Are MD schools lenient towards undergrads with poor GPAs, like ~3.5, if the undergrad was in the active-duty military for 4 years in order to pay off the college tuition? If not, how can an undergrad working active-duty in the military in order to pay for the college tuition manage the stress?
I doubt it, personally. They have no need to lower their expectations for academic rigor and success because they all have far more applications than spots.
A 3.5 GPA will get you past the GPA screen at most medical schools. How well your application is received by adcomms will depend on the rest of the application, esp. your key pre-reqs course grades, your MCAT score and the quality of your ECs…
And some medical schools (particularly public schools in the South and USHSU) have a soft spot for veterans and are willing to be more lenient on GPAs.
A 3.5 GPA is the median GPA for osteopathic med school matriculants. So that’s an option to consider also.