Hi, I am a fourth year biology student and about to graduate. My GPA had been so great (like 3.8) until my junior year which it started to drop and right now I have 3.34 GPA with one more class left to take. However I had great leadership and research experiences that aligned with my ideals on health and medicine. I was also a president of a sport club for a year. One of my work that starts with my initiative now had been impacting a lot of people worldwide (relating health and wellness education). Let’s say that my mcat score is around 520. Would there be any chance that I would be able to get into a top medical medical school like Stanford. Your insights and opinions would be appreciated :).
Can I get into a top medical school like stanford with 3.3 GPA but very high mcat & great experience
With a 3.3 you can’t get into ANY medical school, top or not. Your application will be filtered out before it reaches human eyes.
It’s especially bad because apparently your grades dropped junior/senior year, when you’re supposed to have straight As to demonstrate ability to handle med school content and pace. My recommendation would be to bite the bullet and if you can, take a 5th year taking more advanced classes in biology, neurobiology, chemistry, biochemistry, some medical humanities courses, and continuing your top-notch clinical and volunteer work.
Let’s say you take the MCAT and not speculate.
With a 3.3 GPA you have a chance at a Caribbean medical school.
^ with the new regulations those would no longer lead to being a doctor in the US.
- why did grades drop?
- if you bring those grades up you’d have a shot at being a legitimate family practitioner through a DO school.
- taking a 5th year to bring grades back up would be another idea.
I thought all grades were reported to medical schools. Bringing grades up is a good idea, but it’s not like the better grades will replace the others.
Have you considered other careers in medicine? There are lots of options beside doctor worth considering.
Why did those grades drop? Was it that the material was too difficult, or was it that you didn’t apply yourself? You need to do both to succeed in medical school.
@WayOutWestMom isn’t there some site that has info about other careers related to medicine?
ETA…please get Stanford out of your mind. That is beyond unlikely, in my opinion…even with a perfect MCAT score.
[Explore Health Careers](https://explorehealthcareers.org)
If you do indeed score >512 on the MCAT, you could apply to a SMP (Special Master’s Program). If you finish in the top 25% of the class, you’d have about a 50-50 chance of getting accepted to A med school, but a top med school is highly unlikely.
Even if all grades are taken into account, a 5th year of excellent grades in upper level science classes would be the only way to make up for bad grades in upper level classes junior year… Fortunately 5th year seniors aren’t rare.
But if @nobuyo graduates this Spring odds are low s/he can get into MD or DO school and become a doctor.
I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong…but any retake of courses would need to be A grades. A. Anything less would not be viewed favorably in the medical school application process.
We don’t know why this student didn’t do well junior and senior year of college. If he or she doesn’t have a good solid foundation for those upper level courses…taking more advanced courses would be a challenge.
Stanford is an odd school. I can tell that someone with an 80 LizzyM score from their own school didnt get an interview while the same person was interviewed by all Ivy League schools in top 10 (yes number 1 too). However, there are some others admitted with 67-70 to meet some instittutional goals and priorities.
Whatever you do, don’t apply/attend a Caribbean medical school.
OP, are you URM or ORM? Do you have any clinical volunteering and have you done any doctor shadowing? Have you spent time volunteering for the underserved? Based on the EC’s that you listed and even with a strong MCAT, you would not stand much of a chance at getting into ANY medical school at this point. Your downward GPA trend is a huge negative. AMCAS calculates your GPA by year so if your senior year is below a 3.0, that is going to get your app screened out no matter where you apply. To even have a chance you would need to do a postbac or SMP with all A’s in advanced science coursework, and start working on improving your EC’s now so it doesn’t look like you are doing them in the end just to check off boxes. If you can bump your overall GPA a few points to at least a 3.5 (this is a bare minimum) you would stand a chance at DO schools and maybe your state MD school(s) depending on your state. The health initiative you are working on will certainly be an asset to your app IF all of the other stars are aligned.
TL;DR You might have a shot at DO and a very small shot at a few MD schools after spending time beefing up your EC’s so your app is well-rounded along with 2 years of nothing less than stellar grades. If you are URM, your odds of an acceptance improves if you do all of the above. Good luck!
Do you have reason to believe you will score at the 98th percentile (a 520) on the MCAT? This realm generally would be realistic for only a brilliant few.
And even for them it wouldn’t excuse a sub 3.5 GPA. Brilliant but lazy doesn’t work for med school.
I agree that the “smart but lazy” label is the kiss of death for anyone’s med school aspirations.
But I disagree with the notion that 98th percentile MCAT score is attainable by only the “brilliant few”. One of my kiddos scored in the 97th percentile on her MCAT. She’s smart, but I wouldn’t characterize her as brilliant. (And I’m her mother!) Mostly she was highly motivated to do well and spent months in intense preparations. I have never seen her work so hard for something in her life. (well, prior to med school anyway…)
Right now you’re not going be accepted into any medical school, and especially not a top medical school.
You have two BIG strike against you: low GPA with a strong downward trend; inadequate ECs (no clinical experience, no physician shadowing). Even with a 98th percentile MCAT, you’re unlikely to get any interest from med schools.
Right now, your best bet is to apply to a record enhancing post-bacc or a SMP. Admission to SMPs is similar to applying to med school–you will need to take the MCAT and you’ll need to have all ECs done.
Yes – no one should feel they face a limit to what they can achieve based on a characterization of their abilities. My point really pertained to the difficulty of achieving the 98th percentile amid an already rarefied group of test takers. Note, as well, that I included “generally” in my original reply.
Op
My friend who works for Stanford SOM’s admission committe head in administrative function. She does not make decisions but on her rejection file is full of 4.0 student with 97% Mcat scores. What made you think Stanford will accept a 3.3 gpa student?
You just have a pipe dream right now, don’t even waste your money to apply.
As Wowm said, SMP is probably the best route for you to get accepted in A US med school, MD or DO. Of course there are the Caribbean’s which we are not recommending.