WAMC Low GPA/ Upward trend/ Good clinical experience

[ShamelessPapist]

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cGPA and sGPA as calculated by AMCAS or AACOMAS
cGPA: 3.49sGPA: 3.19Upward trend, with charts attached.

MCAT score(s) and breakdown. Include all non-voided attempts.
None yet. I would not take it until next spring or so.

State of residence or country of citizenship, if non-US
North Carolina

Ethnicity and/or race
White

Undergraduate institution or category
North Carolina State University

Clinical experience, volunteer and non-volunteer
EMT for two years; full-time paramedic starting this month and continuing until I would begin school; volunteer at a local clinic.

Research experience and productivity
No research experience outside of classroom settings.

Shadowing experience and specialties represented
Emergency medicine, cath lab, dermatology soon, primary care soon, and cardiology.

Non-clinical volunteering
I am working on this. I plan to start volunteering at a food bank near my home. I also have some volunteering with MSF and with an organization where I spent a week in Moldova after the start of the war in Ukraine. I also have many volunteer hours involving teaching and children through my local Catholic parish.

Other extracurricular activities, including athletics, military service, gap year activities, leadership, teaching, etc.
I have always worked throughout college. I am a husband and father, have managed a restaurant, and have worked extensively in the service industry. I also helped develop an inventory program for a medical supply company. I have umpired high school and middle school baseball. I play the organ and participate in choir and other singing events.

Relevant honors or awards
Nothing other than the dean’s list.

Anything else not listed that you think might be important
For schools, I live in North Carolina and am originally from Georgia. I am leaning toward Campbell DO, Wake Forest, UNC-Chapel Hill, Methodist, VCOM, PCOM, and MCG, along with some other DO schools in the Southeast and Midwest.

My main question is whether my GPA would hold me back. Do I need additional undergraduate/postbacc coursework? I graduated this past Friday, so any additional coursework would be postbacc.

I'm still trying to figure out 100% what I want to do, but I really want to feel out where I am at.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

It is early if you are not planning to apply until next year, and a final school list without an MCAT score and final GPA metrics is futile. You can look geographically at schools close to where you grew up as a child or where you have state residency; attend recruitment events and connect with current students.

You should also check your professors for references and look at secondary essay prompts. Fill out an AMCAS now, but don't send money, so you know how much effort is involved.

Get going with service orientation activities in the United States. You need at least 150 hours completed in food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation (the less clinic-adjacent the better) before you submit your application. Three hours a week for a year gets you there, so start now.

 

[ShamelessPapist]

It is early if you are not planning to apply until next year, and a final school list without an MCAT score and final GPA metrics is futile. You can look geographically at schools close to where you grew up as a child or where you have state residency; attend recruitment events and connect with current students.

You should also check your professors for references and look at secondary essay prompts. Fill out an AMCAS now, but don't send money, so you know how much effort is involved.

Get going with service orientation activities in the United States. You need at least 150 hours completed in food distribution, shelter volunteer, job/tax preparation, legal support, transportation services, or housing rehabilitation (the less clinic-adjacent the better) before you submit your application. Three hours a week for a year gets you there, so start now.

Thank you so much for your reply! My GPA is final (unless I need to do more), as I just graduated. Should I just aim for a high MCAT, or am I going to need to do something about the GPA? I wasn’t really looking to make a definitive list, I was more just trying to see if I could be a candidate for any school with my GPA the way it is (+my work experience).

Also, I have some LORs lined up from science professors I have worked with and some professional references.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What feedback have your prehealth advisors given you?

A full transcript would give appropriate detailed advice but in general your sGPA indicates a SMP would likely need to be included. However, you are lacking in activities, and many applicants with strong metrics have found the lack of experiences as their downfall. It all has to be good; nothing makes up for deficiencies elsewhere.

 

[ShamelessPapist]

What feedback have your prehealth advisors given you?

A full transcript would give appropriate detailed advice but in general your sGPA indicates a SMP would likely need to be included. However, you are lacking in activities, and many applicants with strong metrics have found the lack of experiences as their downfall. It all has to be good; nothing makes up for deficiencies elsewhere.

She said she thinks I would have a decent application if I do well on the MCAT. I am just concerned about the sGPA, like you mentioned. I had some Fs, Ds, and Cs my first year of college (2018-2019), but the past two years at NCSU have been pretty good (graduated with a ~3.6). Mostly As, some Bs, and 1 C (physics II). It’s been 90% science courses, full time. I have about 200 credits though, so it’s hard to have any effect on my GPA. As shown in the graph, I’ve been mostly above a 3.5 (semester GPA) the past few years.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

She said she thinks I would have a decent application if I do well on the MCAT. I am just concerned about the sGPA, like you mentioned. I had some Fs, Ds, and Cs my first year of college (2018-2019), but the past two years at NCSU have been pretty good (graduated with a ~3.6). Mostly As, some Bs, and 1 C (physics II). It’s been 90% science courses, full time. I have about 200 credits though, so it’s hard to have any effect on my GPA. As shown in the graph, I’ve been mostly above a 3.5 (semester GPA) the past few years.

We don't have the rest of your application profile to better understand your purpose as a physician and how to assess your mission fit. I think with 200 undergraduate course hours, your ability to bump your sGPA up is limited that only an SMP (graduate GPA) could help your cause if your academic record is truly the issue. That's why you should ask SMP directors or admissions officers before you apply.