How to compensate for Low GPA or low MCAT?

Ok, in case I don’t do extremely well in pre med for either my gpa or mcat, what kind of outside activities would be impressive? Research, volunteering, shadowing etc? I know a blend of all would be preferred, and I’m planning to do that but I’ve seen some threads when someone gets in with a 3.12 GPA but that they had 3+ years of research experience. How much does research (or volunteering and shadowing) affect admissions into med school? And I will definitely focus on my GPA first and get it do a 3.7+ if need be before I start doing research or anything like that.

Also I’m aware that I can do post bac and the like to compensate, but thats not what I’m asking. Also assuming that there is an upward trend

It depends how low the GPA and/or MCAT are. No ECs can compensate for low GPA/MCAT…unless you are URM, Olympic winner or significant publications (almost impossible for undergrad). And as a matter of fact, people got in with low stats are typically the ones struggled in med schools due to their weak science background/study habit.

Oh, one more bad news for you, you seems to be a CA resident. CA is one of the worst state when applying to med schools. Applicants with CA residence are expected to have even higher stats (GPA/MCAT) in order to get in somewhere.

Everything must be there. GPA AND MCAT AND medically related activities.
About 75% would be pre-meds never make it to the stage of med school application. Among those remaining, only 40% get even one admission. Some med schools admit 2-3% applicants only.
An algorithm cuts applicants based on GPA and MCAT. The applicant who can’t clear that bar doesn’t even have human eyes looking at their application.

Many of those with the low GPAs you see in the AAMC data sets are non-traditional students who left college, spent substantial time doing something else, then returned to college with new maturity and focus. They aced their new classes, but their old, poor grades pulled down their overall GPAs.

They are very few activities that will help compensate for a low-ish GPA and none that will compensate for a poor MCAT score. (A poor MCAT score mean you are high risk of failing your STEP exams and that’s a risk med schools are simply not willing to take.) As MYOS noted above, the first cut of applicant is done. by computer program and no human eyes actually review the application. However, assuming the GPA is high enough to pass the first screen, then exceptional ECs may make a difference between getting a interview and not getting one.

Research is not one of the ECs that will make a weak student acceptable to medical school admissions committees. Research experience is often over-valued by pre-meds. While medical schools expect some experience in research from applicants, research is not a high value EC at most medical schools.

Two activities that may get a weaker applicant additional consideration are a completed enlistment as active duty military (not in the reserves but regular military) or 3 years of service overseas with the Peace Corp. These activities won’t help you at all schools, but there are some medical schools that will give a veteran or Peace Corp alumnus a second look.

Caribbean medical schools.

^which don’t “count” as the odds of becoming a US doctor through one of those is exceedingly low.
(Specifying in case OP doesn’t get the sarcasm).
If you can’t get into an MD or DO school in the US, there are other paths to a medical career.

Well said by a med school AdCom on SDN regarding CA applicants:

There’s a saying that one’s stats will get one to the med school door, but it’s the rest of the app that will get one through. Med schools will first look at GPAs /MCAT to decide if an applicant can handle academics. Some med schools get 10-15K+ applicants to fill a class of say 200. In addition med school staffs tend to be quite small in number. With limited staff and time, it’s very, very unlikely they will read an app with low GPAs or low MCAT.

Med schools look for characteristics that they believe MDs should have (eg compassion, altruism, leadership, maturity, etc). So assuming one gets past a school’s academic concerns, ECs affect admissions if they help demonstrate that an applicant has characteristics that they believe an MD should possess. Research might be important if you’re targeting research schools, but most med students will end up in patient care. Research ECs are not going to awe most med schools who are geared to graduating MDs who will end up in patient care.

Med schools do like upward trends. S finished first year with GPAs below 3.2 and got in, but had to apply after he graduated in order to earn enough credits with As to help make himself competitive GPA wise. But that was a decade ago, probably at a time when admissions was merely crazy, now it’s seems med school admissions are beyond insane in terms of numbers applying and stats needed. When you start college, don’t dig yourself into a GPA hole and have to spend time repairing the damage. The need for grade repair tends to be a big reason why most premeds move onto their Plan Bs.

Don’t lock yourself into your room doing nothing but studying. It’s certainly okay to start little slowly, but get out have a college life, volunteer. ECs, especially those that put you in direct contact with people in need, spread out over time will help you look much more like a caring, compassionate person as opposed to trying to do nothing but keep GPA up, and then suddenly try to jam in some hours just before applying
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In another thread you talk about getting into FSU, UCF. Are you a Florida resident?

Try reading the tumbler by Afrenchie36. It starts when he’s a freshman getting his butt kicked in biology and he shows you how you get from that to a star med school applicant.