What type of numbers should I be shooting for during my Post-Bacc

[fauxrealist]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently enrolled in a post-bacc program and I'm trying to figure out the minimum numbers I'll need to get into an allopathic school. (Not that I'm against DO). I finished my first year of post-bacc with a 3.72 cGPA/BCPM GPA. I'm in the process of finishing up Chem II and Stats and thus have 39 credits left to increase that number.

My AMCAS cGPA (without post-bacc classes) was 3.18. My sGPA from undergrad was a 2.7 (though I only took 1 3 credit B.S. physics for poets class that was part of our core curriculum).

Prior to attending this post-bacc program, I worked as a lawyer. I am currently scribing for clinical experience. I have a fair amount of research hours from when I was a research assistant during law school. I also have 1000+ volunteering hours from my time in law school.

I think I can paint a pretty good picture of why I got into medicine: I was working as an entertainment lawyer in the music industry in NYC and began frequently visiting MSK with various family members who got sick with cancer at the same time. Seeing what those doctors did inspired me to leave my job as a celebrity attorney to pursue a career in oncology.

I'm going to take the MCAT in March or April, so I'm wondering what number on that exam (I've always done well on standardized tests) and what cumulative GPA for post-bacc I should be shooting for.

Thanks so much in advance.

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[theITcrowd]

Try playing with the LizzyM score calculator. It's a neat resource from SDN (but obviously shouldn't be your only source of truth).

 

[sfgiants94]

Hi there, I just finished a post bacc and am applying this cycle. My undergrad GPA was ~2.87, worked for a year and then did the post bacc, getting a 3.98 (got 1 A-, by one question). It was only one year long and I took 34 credits as well as did research and volunteered in the community. I just took the MCAT and am in that month long waiting period before I get the results results, so we will see how that goes (practice AAMC 1, 2, &3 were 509, 509, and 510, respectively. Often times post bacc's have "benchmarks" that if you hit all of them and interview adequately you have a seat; does your post bacc have that situation set up with a med school (some of them have many connections I understand)?

 

[evasive fish]

Because your AMCAS cGPA before post-bacc is low, aim for the highest grades you could get for the remainder of your post-bacc. If you get a high MCAT and your post-back grades look good, that will help you a lot.

 

[workaholic181]

If your goal is allo then you should shoot for a 4.0 in these final 39 credits. I had 28 credits of 4.0 and got into a mid tier allo with a top ten percentile mcat. My core and science gpas were higher than yours. Im not saying this to psych you out, just trying to illustrate how unbelievably competitive it is to get in, especially from a tougher state like mine. I only had one allo interview and was wait listed initially. I it's rough man.
Caveat is I got into three of the original Do schools too. Reinvention goes a bit further with them IMO. I don't think you've hurt yourself with the 3.7 thus far but be aware that's like the average of matriculation students overall GPA. I think if you want to show reinvention you need to beat that. Aim for a 4.0 and 510+. See what happens and be open to Do too. Good luck.