<p>Hey,
What are some medical schools that are "easy" to get into. I know they are all definitely not easy, but there has to be a hierarchy of selectivity, with Havard, Hopkins, Washu at the top I am assuming. What are some you have a shot at with a 3.4 or 3.5 GPA</p>
<p>no medical schools are easy, but your best chance would probably be at your state school</p>
<p>There are 125 medical schools in the country. For every WashU (with a median MCAT score of 37), there is a school with an MCAT score in the low 20s. The same holds true of GPA, where half of students with a 3.6 GPA are rejected (meaning half are accepted somewhere). Morehouse in Atlanta has an average science GPA of 3.11. The Universidad del Caribe has an overall GPA median of 3.31. Meharry Medical school has a median science GPA of 2.93. (A complete list of this information is available in a book: the MSAR, available on Amazon for $25.)</p>
<p>I am not encouraging you to apply to these schools - in fact, most of them have very specific types of applicants in mind. What I am trying to argue is twofold:
(1) Medical school is about more than just GPA.
(2) You don't just want to look for an easy medical school to get into, any more than you should enter the job market looking for an easy job, enroll in a community college simply because you know you'll get in, or propose to a girl only because she'll say yes.</p>
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<p>The above is all irrelevant to most candidates. On a more relevant note, your admission depends largely on many other factors:</p>
<p>Undergraduate institution:
Among premeds at my school, the average - not the low end, but the average - GPA for a student about to enter med school is actually a 3.54, in which case a 3.4 or a 3.5 has you very well qualified for medical school in general.</p>
<p>MCAT score:
Many places will consider this roughly equal in weight to your GPA - although, of course, an MCAT score that's too high might make you look lazy. Still, on the whole, a good problem to have.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Even at the top few med schools, some kids get in with GPAs below average. This is largely because these schools emphasize research and clinical experience at the undergraduate years. They need to know that your intellectual and emotional attachment to being a doctor is not merely "hypothetical".</p>
<p>To add to the list, teacher recommendations, family background (race, obstacles you had to overcome), your essays, your personal statement, any other education you might have, how much you want to be a doctor - all of these things matter a great deal. If you have a deficiency in one area, you can often make up for it in another.</p>
<p>The question is twofold: are you sure you can handle it? And how badly do you want it? A compelling answer to both of those questions - an answer that you can convince other people of - is the underlying philosophy of admissions at any level.</p>