Wake Forest Med school

[CechYourself]

Hey guys,

I'm curious to my chances at Wake Forest. I would be a reapplicant from 2 years ago, and now applying for Fall 2016.

I graduated from Duke in 2009 with a 2.64 GPA (approx. equivalent science GPA) with a BA in Chemistry. That was a long time ago! I understand the uGPA is a huge issue, and many schools would cut me without thought. However, I'm a different person from 6-9 years ago, for sure.

Anyway since then, I have 2 years experience at NIH (spec. NIDA) in neuroscience research. 1 year (and still going) experience as an ED scribe where I have been promoted to trainer, and am currently applying for a Lead Scribe position. I also have 1.5 years of post-bac courses @ UMD-College Park (~3.68 GPA/all science courses).

I have an alumni of Wake Med ED doc who went to Duke undergrad (back in the day!!) so we've bonded over that and he's more than happy to write me a strong letter of recommendation. He knows my history, and suggested that I (and he's not the only one to say this) focus on my story that I just wasn't ready at 18-22, being so young not focusing on my education, and now I've matured. He thinks that Wake Forest seems to cater to more non-traditional applicants like that anyway.

Oh, and an MCAT of 36. (11V/12P/13B)

Anyway, I'm wondering whether Wake is a good choice this time around. And if it's worth my salt now that I have more options (i.e. letter of rec from an alumni, scribe experience, longer time out of school, etc.). Are they a school that would simply trash my application due to the very low uGPA? I'm not naive, I know schools do this, but I'm sure there would be schools that could overlook this given my age now (27).

Phew. Give me the brutal news! And if Wake is not a good choice, are there any other schools (MD, I mean, just to narrow down; I'm not against DO or Carib/foreign schools, but would like to focus on MD in this post) that would give me a chance.

-Thanks

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[Omppu27]

So what's your cGPA now? I worry that it's still under a 3.0 which would auto screen you out from schools.

 

[CechYourself]

So what's your cGPA now? I worry that it's still under a 3.0 which would auto screen you out from schools.

This is also my worry. My cGPA is now 2.83 up from a 2.65 uGPA. However, the reason I stopped taking courses was more of an economical decision. The more courses I take, the less impact each course has individually on my GPA. That is to say, for all A's, to get my GPA at a 3.0, I would have to take 7 more full-credit courses.

I'm torn, because you're right this is a reality. But 3.0 is a cut-off for a lot of programs including SMPs. So I wonder are there schools (and if Wake is one) that don't auto-screen you out for uGPA. Is a Caribbean school the most realistic option?

If I were to replace the classes I retook as most DO schools accept, my current cGPA would be a 2.85; not much of a difference there.

 

[slow twitch]

Take a look at LSU-NO, they have a 32 hour rule where they only consider the last 32 hours of your gpa. There's an in-state bias though.

 

[FLdivegurl]

Similar story, similar stats (but I did an SMP as well). MS1 at Wake. I feel like they look at the entire picture, and don't screen out GPAs w/ a computer program. Though this might change because applications increase every year.

 

[Omppu27]

This is also my worry. My cGPA is now 2.83 up from a 2.65 uGPA. However, the reason I stopped taking courses was more of an economical decision. The more courses I take, the less impact each course has individually on my GPA. That is to say, for all A's, to get my GPA at a 3.0, I would have to take 7 more full-credit courses.

I'm torn, because you're right this is a reality. But 3.0 is a cut-off for a lot of programs including SMPs. So I wonder are there schools (and if Wake is one) that don't auto-screen you out for uGPA. Is a Caribbean school the most realistic option?

If I were to replace the classes I retook as most DO schools accept, my current cGPA would be a 2.85; not much of a difference there.

DO before Carib all day and tomorrow. It's been discussed many times throughout these forums.

Are you sure your GPA with grade replacement would only be .02 higher? With basically an A- average in those post bacc classes, and considering how low your GPA was, that just doesn't sound right...