Hey guys, I’m looking for some advice. I knew I wanted to be a physician for a while, and I go to the 4th best community college in the country and they still have terrible health advisors that never told me how important A’s and GPA were to getting into med school. Ive done some research and it’s really freaking me out at this point where I feel as if my 3.41 GPA is too hard to come up from. I had some scheduling problems my freshman year and (stupidly) whose to W from Chem 1 to be able to fit in my practice time for lacrosse. Genetics was just way too much for me to handle at that point, and I didn’t get along with the teacher that well. At the end of the year the class went from 25 people to 6. People that come from state schools always say my CC has way harder science classes than any they took. Our science department is filled with PhD’s that strive to fulfill their egos and make every class very challenging.
Extracurriculars:
Currently I work 25 hours a week paying for my school, play for one of the best CC lacrosse teams in the country (which is a big time commitment), and have 30 hospital volunteer hours.
GPA- 3.41
sGPA- 3.0
Grades:
English 1 - A
Communications 1- B
Pre-Calc - B
Chem 1 - W
Health and Fitness-A
Biology 1-B
Computer and applications-A
Psychology 1- A
Sociology 1-A
Genetics- W
English 2- A
Calc- C (79%)
Chem 1- B (88%)
Interpersonal Com. -B (89%)
Now I’m taking…
Chem 2
Calc 2
Nutrition
Theatre
My question is would my grades be looked at with more sympathy since I’m an athlete and work to pay for my school? Are there any people that had the same GPA ending their fall semester of sophomore year and made it into med school? Would be taking EMT-B certification classes in the summer improve my chances?Just lookin for some advice and/or success stories. Thanks!
Why are you doing lacrosse? Is it just for fun?
Your sGPA is the big issue here. It’s very low for med school and it’s going to be hard (though not impossible) to recover from.
You simply cannot afford any more Bs. You need As to raise your GPA.
To answer your questions–
No. Athletes might get a very small consideration w/r/t ECs at admission, but otherwise athletes are held to the same GPA expectations as everyone else.
I’m sure there are. But those individuals didn’t make it in without having a very strong upward grade trend, applying after a gap year (or 2 or 3 or 4), scoring high on the MCAT and probably only after completing a post-bacc program.
No. EMT classes aren’t included in your sGPA–which is where you need the help.
Also simply having taken EMT classes does nothing to enhance your med school application. You need to actually have worked as a paid or volunteer EMT for it to have any impact on your chances. Even then EMTs applying to med school are a dime a dozen.
Having EMT credentials and working as an EMT won’t make up for any kind of academic deficit. Med school use GPA + MCAT as an initial screening tool. If you don’t meet those initial standards, then your ECs won’t even get looked at.
What you need to do--
1) prioritize your academics. You need As in your science & math classes--and lots of them.
2) plan to apply to med school only after graduation. You need the extra time to improve your GPA and get your ECs in order.
3) think about doing an post-bacc to improve your GPA if you can't manage to get your GPA and sGPA into the 3.5--3.6+ range. You can do a formal post-bacc or do informal one by taking (and acing) tough upper division bio and chem classes. Things like embryology, immunology, neuroscience, pharmacology, anatomy, advanced biochem, Pchem... Generally speaking MD programs do not look at graduate degree GPA when making admission decisions-- except if you are in a SMP (Special Master's Program) at medical school.
4) consider applying to osteopathic med schools. Although DO programs no longer permit grad replacement, the metrics (GPA/MCAT) of DO schools are slightly lower than MD schools. (Mean GPA for DO med schools in 2016 was 3.6, mean MCAT was 500.)
@WayOutWestMom, you didn’t even touch the fact that OP is at a community college
I know @iwannabe_Brown , bit it is “the 4th best community college in the country”. 8-|