<p>okay so my deal is: i am an econ major at cornell...a rising senior and i decided on this whole pre-med thing for sure at the beginning of my junior year.
well, i took chem207 freshman year, did horribly and dropped the whole idea of medicine. this past year, i packed on gen chem 1, 2, orgo 1, 2, physics 1, 2, microbio ...and finished with a 4.0 science gpa alltogether.</p>
<p>my cumulative gpa is a 3.4.
does that make me competitive for med school in the u.s saying that i pulled off all the sciences in a year? are science gpas given more value than cum gpas?</p>
<p>i have volunteered, done research, shadowed....</p>
<p>however, my background is very diff...as its finance, so i have worked with the big banks as well...</p>
<p>i dunno how competitive my gpa is.</p>
<p>i am hoping for a 30+ mcat....
needed some input...</p>
<p>The cumulative GPA and science GPA's by themselves are about equal - there may be some variation from school to school. But of course, since your science courses count in your overall, they essentially count twice.</p>
<p>I think you have a unique situation, one which you can use to your advantage. With your overall being on the low end of things, you're 4.0 Science sticks out. You'll need to make sure to bring that up in your personal statement as well as in each interview. </p>
<p>A 30+ MCAT is a given necessity. </p>
<p>Like anyone, where you apply to will be important. You'll need a broad range of schools, and because of your low overall GPA, I would weight your list towards "the bottom". I believe that you'll likely have a lot of pressure from your peers at Cornell to apply <em>only</em> to "top" schools, but that's a losing strategy for pretty much everyone except the most exceptional students - which your GPA excludes you from. So make sure you have a reasonable list. Take a shot at some of the "top" schools, especially if you are interested in research. But the majority of your schools should be within range of your stats.</p>
<p>By the by, I'm not trying to say that you aren't exceptional because your accomplishments with a very intense course load are impressive. I'm just saying that your 3.4 doesn't make you a superb candidate.</p>