<p>… if you still want to go to med school, if you majored in hard sciences like biochem, and if your BCPM GPA is the main thing that’s holding you back (3.5~3.6) (though it’s not to say that your ECs and other things are amazing but just decent), I heard that there are two options:</p>
<li>Do a masters.</li>
<li>Do postbacc.</li>
</ol>
<p>But option 1 useless because courses in masters degree don’t count towards undergrad BCPM GPA.
Postbacc wouldn’t be that helpful either because the number of courses you can take is small and so even if you aced postbacc courses, your 3.5 BCPM GPA will increase by little, to 3.7 at maximum. So if you want to increase undergrad BCPM GPA up to 3.8, then wouldn’t it be best to do a second science major (in something else other than the first major: biochem), which would enable you to take loads of additional science courses enough to raise your GPA from 3.6 to 3.8?</p>
<p>Both premises are wrong. BCPM GPA isn’t split into undergrad/graduate; it’s just reported as one joint number. Moreover, the difference between 3.5 and 3.7 is gigantic. It’s not a linear function.</p>
That’s what I heard. Btw, this is the first time I witness BDM giving an inaccurate info. I thought he always said the right things. lol</p>
<p>
I haven’t taken the MCAT yet, but let’s just say that I would get a 35. I go to a public school in Canada. In addition, I’m East Asian so I need to get a much higher GPA, like 3.8.</p>
<p>I apologize; I wrote too hastily. Shraf is right and I am wrong.</p>
<p>However, I maintain that I’m right at the bottom line: graduate programs DO matter. What I should have said is that “While it does get split, the overall unsplit number is what matters.”</p>
<p>If you have a 3.5 and a decent MCAT score, you shouldn’t be doing graduate programs or post-bacs in the first place. If you are not getting into med school with those stats, then it’s because there’s a deficit in some other aspect of your application.</p>
<p>If you are looking to improve your GPA, do a Special Master’s Program where you take med school courses. That’s by far the best way to prove to adcoms that you are ready for the academic rigor of med school.</p>
I thought that was the case only for US students. I’m an international. What’s worse is that my ethnicity is East Asian so I need a much higher GPA (~3.8), don’t I?</p>
<p>still wrong…there is no “overall unsplit number” on the AMCAS application </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>this isn’t completely correct. graduate (non-SMP) programs give you some good experiences but they will never make up for poor undergraduate GPA. One of my interviewers told me this flat out too. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>hahaha…sure, assume away but i won’t assume that because it is very hard to get a 35…you’ll find out later</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>this is by far the absolute biggest disadvantage in med school admissions.</p>
<p>That’s because graduate programs are very grade inflated. Getting a 3.8 or 3.9 is not very hard and thus does not really prove anything to adcoms.</p>
Have they removed this? There certainly was when I was applying; it really annoyed me, actually, because graduate programs are grade inflated (see NCG, #9) and I wished that the split numbers were more prominent.</p>
<p>The “AMCAS GPA”, three years ago, was all-inclusive. Is that no longer the case?</p>
<p>it isn’t…the GPA table is split into these rows:
High School
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Postbaccalaureate Undergraduate
Cumulative Undergraduate
Graduate
Supplemental Hours [P/F and AP classes]</p>
<p>and these columns:
BCPM
AO [All Other]
Total</p>
<p>…btw i had never noticed the “High School” part before…i guess that answers all the “am i screwed cause i got a D in a college class in HS” questions</p>
<p>I’m confused about this thread. Why are we dealing with hypothetical first-round rejections, hypothetical graduate programs, and a hypothetical MCAT score? We’ve gotten to so many layers of speculation that nothing we say can possibly be helpful anymore.</p>
<p>What stage are you actually at? Have you taken an MCAT? Have you applied and been rejected? Thinking eight steps ahead when 90% of people aren’t even going to get to step 2 doesn’t make any sense.</p>
<p>^I’m going to be a senior in September, with a BCPM GPA of 3.5. The best BCPM GPA I can graduate with is ~3.6, which is considered low for someone who is both international and Asian. I’m going to take the MCAT in the beginning of next year so I’ll be applying after taking a year off.
I just want to know ahead of time what my best option is before all the hypotheticals become a reality.</p>
<p>
Does the above still apply to someone like me? A 3.5 would certainly be considered decent only if you were a US non-Asian student, right? So I’m wondering if I should still consider NCG’s option, or rather choose to do a postbacc, masters, or another science major to boost my BCPM.</p>