Can I get into a good medical school? Please help me.

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Right now GPA is 3.28 cumulative and my first year is over but planning to graduate in another year. Currently in a SUNY state university. However hypothetical speaking:</p>

<p>So I have finished my undergrad education which took about 2 years and my cumulative GPA is a 3.61 but my science GPA is a 3.47. What happened was because I was always rushing my credits I ended up taking around 23 credits in one semester and got two C's that semester. I pulled off straight A's the following two summers and fall as well as spring. The classes I received an A from include orgo Chem physics 3 and 4 and some higher level physics classes as well as calc 3 and differential equations. But so you can see my first 3 semesters were pretty bad like a 3.0 science GPA and 3.28 cumulative. I came back from the grave pretty much. </p>

<p>End of hypothetical story</p>

<p>The problem:
The problem was I was taking massive amounts of credits the previous semesters and didn't pull through so well so the following two summer and fall and spring I plan to bring up my GPA while taking fewer classes like 16 credits at a time no longer 23. Would I be accepted to medical school then with the predicted hypothetical outcome of my future semesters? I need to set goals for myself that's why I ask. </p>

<p>Also I plan to study for a 36+ on MCAT which I will take next year but plan to start studying soon. </p>

<p>Other stuff I have done is I am a Vice President at a student association, I have a projected 250 hours volunteer and 50 shadowing, maybe will do some research in physics department and that is pretty much it. </p>

<p>So do I stand a chance against some of the higher level med schools with a 3.61 cumulative GPA 3.47 science GPA and a 36+ MCAT? Schools I plan to apply to include Chicago, duke, UB med school, Yale, Cornell (if they have a medical school), and maybe 2-3 more high level colleges and around 8 mid level medical schools like UB med school previously mentioned. So I will apply to a total of 13-15 med schools. </p>

<p>Also questions on the side, when should I apply as in can I finish my first summer session next year before applying which ends at June 28 or do I have to apply earlier? Just so I cAn get those grades in there as well. Finally is research that important? Also what can I do to seem like an applicant that stands out? Because right now I feel I am lacking something that makes people say "wow he did that during college that is impressive?" Also I have made good friends with almost all my professors so I don't see a problem arising with letters of recommendations God willing. Finally I graduated early from high school and now will expect to graduate early from university so is age a factor in decision making, I will be around 20 God willing when applying.</p>

<p>Thank you guys a lot I am just really nervous after doing poorly these first 3 semesters.</p>

2

<p>If I were looking at your application, I’m afraid I’d have real questions about your judgment.</p>

<p>It was madness to attempt 23 credits in a semester. I can’t fathom why you’re trying to complete a 4-year degree in 2 years. This wouldn’t be on your application, of course, but you’re still rushing headlong into things without thinking them through: you plan to apply to Cornell “if they have a medical school.” (For the record, Cornell has a medical school. It’s not in Ithaca. It’s on the east side of Manhattan, not too far from the UN. But the point is, you’re planning to apply without even looking into whether the universities even *have *medical schools.) And you’re counting chickens that haven’t hatched yet.</p>

<p>As far as I know, medical schools tend not to like very young applicants. As far as I know, they tend to think that medical school is an endeavor for mature, serious people, because it involves not only respect for the cadavers in the anatomy lab first year, but also discretion and respect in caring for the patients in the hospital during clinical rotations. And I think this thinking is right. Doogie Howser, M.D. was a cute TV show in the '90s, but I categorically do not want a Doogie Howser doctor.</p>

<p>I don’t actually know the answers to your specific questions, but I suspect you’re not on a track that leads straight to an American medical school–certainly not to one of the caliber you’ve named. I think you need to stop rushing and think, and I think you need to do your thinking together with a calm, level-headed premedical advisor where you go to college.</p>

3

<p>Way too many hypotheticals. Come back when you have an actual change in GPA and an actual MCAT score.</p>

<p>A 36+ MCAT is not that easy to achieve. See this chart</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85332/data[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85332/data&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Medical schools tend to look with skepticism on young applicants for the very reasons the poster above stated. Maturity, discipline, life experience, good communications skills are all valued in medical school applicants. Anecdotally, younger than typical applicants are less likely to get interviews than applicants of typical age, even if all other objective factors are more or less equal.</p>

<p>Also you say you have volunteering, but do you have any actual clinical experience?</p>

4

<p>

The schools you are talking about are all top 10/15 research schools. Nobody approaches these schools with any sort of assuredness.</p>

<p>For what it’s worth, my son is applying in this cycle to those very schools with a 3.8+ GPA (3.7+ sGPA), a 38 MCAT, a published paper and so forth. I am concerned that his GPA may be a little on the lower side for some of them.</p>

<p>I agree with Sikorsky’s analogy of “counting the chickens before they are hatched”. If I were you, I would get out of the hypotheticals and start repairing that GPA right away. And by the way, how in the world did your hypothetical GPAs get such precision? For you to stand a statistically significant chance of getting into those top research schools, you got to do some meaningful research and bring up those stats quite a bit.</p>

5

<p>Guys can you answer my question please? I am more prepared than you think in germs of maturity. I have been to mock interviews and stuff and they all say I have great communication skills and they would answer the same way. I am not trying to pound my chest of anything. Also I have a reason for graduating in 2 years but I don’t need to share my life story on a discussion board. I realize the state I am in, I realize a 36 MCAT is very difficult to get hence I am taking it in a year and studying for it soon and this is the reason I ask these questions. I ask you what can I do to improve my application? I ask you is the MCAT and GPA I provided enough to get me through the pre screening of a top tier school. So considering I get past that what can I do, I have a full year before I submit an application. And at 16 credits a semester, I don’t see how I am rushing anymore. I said I did bad that semester but that was 1 semester. I am positive with enough studying I can make the hypothetical GPA, with studying. I know I want to be a doctor since I was a child. I realize your reasons for your comments and I have realized my shortcomings please help me in telling me what I need to step forward and not look back anymore. I know what I need to do in terms of GPA and MCAT and I am a volunteer at a hospital in my area.</p>

6

<p>[ol]
[<em>] Don’t get hung up medical school rankings yet. You will choose a suitable list when your are ready to apply.
[</em>] You will need 2 more years than you have planned for to put together a strong application.
[<em>] Your hypothetical stats still will put you below the median at the schools you listed. Therefore, you should take two more years to build up your GPA. Prepare well and take your MCAT ONLY when you are ready. Don’t plan on re-taking MCAT.
[</em>] You need to do some sustained volunteering both in a clinical and non-clinical environments. That would go a lot further in showing that you want to be a doctor than you saying it.
[<em>] You need to get involved in some research for the next two years.
[</em>] Don’t rush anything like you did in your first year.
[li] Be humble and don’t underestimate anything.[/li][/ol]
Good luck!</p>

7

<p>The reason we’re having difficulty answering your question is because it’s specific in very unhelpful ways, and generic where we would need more information.</p>

<p>It’s as if you had asked the following: “Guys, guys, my savings bonds are doing really badly, but I know they’re going to be much better from here on out. If I make a 200% return on my savings bonds next year, which I totally know I can do since I’m splitting them equally between foreign bonds and American bonds and Montana bonds, do you think I can buy enough fuel to get a rocket into the sky? Btw, do they have sky over Montana?”</p>

<p>I guess I could answer his question (“probably not, but maybe”). But to do so, I have to insert a ton of my own assumptions in order to fill in the blanks: what kind of rocket is he launching? Is he even going to be able to build a rocket? Is the purchase of fuel really his limiting factor? And what does he mean by sky? Is he trying to reach the stratosphere? Ionosphere? Break orbit? Visit Pluto? What?</p>

<p>So answering HIS hypothetical question requires INVENTING my own hypothetical question, which may or may not bear any relevance to anything useful to him. And yes, they do have sky over Montana.</p>

<hr>

<p>The hypothetical question I gave is specific in all the wrong ways: it talks a lot about savings bonds and why the asker KNOWS HE CAN DO BETTER, without talking at all about what kind of fuel he intends to buy, what kind of rocket he intends to build, and why on earth he wants to build a rocket anyway. Most critically, the question above talks generically about the “sky” but clearly doesn’t understand what the sky is.</p>

<p>Your question is similar. You tell us an awful lot about grades and credits and being fast and what you can do because NEXT TIME YOU KNOW YOU CAN DO BETTER, but you don’t talk at all about the important elements of being a premed for the schools you’re talking about: a proven track record of success including an established GPA and MCAT score, where your drive to become a physician comes from, your research activities, and your clinical experience. Most importantly, in several key aspects you seem fuzzy on what it actually means to apply to medical school or to be a physician.</p>

<hr>

<p>I guess I could answer your question (“probably not, but maybe”). But to do so, I have to insert a ton of my own assumptions in order to fill in the blanks: why were his grades so low? Is he going to volunteer, write good essays, interview well, and apply wisely? Is the GPA really the worst thing about his application? And what does he mean by good medical school? Is he trying to be a practicing dermatologist? An academic researcher/professor? An opthalmologist-turned-President of Syria? Impress his mother?</p>

<p>So answering YOUR hypothetical question requires INVENTING my own hypothetical question, which may or may not bear any relevance to anything useful to you. And yes, they do have a medical school with Cornell.</p>

8

<p>If your hypothetical case applies to you, then you sound fine. You will get into some medical school sooner or later. Don’t get too hung up over exactly which one you go to. Once you have an MD/DO, it is all the same. You can perform your services anywhere. If you are into getting things that take 4 years done in 2 years, you could become a PA, rather than a physician. Just do a 2 year post grad clinician degree.</p>