<p>Well I'm going to be a Junior when I transfer to U of I at Urbana-Champaign from a Community College. My GPA there is 3.17 (OUCH!). Do I have ANY chance at geting in to a medical school if I maintain my GPA around 3.8 at UIUC?</p>
<p>Yes. 3.17 isn't all that bad.</p>
<p>gpa range:</p>
<p>4.0 - super
3.8 - great
3.6 - really good
3.4 - good
3.2 - pretty good
3.1 - getting low
3.0 - don't go lower!
below 3.0 - I hope you had a backup career</p>
<p>......a 3.8 sounds more like the kind of gpa you want for medical school patel. imho, you should be concerned about the 3.17 gpa and should reeeeally work hard and bring it up (and a 3.17 from a cc isn't helping either).</p>
<p>Uh, I think it depends on how you define a 'good' GPA to be, but I would say that a 3.17 would be very difficult to overcome. </p>
<p>For example, let's say that you did indeed manage to get a 3.8 for your last 2 years. Your cumulative GPA (including all 4 years of undergrad) would then be only about a 3.5. For point of comparison, premeds from MIT who successfully got into at least one med-school had an average GPA of 3.7/4. Yeah, that's right, got admitted at least one med-school, which means that the rejected MIT premeds (which were many) were rejected at every single med-school they applied to. Every single one. </p>
<p>Now obviously there's a chance you could absolutely slamdunk your MCAT. But to be perfectly honest, your chances of getting into med-school are not strong. </p>
<p>And finally, this is a bit OT, and I don't mean to come off as churlish, but the fact that you managed to get admitted as a transfer into UIUC with only a 3.17 from a CC, well, it seems to me that at least in UIUC's case, transfer admissions are a rather serious backdoor. I don't want to call you out, Mr. Patel, but honestly, you're making me lose respect for UIUC. A 3.17 from a CC is not very hard to get at all, and yet UIUC would still take it? Hmmm.</p>
<p>there are some good CCs out there too...</p>
<p>Grade Point Average
Most of the admissions officers we surveyed placed GPA at or near the top of their rankings of selection factors. In assessing your GPA, admissions committees look at two different values: your science GPA and your overall GPA. While the science GPA has traditionally been the more important of the two, the movement toward recruiting a more well-rounded student body has increased the importance of the nonscience GPA.</p>
<p>In general, successful applicants have very high GPAs, and your cumulative average is likely to have a large impact on where you are admitted. In recent years, the mean GPA of accepted students has been a little over 3.4 (out of 4.0), and almost fifty percent had a GPA of 3.5 or above. Barely two percent of accepted students had a GPA of 2.5 or under. Most students who are admitted with substandard GPAs are chosen because admissions committees recognize either mitigating factors that adversely affected the GPA (such as an educationally disadvantaged background) or significant and progressive improvement of grades in the upper-class years. Medical schools can also be swayed by an exceptional performance on the MCAT.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>and to say something too, having your gpa at 3.8 or higher will show improvement too</p>
<p>improvement is good, but #'s matter so much for med school, it could be what keeps you out. But not even a 4.0 is a garuntee, that MCAT is so deadly important. So study your hiny off if you want a chance.</p>
<p>sakky: Thanks for your honest response. But there are other factors that contribute to one's admission to a school. For example, I was a very bad student in High School, my ACT was 14...then I attended a CC and and the first year I took almost ALL developmental courseslike developmental math, chemistry, english etc. So I was well behind all the other student of my age. My GPA there was 2.86. Than I moved to aother CC college, my current one, my GPA here at this school is 3.49 (all the college courses not one developemental course). So that averages my GPA to 3.17 (and this was when I applied for UIUC). Right now I'm taking Calc I, PHY I and BIO II and I willl get B, A, and A, repectively. That should raise my GPA at my last colllege to 3.94 and my Cumulative GPA to 3.41(which is not that impressive either but its a big improvement. I think colleges look for improvement when selecting students. And I think I showed tremendous improvement over that 2 year span right after High School.</p>
<p>I think the issue is med schools want high gpa's, and your past is going to be a detterent no matter what med school it is, a public state school or harvard</p>
<p>I think celebrian25 really hit it on the head. The fact is, med-school adcoms are pretty cold and merciless. You either have the numerical qualifications (read: GPA and MCAT) that they want, or you don't. And if you don't, they don't really want about hear why you don't. If you don't have those numerical qualifications, then that's really the end of the story as far as most med-school adcoms are concerned.</p>
<p>If you don't believe me, then just look at those MIT premed statistics, and you will notice that med-schools routinely reject boatloads of MIT premeds who have done well, despite the fact that we all know how difficult a school MIT is. So if med-schools aren't going to give MIT premeds any quarter, do you really think they are going to give much quarter to you? Be honest with yourself. </p>
<p>Now is that fair? Is that just? Probably not. But it doesn't matter whether it's fair or just. It is what it is. Hey, I think it's tremendously unfair that somebody who takes an extremely difficult major like EE at MIT gets screwed when it comes to med-school admissions because he had to work far harder for lower grades than a lot of other people who did manage to get into med-school, guys who took easy, grade-inflated classes in which they can barely show up and still get top grades. But fairness has nothing to do with it. </p>
<p>Look, I don't want to be unduly harsh. But I would have to say that unless you absolutely crush your MCAT, you may have to admit to yourself that med-school just may not be in the cards for you. I don't want you to give up hope, and I don't want to be negative, but you shouldn't fool yourself into thinking that the odds aren't long. They are.</p>
<p>I know you know your stuff, sakky, but where do I find the MIT premed stats? Thanks. I just want to look at it so I know how hard I'll have to work to get to that level.</p>
<p>Sure we would like the world to be completely fair, but it isn't. MCAT and your gpa are the two most important factors at every single med school. Every single one. Improvement is grand and all, but it isn't going to make a huge difference in the long run. Your accumulative is not going to get where it needs to be to be competetive, not with a 3.8+. Who even says you can get a gpa that high? You haven't proven it in hs or at the cc, once you're in a reg. university, are you going to be motivated enough to get that 3.8, because your past is showing a different trend. As bad as all this seems, med school is something you have to work your butt off for, and it's better you know the possibility you might not make it, then have this dream that you will when it is very unrealistic.</p>
<p>Only MCAT and and the GPA? What about the EC's? What if I have tons of those as well? Say I average 3 A's per every B each of the remaining 4 semester; that would give me a gpa of 3.75 at UIUC. And my CC GPA will be 3.41 after this semester is over. That makes my cumulative GPA 3.58. And I have looked at the Best Grad School by US NEWS and most schoos have their student's GPA pretty close to it. So I like my chances if I can DO what I'm saying I will.</p>
<p>sure they look at other factors, but it's undeniable how important gpa/mcat scores are</p>
<p>Some Medical Schools don't even require the MCAT. And some undergraduate schools have programs that guarantee an admission to a Medical school by maintaining a certain GPA. (i.e. UIC's GPPA)</p>
<p>The MIT premed stats were available in my older post in this thread. I reproduce it here:</p>
<p>Now, it is true that a few rare US medical schools do not require the MCAT. But honestly, I would not bank on those. In fact, to be honest, I think your chances of getting admitted into those schools is even worse. Think of it this way. For the vast majority of med-schools that do require the MCAT, you at least have a chance of doing well on the MCAT and thereby staying alive in the admissions process. Do you really think those rare med-schools that don't require the MCAT are going to be easy for you to get into? If anything, they will be even harder for you. All med-schools use some set of criteria to determine who they are going to admit. If you take away one data point (i.e. the MCAT), that just makes all the other data points more important. So if you apply to a med-school without taking the MCAT, then that only makes your GPA even more important. And to be honest, your GPA is low for a prospective medical student. Heck, what you really want is a medical-school that completely ignores GPA and looks only at the MCAT. I don't think that one exists in the US. </p>
<p>{In fact, I had a rather eerily similar discussion with somebody just the other day about a similar situation. This person was doing rather poorly on homeworks and on the first midterm exam - but this person then said that he didn't want to take the final exam for the class (the final exam was optional). It was one of the most foolish things I had ever heard. If this person cared about getting a good grade, then not only should this person want to take the final exam, this person should want the final exam to count for as much of the final grade as possible. Heck, this person should want his entire grade determined by the final exam. By waiving the final, he was simply passing up an opportunity to pull up his grade}. </p>
<p>And yes, there are special undergrad programs like the GPPA that guarantee medical-school admission to those undergrads who are admitted into the program and then maintain a certain level of academic performance. These are generally known as combined BS/MD programs - where you get admitted into a special and highly selectivel program as a freshman can study all the way through to your MD. But, not to be churlish, but so what? What does that have to do with your situation? Were you admitted into one of these special programs? You weren't, so why are we talking about them? They have nothing to do with you and your situation. You were not admitted into one of these programs, and not to be harsh, but you never will be. They only admit freshmen, or (extremely rarely) new transfers, but certainly not transfers of transfers.</p>
<p>Now, if you really do what you say you're going to do, do you have a shot? Sure. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Pulling top grades at UIUC is not going to be a walk in the park by any means. And even if you do manage to do it, you still run the significant risk of getting rejected by every med-school you apply to. Look at the MIT premed link and you will see that some MIT premeds with straight A's still got rejected by every single med-school they applied to. </p>
<p>Finally, about EC's. Yes, they are quite important. But again, ask yourself honestly, do you think you're going to have time to do lots of EC's and still pull the grades you're talking about? If you can really do that, then, that's a feather in your cap. Yet you must agree that that's a long and harsh road.</p>
<p>Just look at the MIT premed link that I posted. The GPA of the average MIT premed who successfully got into at least one med-school was 3.7/4. Even with your best effort, you yourself admit that you will only get about a 3.6, which is a lower GPA than that of those successful MIT premeds, and obviously you would not be coming from a school that is as reputable as MIT. So explain to me again why you like your chances?</p>
<p>Mr. Patel, we simply want you to be realistic about your chances, optinism is a good thing, but you're being a bit too idealistic about the situation. We are simply telling you what we know is true- getting into med school can't be done just because you want to, you have to prove you belong.</p>
<p>instead of asking us about your chances, i suggest you hit the books hard man. don't be disheartened about all this negative/realistic talk; it actually should get ur adrenaline going. keep in mind the stuff they said about gpa and mcat scores. remember, the med school applicant pool is extreeeemely competitive, so push yourself like anything and get yourself into a med school.</p>
<p>I have to concur with celebrian25. The med-school admissions process is tremendously cold and ruthless. The fact is, every year, lots of people who worked extremely hard for all 4 years of college and have strong numbers and EC's apply to med-school, yet still get rejected by every single med-school they apply to. What makes you any different?</p>
<p>Look, I agree with celebrian25 that optimism is a good thing, bu you gotta be realistic. You gotta see the world the way it is, not the way you want it to be. Med-school admissions is difficult for anybody, and especially for somebody like you. Do you still have a shot at getting in? Sure you do. But you should understand the odds.</p>
<p>I'd also say it's a longshot. I suggest you look at Guadalajara (<a href="http://www.uag.mx/medicine/default.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.uag.mx/medicine/default.html</a>) or perhaps at St. George's (<a href="http://www.sgu.edu/nhome.nsf/indexm?open&top=med%5B/url%5D">http://www.sgu.edu/nhome.nsf/indexm?open&top=med</a>)</p>