What do medical schools think of high premed courses GPA but low science GPA

[omegaz]

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So I have a high premed-required courses (orgo, gen chem, intro bio...) GPA (3.9).

but my overall science GPA is much lower since I took a lot of challenging grad. level courses.

What will medical schools think of me?

 

[Ismet]

Considering the fact that the first two years of med school consist of "challenging grad level courses," it shows that you were not able to handle the harder courses and that you could possibly be an academic risk in med school. It depends on how far you dropped...if you went down to a 3.7 or 3.8 I'd say you'd still be quite competitive. If you completely bombed your upper levels and dropped to like a 3.5 sGPA, that's not a good sign.

People can probably give you better advice if you share a bit more about your stats.

 

[milkandcereal]

How low is low? I imagine it probably isn't as bad as you think it is. Doing well in your pre-reqs is definitely going to help, though.

Obviously, this isn't nearly enough info to give you any kind of meaningful answer regarding what medical schools will think of you; every school has different missions, average stats, etc. Build a strong, well-rounded application around your GPA and I'm sure you'll be fine if medicine is what you're passionate about.

 

[kyamh]

since I took a lot of challenging grad. level courses.

Sorry, I don't think that will be much of an excuse. I agree with Ismet and also want to add that part of the responsibility of taking more challenging courses is upping your game as far as studying etc.

The thing about pre-med requirements is that a lot of them you can half-know from high school - my high school taught all the material covered by bio, inorganic chem, and physics - so it's not an awesome measure of your ability to handle great courseloads. I think this may be why a lot of people say that Orgo is a 'weed-out' course, no one pre-learns it in high school. See if you can pull your grades up, are you still in school? Getting a few A's in upper level courses ought to make things better.

 

[notbobtrustme]

That's too granular. Very few committees have the time to go through each applicant's history. When you are looking at >3k applications after screening and a finite time to go through all the apps, you need to make quick, decisive cuts.

How low is low? Sub 3.0? That's an app-killer. Better than 3.3? Probably not so bad at many schools.

 

[omegaz]

I guess the actual question I'm asking is that do medical schools look at your science GPA AND pre-med science GPA?

I asked this question because I felt cheated when my psychology major premed friends have the same premed courses GPA as I do, but have much higher science GPA and overall GPA than I do.

BTW: My science GPA is 3.6, which, I know, isn't low but I could have a higher science GPA (3.9) if I were a humanities/social science major.

 

[omegaz]

Oops

 

[Ismet]

I guess the actual question I'm asking is that do medical schools look at your science GPA AND pre-med science GPA?

I asked this question because I felt cheated when my psychology major premed friends have the same premed courses GPA as I do, but have much higher science GPA and overall GPA than I do.

BTW: My science GPA is 3.6, which, I know, isn't low but I could have a higher science GPA (3.9) if I were a humanities/social science major.

Depends on the school and how they look at grades. But does it really matter? If a school somehow does look at the breakdown, they're not going to care that you rocked Intro Bio 1 when you did poorly in your upper level science courses, which are much more indicative of how you'll handle med school than the intro pre-reqs are.

Your sGPA is still fine. Apply smartly and stop comparing yourself to others. What you major in doesn't matter, you just need to do well in whatever you choose.

 

[AlteredScale]

I guess the actual question I'm asking is that do medical schools look at your science GPA AND pre-med science GPA?

I asked this question because I felt cheated when my psychology major premed friends have the same premed courses GPA as I do, but have much higher science GPA and overall GPA than I do.

BTW: My science GPA is 3.6, which, I know, isn't low but I could have a higher science GPA (3.9) if I were a humanities/social science major.

No point in saying "could have", you keep chugging along with your science courses and get those A's. Whatever you need to do to adjust, tone down your time to EC's, work less, whatever it is, do it to get good grades for the rest of your time as an undergrad. At this point and IMO, changing majors to boost your GPA would be silly, and I'm not sure if it'll be looked well upon AdComs knowing you bailed sciences for humanities because the courses you took were too hard, so keep at it bud!

 

[jaybird117]

Funny enough, I've only ever gotten 1 B+ in any science course - they've all been in the A range everywhere else. It's my ELECTIVES that screw me T_______T I need to learn to take better electives...

 

[notbobtrustme]

I guess the actual question I'm asking is that do medical schools look at your science GPA AND pre-med science GPA?

I asked this question because I felt cheated when my psychology major premed friends have the same premed courses GPA as I do, but have much higher science GPA and overall GPA than I do.

BTW: My science GPA is 3.6, which, I know, isn't low but I could have a higher science GPA (3.9) if I were a humanities/social science major.

you're fine, stop being neurotic.

 

[1nvictus]

on the flip side, what if you do relatively poorly in the intro classes (say a B-) but then wreck the upper level courses (A- or higher)?

my current sGPA is in shambles so I'd like to know lol

 

[theseeker4]

I guess the actual question I'm asking is that do medical schools look at your science GPA AND pre-med science GPA?

I asked this question because I felt cheated when my psychology major premed friends have the same premed courses GPA as I do, but have much higher science GPA and overall GPA than I do.

BTW: My science GPA is 3.6, which, I know, isn't low but I could have a higher science GPA (3.9) if I were a humanities/social science major.

You are fine at most schools. You would probably still have a shot at top schools if your cGPA is higher and your MCAT is high, along with all the expected ECs. Stop worrying.

 

[theseeker4]

on the flip side, what if you do relatively poorly in the intro classes (say a B-) but then wreck the upper level courses (A- or higher)?

my current sGPA is in shambles so I'd like to know lol

More recent, higher-level work can make up for a low total sGPA at some schools, but how many of those B-s do you have, and how low is your sGPA?

 

[Goro]

Going from A's to B/B+'s in your higher level years is OK. Going to C's is not. If you get an II be prepared to dicuss it, though.

Considering the fact that the first two years of med school consist of "challenging grad level courses," it shows that you were not able to handle the harder courses and that you could possibly be an academic risk in med school. It depends on how far you dropped...if you went down to a 3.7 or 3.8 I'd say you'd still be quite competitive. If you completely bombed your upper levels and dropped to like a 3.5 sGPA, that's not a good sign.

People can probably give you better advice if you share a bit more about your stats.

 

[1nvictus]

pair of B minuses in intro to biology, that's it. sGPA of 2.85 after a B+ in calculus - no other science classes so far though. I'm a sophomore now.

in my defense I wasn't focused freshman year as I was now 😛

 

[theseeker4]

pair of B minuses in intro to biology, that's it. sGPA of 2.85 after a B+ in calculus - no other science classes so far though. I'm a sophomore now.

in my defense I wasn't focused freshman year as I was now 😛

If you can actually pull the A's from now on, you won't be kept out of med school due to a couple B minuses. You might want to take some upper level biology later on to prove you aren't just incapable of handling bio, but I definitely wouldn't retake any of those.