Yet another worried kid...

[HumbleJoe]

Let me first start off with I never wanted to be that annoying premed kid worried about his grades, and haven't until now. I had fun my first two years of school and this has been reflected in my grades, I planning on applying this summer to schools, taking the MCAT in June.

Anyway down to the numbers, I am 20, white, and my overall GPA is a 3.75 with a science GPA of a 3.65. However...This is my university GPA, including 3 retaken classes, Calc I, Calc II, and Trigonmetry. All got C+'s in during my frosh and soph. years. How do these retakes affect how a med school would look at me? Does it matter that they were all in mathematics?

I've been taking practice MCAT tests and scoring 13 and 14's in verbal and 10s in BS and PS, which is encouraging since i'll have the next 6 months to bring these up sections.

I work at the campus health clinic 20 hrs a week and also volunteer helping disabled chrildren each every week. I have been involved in research for 1 yr and am waiting on 1 hopeful report going through the publication editing process.

Just looking for general input on chances and if i should get more involved, i don't plan on applying to any top teir med schools, just any MD in the US that'll take me!

Thanks!

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[MilkmanAl]

AMCAS will include all of your grades, so a C+'s will be factored in. That's going to hurt your science GPA markedly, I would imagine, but you should still be just fine with that kind of MCAT score. Your clinical experience sounds sufficient, so I'm betting you're going to be in good shape for an acceptance when you apply.

 

[Mobius1985]

AMCAS the MD school application service will include all your post-high school grades, including original and retaken marks for a class.

Calc I is a prerequisite for many med schools, and Calc II for very few. If you retake the class and do better, it's a non-issue that you got a C.

Your brief Extracurricular summary sounds good. Try to get in a leadership experience also, as well as some physician shadowing.

 

[HumbleJoe]

Thanks guys for the quick responses!

On a side note, do you think it would be worthwhile in terms of time and money to do a overseas medical trip? I would be able to do it this summer in time to put it on my application but am wondering if these sorts of trips are a dime a dozen and something med schools see everyday...plus i would hate to do something just for my application. let me know what you think

 

[Mobius1985]

I don't think that an overseas volunteer medical experience is a waste of time and money (I did some myself), but it would not be particularly unique to have on your application. It would be a worthwhile cultural experience, HIIPA laws don't apply, so you can have up-close-and-personal interactions with patients, you'd gain great fodder for essays, and you'd potentialy see medical conditions you'd rarely see in the US (elephantiasis, parasitosis, malnutrition, post-strep rheumatic heart disease, uterine prolapse after 15 pregnancies, and extremes of lice, impetigo, and scabies).