WAMC: 3.45 gpa, 524 MCAT

[Sake61]

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Hey everyone, I am considering whether or not it is realistic to pursue premed and would like some advice. I asked some time ago but have recently made some updates to my gpa.

1. cGPA: 3.45, sGPA: 3.35.
   1. The gpa trends downwards until the last semester of senior year. First year 3.85, then 2.98, then 3.28, then 3.50. To be more exact, I had 5 semesters of low grades (2nd-3rd year + 1st semester 4th year), then finished senior year with 1 semester of 3.8 gpa. I had 3 Cs total. In addition, I did not spend all 4 years at one school as noted below.
2. I have an MCAT score of 524 which was taken junior year.
3. New Jersey resident
4. Asian
5. 1 semester of community college, 1 at USC, remaining 3 years (sophomore-senior) at Cornell University.
6. For clinical experience, I have about 650 hours of paid/non-paid consisting of hospice volunteering, phlebotomy, and nursing assistant work.
7. In terms of research, I have interned for 200 hours at a medical school lab as well as 400 hours in an undergrad neurobiologylab. No pubs.
8. ~80 hours of shadowing a primary care doctor.
9. ~250 hours at a soup kitchen.

I understand that I have a very low gpa and that the trend looks bad for me considering that all 3 years at Cornell were low gpa except the last semester. I am wondering if I stand any chance of getting into MD/DO schools after taking some time to improve my application, and what specific area I should focus on improving during that time (such as improving gpa via postbacc, more clinical hours, etc.). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and I'd be happy to answer questions if needed.

 

[Faha]

When are you planning to apply?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Why did you transfer to Cornell? What do the prehealth advisors there? Do you have a committee letter prepared? I presume with your MCAT score, you were going to apply this month.

 

[Sake61]

Why did you transfer to Cornell? What do the prehealth advisors there? Do you have a committee letter prepared? I presume with your MCAT score, you were going to apply this month.

Thanks for answering. I transferred because I was offered before freshman year a transfer option, which is basically that Cornell guarantees you a transfer after you've done 1 year of school at another university. I did my first year then took the offer. I did not actually apply to transfer anywhere. There is no committee letter. I had hoped to apply this month, but my grades were concerning especially since my last semester of good grades only came out recently.

 

[Sake61]

When are you planning to apply?

Thanks for the reply. I plan to apply next year, and am wondering what I should focus on improving during this time.

 

[Faha]

Thanks for the reply. I plan to apply next year, and am wondering what I should focus on improving during this time.

You would benefit from a DIY post bacc at a local college. Take undergraduate level science courses (you have not previously taken) in order to increase your cGPA and sGPA. Continue adding more hours at the soup kitchen. ( 250+). If your cGPA is 3.5 a year from now and you have 500 hours at the soup kitchen I suggest these schools:
Your 3 New Jersey state public schools
Hackensack
Hofstra
Einstein (free tuition)
Mount Sinai
New York Medical College
Rochester
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
UMass
Tufts
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Georgetown
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Wake Forest
USF Morsani
NOVA MD
Tulane
TCU
Creighton
St. Louis
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Iowa
Colorado

 

[Sake61]

You would benefit from a DIY post bacc at a local college. Take undergraduate level science courses (you have not previously taken) in order to increase your cGPA and sGPA. Continue adding more hours at the soup kitchen. ( 250+). If your cGPA is 3.5 a year from now and you have 500 hours at the soup kitchen I suggest these schools:
Your 3 New Jersey state public schools
Hackensack
Hofstra
Einstein (free tuition)
Mount Sinai
New York Medical College
Rochester
Albany
Vermont
Quinnipiac
UMass
Tufts
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
Pittsburgh
Georgetown
George Washington
Virginia Commonwealth
Wake Forest
USF Morsani
NOVA MD
Tulane
TCU
Creighton
St. Louis
Rosalind Franklin
Loyola
Medical College Wisconsin
Western Michigan
Oakland Beaumont
Iowa
Colorado

I was also leaning towards post bacc and more volunteering hours. In terms of clinical or research, which do you think would be more important to focus on if I had time? Really appreciate the advice.

 

[Faha]

I was also leaning towards post bacc and more volunteering hours. In terms of clinical or research, which do you think would be more important to focus on if I had time? Really appreciate the advice.

Clinical hours are more important.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks for answering. I transferred because I was offered before freshman year a transfer option, which is basically that Cornell guarantees you a transfer after you've done 1 year of school at another university. I did my first year then took the offer. I did not actually apply to transfer anywhere. There is no committee letter. I had hoped to apply this month, but my grades were concerning especially since my last semester of good grades only came out recently.

Are you going to try for a committee letter?

Apply

Application Overview

prehealthadvising.cornell.edu

 

[Sake61]

Are you going to try for a committee letter?

Apply

Application Overview

prehealthadvising.cornell.edu

I can request the letter packet that my school provides, but as I understand it, it is not a committee letter and they specifically say not to refer to it as a committee letter/evaluation. It is just a document that lists the separate LORs that I request and an intro to the school/basic information about me. I’m told that there are only letter packets, not committee letters, they stopped writing those a few years ago.