You should be aiming for 3.7 or better
Traditional unhooked applicants should aim for a 3.7+
Anything less is asking for trouble.
Unless you will have a 40 on Mcat, a 3.5 Gpa is most likely not to get you into ANY med school, let alone Harvard.
Not quite true @artloversplus
For white applicants with a GPA of 3.4-3.59 the overall admissions rate to medical school is 36%. If we start to stratify by MCAT score
49% for an MCAT of 30-32
62% for an MCAT of 33-35
74% for an MCAT of 36-38
79% for an MCAT of 39+
IWBB
This topic has been discussed. Published Mcat by AMCAS includes those non-traditional applicants. Traditional applicants have higher gpa requirements. I can feel that in my DD’s application this cycle.
To be safe, I think traditional applicants need 3.65 sgpa and 30+ mcat.
I was exaggerate a little bit, as OP was asking HSOM to begin with.
I understand your point and it’s a fair criticism. I don’t believe those applicants make up a large enough proportion to totally hand wave away the data though. 75% of med school students are under 24/25 (men/women) years old when matriculating. https://www.aamc.org/download/321468/data/factstable6.pdf
I completely agree with regard to Harvard though. 3.5 is well below their average.
We are also of course talking about only one semester of GPA though, right OP? It’s not like a 3.5 is a devastating start.
Right, it has only been one semester so far, but I was just wondering if 3.5 GPA will be enough to get into state schools like the University of Florida or the University of South Florida?
You can go to your college’s library or to the health professions advising office and look at the MSAR. MSAR will list the 10th, 50th and 90th percentile ranking for GPA for individual med schools.
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. 75% of med school students are under 24/25
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that would still include a good number of students who’ve done SMPs, post bacs or some other means of GPA repair. Even those who apply after senior year are often students who need that 4th year to do some GPA repair.
I would like to see the average GPA of 22 year olds (or younger)
Also… @iwannabebrown do we know if that avg GPA is cum? or BCMP? If it’s cum, then that can also “tell another story” if the avg BCMP is higher.
"it has only been one semester so far, but I was just wondering if 3.5 GPA will be enough "
- It is not a good idea to have GPA=3.5. Even with GPA=4.0, applicant will be rejected from many. My D. aimed at about 50% accptance. She got exactly that - 4 out of 8 applied. 1 - pre-interview rejection, 1 - completely ignored her application, like she never even applied there and 2 put her on the waitlist and she withdrew later. Her college GPA was 3.98, she had 3 A- in her Music minor, MCAT was 35. She had great number of Medical ECs, all long term, very good at interviews, she actually enjoyed them. She applied only regionally, but was accepted to 2 top 20s.
However, I believe that admission got more selective since 4 years ago.
@mom2collegekids, the 50th percentile is still 23, so of that 75%, only 1/3 (25% of total applicants) are people taking gap years - only some of which include SMPs/post-baccs (e.g. people like me who take a year off but just work so my GPA remained unchanged). The GPA numbers in the link I provide in post 123 is called “Total GPA” which on other tables (such as this one: https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/factstable17.pdf) is clear that it is cumulative (i.e. science + non science). What’s not entirely clear is if it’s undergraduate GPA only or if it includes SMPs/post-baccs. I suspect it does include SMPs/post-baccs but I can’t be 100%.
Also, any ideas of what I should be doing over this summer? I applied for a few places for research, but I don’t think I got accepted in them. This first year at college, I only had about 3-4 EC’s/Clubs and no research exp at all.
- physician shadowing
- clinical volunteering
- public contact service type job (employment is always a plus and it helps you develop interpersonal skills in working with both clients and supervisors)
Or some combination of the 3
Alright, I called my local hospital and they said that I could shadow some of the surgeons there in the OR, including orthopedic surgeons as well as general surgeons. However, I was wondering if I should be interning, and how I would go about getting an internship position?
AFAIK, unless you belong to some sort of under-represented in medicine group, there are no formal internships for pre-meds.
I am just curious what can you “intern” in a medical office other than admin work. You can’t help a surgeon open some one’s chest! Shadowing, yes.
The most research opportunities are going to be from your UG school. Unless you have exceptional skill, it’s hard to get outside research opportunities.
I agree that is probably difficult to get outside research opportunities as a freshman. However, if a student applies strategically to more than just a few programs, it is possible to secure positions in the years that follow. It’s not easy. It takes a great deal of time and effort. Try to secure the best possible GPA. Try to secure a volunteer lab position at your university this coming year. Then, apply early and take the applications and essays seriously. It can happen.
Also , I have a question. I know a bunch of seniors at my college that got into our Vanderbilt’s Med. School. Does that fact that I go here for UG inc. my chances at getting into its med school?
To go there would be a dream come true.
Nobody has answered my question yet, does that fact that I go to this school for UG increase my chances at getting into its med school ?