High MCAT Low GPA..what schools should I apply to

I’m not going to disagree with @blossom about the futility of applying over and over. Or the need for every pre-med to have a Plan B career option.

But about 1/3 of those accepted to med school every year are re-applicants. (i.e. they’ve applied previously and were rejected everywhere they applied). Reapplicants are expected to have improved their CV between rounds 1 and 2 of application, usually by taking one or more years to fix any weaknesses in their application. (Med school do hold onto old applications and will use them to compare the old application to the newer one.)

But you are correct that there is a limit to number of times one can reapply. Though there are always some vague and often apocryphal stories of someone who applied 7 times before getting an acceptance, most schools explicitly say they will only consider 2 or, at most, 3 applications from the same individual.

A Plan B career option is something every pre-med needs in their toolbox because life is unpredictable and until the first A comes, you’re not going to be doctor.

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I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but as far as I can tell, you are not ready for this coming app cycle. You should at least take one gap year, if not two to prepare for med school. You have to wait to get the fourth-year results to see if your gpa is improved. If not, you need to do some GPA repairs. SMP is a form of GPA repair, since you will be taking the first year medical school courses. If you got a C in Org, for example, its a good time to take it again in the gap year, you must get an A when you retake. You will need to get more clinical experience and shadowing, for DO schools, you need to shadow an independent DO doctor. DO school wants you to know about the osteopathic process BEFORE you apply. It is commonly a part of the interview. Whether you will practice osteopathic medicine is another matter.

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@artloversplus

The OP is a rising college senior and has said they don’t plan to apply until after graduation. They have a whole year of college left to improve their GPA/sGPA.

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The first couple of years of med school pretty much involves all science courses and has been described as having a fire hose (of science courses) hooked up to your mouth and turned on full blast. At the end of the second and the third year you will be taking important standardized tests (eg Step 1 and especially Step 2.). During your third year you’ll also be taking several standardized tests (shelf exams). Med schools look at an applicant’s GPAs and MCAT to help first convince them that an applicant can cut it academically in med school. Med schools don’t want students dropping out because of academics. In the last cycle there were +66K applicants with just over 22K starting in med school. Med schools can receive thousands, perhaps over 10k applicants, to fill a class of 100-200 students. Med schools use GPAs, MCAT to thin out the herd. As med school admission offices tend to be small in number, there’s no reason or time to go over thousands and thousands of ECs, LORs, PS, interviews (holistic review) if an applicant’s GPAs or MCAT create doubt about academics.

If you do well on MCAT, go ahead and apply to carefully chosen MD schools as it’s costly, but don’t rule out DO schools. S and DIL are both MDs. They work with DOs who are not only considered their equals, but are also fully licensed by the state as physicians and fully vetted by the group or hospital who hires you. If you become a DO, good chance your patients won’t know or care. Good luck

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Hello there - you’ve got a lot to be proud of. Getting a 517 on the MCAT is no easy feat. If you get a 517, this will certainly get noticed by the admissions committee.

Unlike college, med school admissions committees are less holistic. They first want to see the numbers. If you meet the basic thresholds (usually > 3.0 and 500) then you’ll typically be sent a II (secondary application), and those are read by people on the admissions committee. They then decide who to interview. After the interview is when the holistic decisions are made.

Your app will be scrutinized for the low GPA. They will especially want to know if 1) You really want to be a doctor and 2) If you can handle the rigor. Looks like you are addressing #1 by doing more shadowing and having more clinical experience, which is good. But for #2 you need to have a compelling story.

AMCAS calculates GPA based on all of the courses you’ve taken as an undergraduate. Your cumulative and science GPA will be the most important. Note that repeats, failures and incompletes also are incorporated into the AMCAS GPA.

Have you thought about delaying your graduation? Once you complete your degree, any courses afterwards will not be counted towards your undergrad GPA. One possibility is to extend your graduation date, while taking GPA boosting classes. These would count towards your undergrad GPA.

Other options mention above include a SMP or post-bacc. But note that these GPAs are treated separately.

This isn’t exactly correct.

Any additional undergrad classes taken post-graduation will be included in all AMCAS, ACOMAS, and TMDSAS cGPA/sGPA calculations.

(It’s easy to enroll as a non degree-seeking student at most public Us if one wants t take additional undergrad classes.)

ACOMAS includes both undergrad and grad classes in all GPA calculations.

Thank you for the correction. I think what I meant to say is that the undergrad GPA from the college where he/she graduates from will carry the most weight. Taking undergrad classes after graduation (as a DIY) isn’t given as much weight by the admissions readers. Well except for the post-baccs with linkage – doing well there (ie 4.0) can really help a lot.

If however, the degree can be postponed (for 1-2 semesters) then it is possible to increase the undergrad GPA before graduation. This might mean taking 9 or 10 semesters to graduate instead of the normal 8. If this brings up the cGPA to 3.7 and sGPA to 3.5, this might make the candidate more appealing. But waiting until after graduating and then taking classes afterwards might not have the same sway.

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With a high MCAT and low GPA, consider schools with a holistic review process or DO programs, which might focus more on your MCAT score. For GPA details, try using a CGPA To Percentage converter at: https://cgpatopercentage.org/.