What are my chances with my low gpa?

[Meowwwkittykat]

Hi! I've been feeling pretty discouraged about applying to medical school. My undergrad gpa is 3.0 b.s. in biology and neuroscience with a minor in psychology. Master's in biomedical sciences: 4.0gpa. My MCAT score is a 36 but I think I can do better on the new exam. It plays more to my strengths. So maybe I should retake the new one?

I have been on two medical mission trips in south america. I have a substantial amount of volunteer hours: Hospice, free health clinic, habitat for humanity, in the ER, at my local church, I have also worked with people that have mental and physical disabilities. I am involved with pre-medical/pre-health organizations at school. I am also on e-board in two of the organizations.

I have shadowed a pulmonologist and a medical examiner. I haven't really shadowed that many physicians only because I kind of shadow them already in the ER and the free clinic. It's just not the same doctor every time... I doubt that counts as shadowing so I will have to get on that.

I had a summer internship at the medical examiners office. I've done 2-3 years of research. I worked as a medical assistant for a dermatologist for a few months but I had to quit because of my class schedule. Am I missing anything that could potentially strengthen my application?

My undergrad gpa is horrible. I know. I was immature but I hope it won't hinder my application with everything else on my resume.

What are my chances for acceptance in MD/DO schools?

Thank you for reading this I really appreciate it.

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[Goro]

Was your MS a research based MS? or one filled with coursework that mimics med school? If the latter, combined with your stellar MCAT, there are MD schools that reward reinvention. Case, Duke, Vandy among them.

You're fine for all DO programs.

So help me, if you retake that perfectly great MCAT, I'll reach through the electrons and smack you upside the head!

Hi! I've been feeling pretty discouraged about applying to medical school. My undergrad gpa is 3.0 b.s. in biology and neuroscience with a minor in psychology. Master's in biomedical sciences: 4.0gpa. My MCAT score is a 36 but I think I can do better on the new exam. It plays more to my strengths. So maybe I should retake the new one?

I have been on two medical mission trips in south america. I have a substantial amount of volunteer hours: Hospice, free health clinic, habitat for humanity, in the ER, at my local church, I have also worked with people that have mental and physical disabilities. I am involved with pre-medical/pre-health organizations at school. I am also on e-board in two of the organizations.

I have shadowed a pulmonologist and a medical examiner. I haven't really shadowed that many physicians only because I kind of shadow them already in the ER and the free clinic. It's just not the same doctor every time... I doubt that counts as shadowing so I will have to get on that.

I had a summer internship at the medical examiners office. I've done 2-3 years of research. I worked as a medical assistant for a dermatologist for a few months but I had to quit because of my class schedule. Am I missing anything that could potentially strengthen my application?

My undergrad gpa is horrible. I know. I was immature but I hope it won't hinder my application with everything else on my resume.

What are my chances for acceptance in MD/DO schools?

Thank you for reading this I really appreciate it.

 

[Meowwwkittykat]

Hahaha! I might take a practice exam just to see what my options are.
The MS was not research based. Thank you for responding! I've been really discouraged about the gpa. I was honestly considering other options. Do you think my current list of extracurriculars is enough or should I do more? Perhaps something different and non-clinical?

 

[Vain Brother]

retaking the MCAT would be a useless waste of time, dumb enough that anyone on an admissions committee looking at your application would seriously question your judgment. take a look at table 24: https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstable24.pdf

people with a 36-38 and a 3.0-3.19 had a 48% acceptance rate. well, how about people with that same GPA but a 39-45 MCAT? the acceptance rate increases a whopping 4 points, to 52%. get the idea?

you're the ideal post-bac/SMP candidate. if you want to shoot for mid- to upper-tier schools, that's the path you need to take

 

[Doug Underhill]

The solution to having a low GPA is to improve your GPA. You can't make up with massive deficiencies in GPA with a better MCAT if your MCAT is already very high.