Do I Have a Chance?

I am currently a sophomore at private college with a GPA of 3.33. (my gpa is this low due to a dual-enrollment class I took in my senior year of highschool which was college algebra. I regret it a lot #-o ) I have already taken:

College Algebra: 2.0
Applied Calculus: 3.5
Bio 1 : 3.0
Chem 1: 2.5
Chem 2: 3.5
Medical Terminology: 2.5
Physics 2: 4.0

I also took many other classes for my undergrad pre-reqs and I am currently taking Human A&P 1, Organic Chem 1, and Statistics. I am doing pretty well in all and expect a 3.5 if not a 4.0 in these classes. I’ve been also wondering if I should retake College Algebra, Chem 1, and Medical terminology. I am not really sure how retakes work but I want to know if it would be worth it. Any help would be great! Thanks!

Medical terminology isn’t an important class for med school admission. Don’t bother re-taking it. Also, medical terminology doesn’t count as a BCMP class and isn’t included in your sGPA.

Osteopathic medical schools (DO) and allopathic medical schools (MD) handle re-take differently.

DO programs allow re-takes and will only use the newest grade when calculating your GPA/sGPA for you med school application.

MD programs will include every class (both the original and the retake) when calculating your GPA/sGPA for medical school admission. The net effect of a retake is your grades will be averaged and counted as having twice the credit hours. Also for retake, any grade other than an A is counted as a major strike against you.

Is applied calculus that same as Calc 1? Why don’t you have Physic 1? (DO and MD programs require 2 semesters of physics with lab for admission. If you received advanced standing due to AP/IB/DE credit, does that credit appear on your transcript? If not, then you’ll need another semester of physics.)

What is your overall GPA, including all your classes that you’ve taken so far?

Your current sGPA (calculated without med terminology since it’s not BCMP class) is < 3.0–and this is really too low to be considered by any med school. However, if you can get demonstrate a very strong upward trend in your grades (gotta be all As from here out, no B or even B+ grades) and score in the top 10% on the MCAT, you may have a chance at some MD programs. A safer path would be to retake chem 1 and college algebra and plan on applying to DO programs, assuming you keep earning A/A- grades in all your science classes.

You need to plan to apply to med school after college graduation and take 1 or 2 gaps years so that you’ll have time to improve your sGPA. If you can’t get your sGPA to 3.5 or higher, you need to consider doing a grade-enhacing post-bacc or SMP.

Have you been working on your ECs? Do have any research, physician shadowing, community service, clinical volunteering? Have you held any leadership positions in any of your activities?

Your ECs are just as important as your grades and test scores for med school admission. Without them your application won’t even get read.


tl;dr-- You still have a chance, but you're going to have work very, very hard to develop a competitive application. And you're going to need to take 1-2 gap years after graduation before you apply and may need to do a post-bacc.

I also strongly suggest you think hard about a Plan B in case you can't get your sGPA >3.5. Every pre-med needs a Plan B.

There’s really no way to give you even a half way decent answer. First of all your one DE course is not the reason for your 3.33GPA. Med schools will know you took it in hs, but your 3.5 in Calc is a positive. Unlike hs/college GPA, your med schools grades will be sliced and diced into a science GPA (sGPA) which includes all bio, chem, physics and math (including DE)college courses (BCPM); an all other (AO) GPA which includes all non sci college courses; and a cumulative GPA (cGPA). The sGPA and cGPA are most important. All GPAs will be calculated by each year and cumulatively. So you can recalculate your GPAs into a sGPA and cGPA for your freshman year and ask your question again but it’s just one year, hardly enough for someone to venture an answer about your chances without a MCAT score, ECs, etc. If it offers you some hope, S finished first year of college with sGPA and cGPA below 3.2 and is currently a resident although in interest of full disclosure he did have to wait until end of senior year to apply in order to take enough units to repair his slow GPA start. Good luck.

What do you do in a class called “Medical Terminology?”

@iwannabe_Brown

I looked up several course descriptions and they all look something like this one offered by UFL’s online program—

It’s required course for medical transcriptionists, medical office assistants, medical scribes, health insurance claims processors, etc.

Thanks, that definitely sounds like a class I would NOT recommend for pre-meds.