<p>To start my high school grades are NOT very good at all, will med school adcoms see my high school transcript?</p>
<p>Also, my first semster of college ended VERY BADLY for me...will one bad semester be enough to kill your chances of med school admissions?</p>
<p>No. Probably not, but depends on how bad.</p>
<p>im talking less than a 2.5 bad :(…i am doing MUCH better my second semester, however i am really worried if i can even be considered for top med schools…</p>
<p>As long as your grades go up and your GPA is respectable by the time you apply, I don’t see it being a big problem. You’ll need to have good essays, ECs, and reccs like anyone else, of course.</p>
<p>If someone is in a similar question should they not apply at the regular time after your junior year of college? Should they wait another year instead?</p>
<p>I don’t think you really need to make that decision in advance. If you don’t think you’re strong enough to apply Junior year, then wait a year and make your application stronger in the mean time. The only thing you need to watch is how old your MCAT scores are (has to be 3 years or less when applying).</p>
<p>would a 3.6 be a competitive gpa for med schools when I apply?</p>
<p>
Highly competitive if you’re a black applicant.
Competitive enough if you’re a white applicant.
Okay if you’re an Asian applicant.</p>
<p>It also depends on whether you’re an American citizen or international. Adcoms have a higher standard for internationals because the space for them is very limited.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Any evidence to support these two statements? In the past, many CC members here seemed to claim that there is no difference between a white applicant and an Asian American applicant (I assume here that you meant an “Asian American” applicant rather than an “Asian” applicant here), and they have the data (MCAT and GPA numbers) to support their claims.</p>
<p>BTW, achieving a 3.6 GPA in colleges (esp. competitive colleges and demanding majors) is generally more difficult than in high schools.</p>
<p>tompi90,
How is your second semester going? Did you get sufficient background in first semester to get better in 2nd. The first semester at D’s school had weed out Bio class that made good number of Honors students change their major. D commented that the class was a foundation for other Bio classes and it was important to 'get" the material, not only to make a decent grade.</p>
<p>Average GPA among eventual medical students:</p>
<p>3.68 Asian
3.69 White</p>
<p>[AAMC:</a> FACTS Table 19: MCAT Scores and GPAs for Applicants and Matriculants to U.S. Medical Schools by Race and Ethnicity](<a href=“http://aamc.org/data/facts/2008/mcatgparaceeth08.htm]AAMC:”>http://aamc.org/data/facts/2008/mcatgparaceeth08.htm)</p>
<p>This is despite the fact that disproportionate Asian candidates are from difficult states (e.g. CA), but it might be partly because Asian matriculants average one points more on the MCAT (approx 32 vs. 31). The disadvantage (CA) and the advantage (MCAT) appear to roughly cancel out, and thus GPA is neutral.</p>
<p>my 2nd semester is going better but not as well as i would like…is there way to overcome a bad year in college to adcoms? also if i get my gpa up to about 3.6, then should apply as a normal applicant as a junior or wait a year to apply?</p>
<p>tompi90,
I am not sure, if I got my point clear. Grades are only one side of the problem. The picture that I am getting from my D’s comments (finishing her sophomore year) is that material in higher level classes is based on good foundation from previous ones (at least in her Bio classes). You need solid knowledge in addition to solid grades to get better in second year and other years.</p>
<p>
Be better everywhere else.</p>
<p>
Depends on everything else.</p>
<p>Hate to be glib, but those are really the best answers.</p>