What is the lowest undergrad GPA you've known someone to have yet still get an MD?

[ClrkKnt]

What was the GPA and what was the story behind how they still managed to become an MD?

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[northernlights15]

People get in with low 2.0 GPAs but they usually have compelling stories that the average person does not. They are outliers and not the norm.

 

[ndafife]

https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/app...mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html

2 people got in with a GPA between 2.00 and 2.19

 

[MrChance2]

Id be very surprised if low 2.0 gpas get in because of stories and not nepotism. If they don't have a masters or post bacc A couple high 2s or low 3s get in because they were too busy starting a hospital in Africa to focus on undergrad or something (or live in a state with a very friendly instate medical school)

 

[Catalystik]

What was the GPA and what was the story behind how they still managed to become an MD?

An SDNer got into UConn with a 2.92. The full tale is here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=544011

 

[ClrkKnt]

about this masters and post bacc stuff I keep hearing about, does it only save people that are borderline from getting in (people with 3.4 GPAs or something) or can it actually save people with GPAs in the low 2s?

 

[Catalystik]

about this masters and post bacc stuff I keep hearing about, does it only save people that are borderline from getting in (people with 3.4 GPAs or something) or can it actually save people with GPAs in the low 2s?

To get past automatic cut-offs, it's recommended that you take undergrad college and/or postbac classes until your GPAs are greater than a 3.0. Then get a strong MCAT score. Then (if your MCAT score isn't a 40+ equivalent) do an SMP with a GPA >3.7.

If a GPA now is at a low 2.xx, you'd have to figure out how much straight A coursework it would take to get >3.0. Then decide if you have the cash, time, and fortitude to attempt this path, which comes with no guarantees, especially as there are other components to a good application that some folks can't manage: appropriate ECs, strong LORs, good interview skills, freedom from legal entanglements, etc.

 

[ClrkKnt]

To get past automatic cut-offs, it's recommended that you take undergrad college and/or postbac classes until your GPAs are greater than a 3.0. Then get a strong MCAT score. Then (if your MCAT score isn't a 40+ equivalent) do an SMP with a GPA >3.7.

If a GPA now is at a low 2.xx, you'd have to figure out how much straight A coursework it would take to get >3.0. Then decide if you have the cash, time, and fortitude to attempt this path, which comes with no guarantees, especially as there are other components to a good application that some folks can't manage: appropriate ECs, strong LORs, good interview skills, freedom from legal entanglements, etc.

Raising a low 2 GPA you graduated with = repeating your entire undergraduate career all over again.

 

[resiroth]

No one here is going to mention it so I will. Being a URM helps a lot. Not 2.0 to 4.0, but easily 2.9 to 3.5 imo. There are some legitimate reasons to do this (trusting a doctor of their own race more etc.)

 

[Catalystik]

Raising a low 2 GPA you graduated with = repeating your entire undergraduate career all over again.

Yep. That''s why aiming for DO schools is so much more time and cost efficient. You only have to retake the lowest grades from the first time around, since only the most recent grade "counts" toward your application GPAs.

 

[ClrkKnt]

Yep. That''s why aiming for DO schools is so much more time and cost efficient. You only have to retake the lowest grades from the first time around, since only the most recent grade "counts" toward your application GPAs.

How do chances of a person look if they want to go into other medical professions such as pharmacy, PA school, or dentistry? I've heard Dental school is harder to get into than med school, is that right?

 

[Catalystik]

How do chances of a person look if they want to go into other medical professions such as pharmacy, PA school, or dentistry? I've heard Dental school is harder to get into than med school, is that right?

I have never heard that dental schools exercise a form of grade forgiveness. Or the others, either.

 

[AspiringERMD]

Everyone here is answering a different question than was posed by the OP. OP is interested in people who SUCCEEDED in getting their MD, not just gained an acceptance to medical school. I realize that the attrition rate is low, but that's still not the question OP asked.

 

[deleted577188]

Everyone here is answering a different question than was posed by the OP. OP is interested in people who SUCCEEDED in getting their MD, not just gained an acceptance to medical school. I realize that the attrition rate is low, but that's still not the question OP asked.

You say this as if users get back on here and post pics of their MD when they graduate. For SDN purposes, I'm sure people who matriculated somewhere obtained, or will obtain their MD.

 

[HinduHammer]

I had a 2.71 amcas and was accepted to 2 MD schools. Strong post bacc record, mcat, and extra curricula really helped. Plus heeding the advice of people like catalystik.

 

[ClrkKnt]

I was asking about just getting into med school.

 

[ZedsDed]

What was the GPA and what was the story behind how they still managed to become an MD?

I'll tell you this, they all learned to use the search button on SDN. Spend many hours searching through the postbac forum if you want to learn what you need to do. Nobody gets anywhere lazily asking others to solve their problems for them.

Raising a low 2 GPA you graduated with = repeating your entire undergraduate career all over again.

People have done this, and it might be something you want to consider, assuming you are serious. Learn what DO is.

Edit: Was wondering why you were asking such amateurish questions with 100+ posts. So I briefly glanced at your previous posts and saw that you have asked this question like 4-5 times in the past couple years. That, coupled with other threads you have started like "Do the hot chicks really come running once your a doctor?" (which admittedly, was hilarious), makes me think you are not serious/are a troll.

 

[efle]

Yep. That''s why aiming for DO schools is so much more time and cost efficient. You only have to retake the lowest grades from the first time around, since only the most recent grade "counts" toward your application GPAs.

Great if you have a low GPA from a few abnormally rough classes but no help if your low GPA is from consistent B-/C+ grades. I imagine the latter must be a lot more common from people who didn't realize their MD ambitions and half-assed their way through college

 

[Catalystik]

Great if you have a low GPA from a few abnormally rough classes but no help if your low GPA is from consistent B-/C+ grades. I imagine the latter must be a lot more common from people who didn't realize their MD ambitions and half-assed their way through college

It certainly doesn't help if the low grades were in a specific discipline like, eg, engineering, nursing, or accounting where retaking is utterly pointless if that field is no longer a goal.

 

[occams_razor]

I know one person who got in with a 3.1, but his graduate GPA was a 3.7. Another person I know had sub-3.0 cumulative and science GPAs, but did post-bacc work to bring them up to 3.0. Both of these people also had very high MCAT scores.

 

[ClrkKnt]

I'll tell you this, they all learned to use the search button on SDN. Spend many hours searching through the postbac forum if you want to learn what you need to do. Nobody gets anywhere lazily asking others to solve their problems for them.

People have done this, and it might be something you want to consider, assuming you are serious. Learn what DO is.

Edit: Was wondering why you were asking such amateurish questions with 100+ posts. So I briefly glanced at your previous posts and saw that you have asked this question like 4-5 times in the past couple years. That, coupled with other threads you have started like "Do the hot chicks really come running once your a doctor?" (which admittedly, was hilarious), makes me think you are not serious/are a troll.

I never started that thread, you should at least get your research right before you call me a troll.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

2.8 but had significant other activities and graduate school most others will be unable to replicate.

 

[Spinach Dip]

Lowest I know had a 2.8. They went on to get a MS in chemical engineering, worked in the field for a couple years, and got a 35+ MCAT.

 

[jjbodean]

i graduated with a 2.83, had a loooong break with first career, went back to school for post-bacc work and prerequisites and had a 4.0, raising my AMCAS GPA to 3.18

 

[NickNaylor]

We've accepted people at my institution with low 3 GPAs. However they are truly exceptional, often URMs and/or from significantly disadvantaged backgrounds, and have otherwise outstanding applications. Some of them have been offered scholarships because we want them at our institution.

However, they really are the exception. Most people with lower GPAs will not fare that well.

 

[ClrkKnt]

Great if you have a low GPA from a few abnormally rough classes but no help if your low GPA is from consistent B-/C+ grades. I imagine the latter must be a lot more common from people who didn't realize their MD ambitions and half-assed their way through college

in their case is it pretty much game over?

 

[ClrkKnt]

Almost DOA. A low GPA from a bad semester or bad year is much easier for an adcom to see and understand, A pattern of mediocrity thru out undergraduate gets into the "low" or "reject" stack of applications

Can Post Bacc at that point really do anything?

 

[ndafife]

Can Post Bacc at that point really do anything?

That's really where Post-Baccs and SMPs are most helpful. They give students the opportunity show they can actually handle coursework. Good MCATs don't hurt either.

 

[efle]

Yes, now you are talking a horse of another color. Adcoms will see your postbacc as a separate line item so it can be an impact larger than the impact to your overall GPA.
https://www.aamc.org/students/download/181676/data/amcas_grade_conversion_guide.pdf (see page 2 for sample grid

And a recent AAMC survey of medical school admissions found that post-bacc performance was a factor of high importance, which would imply most schools considered it strongly. That and a good MCAT may get you over the hurdle.

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/267622/data/mcatstudentselectionguide.pdf (see Table 1 on p13)

Fun fact, you can link to exact pages in a pdf by adding #page=XX for example

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/267622/data/mcatstudentselectionguide.pdf#page=12

And that almost seems redundant to include; if your grades are high importance to begin with, obviously they continue to be important post-bacc

 

[ClrkKnt]

Now this is what gets me about the post-bacc and SMP route, I've heard from students who were a standard deviation below med school average (like low 3s and high 2s) have a lot of success with this route. Another group I know of who has a lot of success with this are non-science majors. I was specifically wondering how useful that route might be for someone that royally ****ed up in college as a science major.

For example, say you have someone who majored in chemistry and got a GPA in the mid to low 2s but at the time, they were focused on just getting a degree and working. Now lets say that person develops an interest in MD or dental schools (two competitive places that don't do med school) maybe a couple years down the road, you're looking at a situation where the student has: a poor overall GPA, a poor science GPA as well, and lots of credit hours (120 and up).

In the case of that student, does a good post-bacc eventually coupled in with an SMP really do anything for him? Lets say we even throw in an MCAT score that is 30 or above.

Should that student just live with his mistake, suck it up, and forget about his so called MD dreams or could a re-invention type of scenario possibly win the hearts of some med schools?

 

[Pyoori]

You can't just throw in an MCAT score of 30 or above. It's going to be a huge factor in proving that your undergraduate GPA was not indicative of your real potential, and the golden number for getting into higher quality SMP's is at least a 30. The higher, the better, to state the obvious.

A non-trad applicant can overturn a lot of what happened in his undergrad with real life experience and a very strong showing in a post-bacc and SMP, along with an MCAT score in the 30's. A couple of MD schools, like EVMS, Tulane, and NYMC, and and most DO schools actually look very favorably on the redemption story as well. However, you need to be absolutely certain that you're up to the task, since a bad SMP showing is going to be the death of your application and all future applications.

It's definitely possible. A lot of hard work, but possible.

 

[ClrkKnt]

OldPreMeds.org has had lots of success stories of those screwed up the first round of college or were mediocre students. Then some time, years later frequently, decide they want to try for medical school. The founder of the group was originally dismissed from college freshman year with, and I am not making this up, a 0.67 GPA (yes 0.67). He is now dual board certified in anesthesiology and critical care after residency and fellowship at Dartmouth (from a DO school I might add). I deal primarily with nontrads and this situation comes up quite frequently.

The value of maturity, success in another aream academic redemption in postbacc/SMP and a good MCAT are worth alot, particularly now where nontrads are the new traditional

Well, being that it was his freshman year and he likely had 30 credits or under that, he would have likely been able to do a lot of work to pull it up. The example you gave me would have likely had a much easier time bringing his GPA up to least a 3.0 after 70 credit hours of 4.0s (calculated all that out btw) and given that he likely didn't take Organic Chem or Biochem, he would have had a fresh start there.

Compare that to the hypothetical example I gave you, the chem major that graduated college with a GPA in the 2.0-2.5 range. The issue with him is that he is likely going to do retakes and it is going to be harder for him to bring that GPA up to a 3.0 after 120 credit hours.

I guess the real enemy here in the end are going to be cut offs if med schools do have them and the end number. The story of the founder is nonetheless inspirational though.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Almost DOA. A low GPA from a bad semester or bad year is much easier for an adcom to see and understand, A pattern of mediocrity thru out undergraduate gets into the "low" or "reject" stack of applications

What would you think if you saw an applicant with a mediocre undergrad record, but then a great graduate transcript and a personal statement that explains how after college they were exposed to the medical field and become much more mature and driven?

 

[sobored]

Graduated with a 2.4 back in the day, worked my way to a 3.0 with post-bacc and got in...about to graduate med school, going into ophtho. When you're in that deep of a hole, you gotta want it, bad.