I’m curious on how top 20 set standards when reviewing GPAs. (I don’t plan on applying to top 20 medical schools for the sake that they’re top 20, but I believe there is nothing wrong with preparing for them in case I wish to apply to one of those schools. In that case, I will be prepared)
How differently do medical schools look at science versus overall GPA? What’s considered acceptable for each one?
How do they consider GPAs from grade deflation schools?
What is the per race GPA for one given school (or where could I find this. AAMCA gives one for all medical schools, but I feel like it would differ based on top medical schools vs a state one, for example)?
Does GPA really get better as you get older? 1st semester actually went really well for me, but 2nd semester isn’t looking as promising right now. I know there are less weed outs as you go into the upper level courses but the topics are also harder.
other pre-med topics:
1.) how do medical schools look at strength of schedule. Compared with other pre-meds I know, my schedule is definitely one of the hardest and most work intensive (it might be out of the entire freshman class), and I feel that may be hurting my GPA. does it look bad if I take obvious easy A courses (intro level languages, low level stats course for the stats “requirement” (it’s actually recommended), etc)?
-by hurting I mean the schedule is doable it’s just I’m not spending as much time on some classes as I would like
Each school has a proprietary way of doing this. So each school will be different. Also proprietary means private—so this information would not be available publicly. (Exception: Some schools will make their applicant scoring rubrics available to applicants/failed applicants at in-person, school-based events. The schools that do this are typically state public med schools. Private med school tend to use a more holistic evaluation process which is less…numerical.)
Some medical schools may have posted minimum GPAs for admissions. The minimums are often fairly low–3.2 or 3.0. They are low so they don’t screen out special circumstances applicants. Achieving the minimums may or may not put any given student’s application into serious admission consideration.
Well, to quote one adcomm on SDN, “maybe not if you’re an aerospace engineering major at MIT,” but otherwise, all GPAs are created equal. But med schools that frequently draw applicants from certain feeder schools are aware of grading policies at those feeders.
These data are not available on a school by school basis.
Maybe. Or maybe not. Student dependent. Some students only get stronger as they get into upper level coursework; some sink.
It’s considered, but how much weight it holds will depend on school-specific policies. And how good–or bad–your GPA is. Best option—take a hard schedule and keep a high GPA. (And the truth is—there will be plenty of applicants who do manage this.)
Only if your schedule is full of easy As every semester. No one is going to hold it against a student for taking one fluff class if they have 3 other intense sciences classes with labs. But if you’re taking 2 easy As almost every semester–that’s problematic.