Can I still get into med school???

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hello all,

I am currently a BME/premed student who just finished their freshman year at the University of Michigan and am pretty concerned about my standings for med school. Here are my grades so far:

High School Dual Enrollment:
Calc III - B-

Fall Semester:
Orgo I - C-
Orgo I Lab - A-
Calc IV - C-
ENGR 100 - B+

Spring Semester:
Orgo I (yes I retook it) - B-
Calc IV (yes I retook this as well) - B
ENGR 101 - A
Sociology 100 - B+

These are my grades so far and my science GPA seems to be pretty low but is there any way I can bring my GPA up to at least a 3.5 by the time I apply for med schools before senior year? I understand med schools go give BME majors a little bit of slack on their GPA, but how much exactly? I’m also concerned that the fact that I retook classes but still didn’t do very well in them may hurt me later on. In regards to extracurriculars, I am doing fine (I have leadership on a dance team, I have a paid internship doing research at a lab, and I volunteer at the hospital).

Is med school even plausible for me at this point?

2

Why you took Orgo 1 in your 1st freshman semester? Did you complete Gen Chem 1/2 (pre-req for Orgo) already? For BME major, your math (calc) is really bad right now, why there are no Phy 1 or 2?

I’d suggest you drop BME immediately and switch to some Humanities major (you got A in Eng). BME as a Plan B is typically the quickest way to kill a pre-med’s Plan A dream due to rigor of engineering curriculum and harsh grading.

You might still have a chance for MD or DO school if you drop BME and start getting A’s.

3

The only way to improve your sGPA (2.42) is to ace your BCMP classes. (Engineering courses are NOT included in sGPA calculations.) You need 52 BCMP credits (or 13 classes) with As to raise your sGPA to 3.5. I’m not sure it’s possible for you to raise your sGPA to that level before you graduate from college.

I strongly suggest that you put pre-med aside for now and concentrate on improving your academics. Drop your pre-med ECs and use the extra time for your schoolwork.

Your first order of business is to figure why you’re struggling in your science & math classes:

Did you effectively utilize the resources available to you? Tutoring? (Both thru the academic support center or a private tutor.) Office hours? Study groups? Did you do extra problem sets from different textbooks? Use Khan Academy you tube tutorials? How about 3-d model kits for ochem?

One last question–are you sure that BME is the right major for you? It appears that math/science is not your strong suit.

Ouch! The B- retake on Ochem is going to hurt you big time. Adcomms expect to see As for retaken classes. It’ll be a big ding on your application. (Med school admission is a negative process. Adcomms are actively looking for reasons to dismiss an application so you want as few dings as possible.) The B for Calc 4 isn’t helping your case either- even though calc 4 isn’t a med school pre-req. It just confirms that you’re not a strong student in the adcomms’ eyes.

I don’t know where you heard this but it’s not true. At all. Tough majors (engineering, math, physics, etc) do not get and slack w/r/t GPA when it comes to medical school admissions. They are expected to have the same strong grades as everyone else. BTW, “tough” majors are in the eye of the beholder. (Meaning some people find foreign languages very difficult or writing/reading intensive majors like English lit or history or theology.)

[MCAT and GPAs for Applicants and Matriculants to U.S. Medical Schools by Primary Undergraduate Major, 2017-2018](https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/factstablea17.pdf)

Mean sGPA and GPA for med school matriculants by major—

Physical science majors – sGPA 3.69 and GPA 3.72
Math & stats-- sGPA 3.7 and GPA 3.78
Bio sciences-- sGPA 3.65 and GPA 3.71
Humanities --sGPA 3.61 and GPA 3.70
Specialized health sciences-- sGPA 3.61 and GPA 3.70
Social sciences – sGPA 3.58 and GPA 3.66
Other** – sGPA 3.65 and GPA 3.71

**includes pubic health, business, engineering and any major that doesn’t fall into one of the other categories plus all double majors

4

" I understand med schools go give BME majors a little bit of slack on their GPA, but how much exactly"

It is hard to say, perhaps .1, perhaps nothing. Anyway where do you want them to stop? What about BME from MIT vs Caltech vs Mich ? Want about ElecE vs BME? The permutation is endless, I would assume they have to comparing GPA on an equal footing, especially sGPA.

You have a problem, when you retake a class, med school is looking for an A, you have two strikes with you as you have already retake two of the classes without an A.

You should seriously consider plan B, premed is not for you. But if you insist, you may go another semester and see if you can strike all As in BCMP, if so, you may have a chance at DO schools. At this point, you will have problem with PA schools.

5

Strongly agree with WOWMom. Your overall GPA is ~2.35 so your application wouldn’t even be seen by human eyes at my school. That GPA needs to come up STAT.

6

For those that know med school admissions, If OP really doesn’t want to give up on medicine, would he have a chance to raise his GPA and then do a post bacc program in order to strengthen his application?

7

@gallentjill

A GPA repair post-bacc is always possible, but post-baccs work best for students who have demonstrated a strong, consistent upward academic trend after a poor start in college. For the OP, it’s too soon to tell if that will be the case.

Realistically though, there comes point where one has to weigh the costs/benefits of continuing to pursue a med school admission. A post bacc postpones entry into a career by several years. (long term income loss) Post baccs are expensive and they don’t comes with any guarantees. Most people who do gpa-repair post baccs will not get an acceptance to med school. (Just like most traditional pre meds will not get a med school acceptance.) Sometimes the smartest thing is just to move on with life.

8

post bacc usually cannot be used for GPA repair for a fresh graduate, it is used as a career changer or Special Masters. If the GPA is too low, you have to repeat all the science classes, you need to be an “non-traditional”, that is at least 5 years out of school. Plenty discussions can be found in the “non-traditional” portion of the SDN.

I have a neighbor who was a sales manager for 10 years upon UG graduation, he decided to be a physician afterwards. He went through a post bacc program and successfully became a licensed physician. But by that time he was in the 40’s.

9

For all intents and purposes, an SMP is a “GPA reparing post-bacc”

10

Yes, SMP is a gpa repair tool, but you need at least 3.0 with a strong science base to get into the program and maintain a good grade in the program. You probably need 3.3 or better to get into a MD SMP such as Georgetown or Drexel, DO school SMP is lower, perhaps 3.0. In the SMP, you are doing the first year MD school curriculum, not to repeat all the sGPA classes.

11

Your freshman year GPA is now around 2.4, so IF you’ll make all A’s for the next 3 years then your GPA will be 0.25x2.4 + 0.75x4.0 = 3.6 which could still have a chance for med school.

However, making all A’s is easy said than done for anyone, particularly considering you couldn’t get A’s in the two re-take classes.

12

You have to change course. Go to the career center to match what you like, are interested I, are good at, and career paths.