<p>I think this is the right place to ask for this advice. </p>
<p>My high school history is very ugly. I had the ability to do well but with many things and myself getting in the way I failed bad. I did an alternative school way and earned a lot of college credits, majority of which that do not go towards a premed/biology major. Also I did not work very hard while taking the college classes. I also had no clue what I wanted to major in. </p>
<p>I decided I like science and would like to pursue medical school. Even with 40-60 credits I still have a lot more classes to take. My GPA is only 3.02. Is my late attempts at medical school hopeless? Is there any advice anyone can give me?</p>
<p>Yes. Start tonight. Do your best. Take the pre-med requirements. Ace them. Do everything a pre-med does and do it well. Stop looking backwards. That is self-defeating. And for your own good, stop making excuses. You screwed up. Learn from it and move on. </p>
<p>Do that for two years and see where you are. Good luck. You ain’t dead yet.</p>
<p>Make sure that if you feel/are unprepared for the science and math requirements, that you do some preliminary courses to get on board. Don’t go into Chemistry or Calculus like a deer in headlights. Your success in pre-med courses will be given the most weight. Are you enrolled in college now?</p>
<p>No. It’s never too late. Take some pre med courses at the local university. Try to get A’s, but the courses aren’t really what matter. It’s the exposure to the material that the MCAT covers. The MCAT determines medical school admissions. You need a high MCAT score to get into medical school and most schools consider the MCAT as the most important / only criteria.</p>
<p>According 2011 white paper published by the AAMC, a comprehensive survey of medical school admission policies showed that the MCAT score ranked only 3rd (out of 10) in importance for interview invitations and 6th (out of 12) when it came to making final admission decisions.</p>
<p>Don’t believe the garbage schools want you to believe. If you get less than a 30 on the MCAT you are not getting into a ranked medical school unless you are an affirmative action candidate. When applications are screened there is a minimum score that the screener is allowed to pass on. If you get less than a 30 your applications most likely won’t get to the dean’s desk. There is no cutoff for GPA though.</p>
<p>The big name schools are even worse. The MCAT is by far and away the top pre-requisite for big name schools. If you are out of state for UMich you bette have a 37+ or your application goes bye bye no matter what else you bring to the table.</p>
<p>Most of those schools are unranked. I am talking about top 50ish schools. You will have a ridiculously hard time matching the competitive specialties from Wayne State for example. Even a 240 board score won’t get it done from there.</p>
<p>Omni, Med schools by and large take students who have high enough MCAT AND many other qualifications. For most, having a high MCAT score is a necessary condition but not a sufficient condition for acceptance.</p>
<p>UMich indeed comes out as a school which requires high stats for OOS applicants. Generally, for schools on both coasts, the higher the rank a med school is (especially for the very top ones – for which sometimes you really have no idea about what their acceptance criteria may be in a given year due to their “other qualifications” requirement), I think the more they place the emphasis on qualifications besides the stats. </p>
<p>I knew an applicant has a 40 MCAT (and a very high GPA) a few years ago and had an extra year of research in addition to research while as an UG. He got into a single school very late in the application cycle! Tell him that MCAT is the most important factor in med school admission! (He was a California applicant.)</p>