (Median MCAT >90 percentile)

BU
Tufts
U. Cincinnati
Albert Einstein
U Michigan
U Pittsburgh
Case Western
Mayo Clinic

Otherwise, I advise you to perfect your primary application early, prewrite secondaries (strategically), and have a few mock interviews. Because of your HYP pedigree, your application may get more mileage than mine. In fact, I know some applicants with poor GPAs from HYPSM who still managed to snag a couple T5 IIs (and acceptances). With that consideration I might consider adding

UCSF
Harvard
Yale
Columbia

Please feel free to DM me with any additional/specific questions. Remember when you get your IIs that no one interviews for the waitlist. Believe that you can get in. Because you will.

Godspeed.