Med School Chances

<p>I'm a senior molecular and cellular biology major at Johns Hopkins. </p>

<p>GPA: 3.0</p>

<p>Haven't taken mcat yet. If I were to do med school, I'd take a year off and work in a lab as an assistant or something while I applied. </p>

<p>In a fraternity, play a sport, have participated in many community service events, research in an esteemed lab for a year. </p>

<p>Let me know if there's anything else I should include. </p>

<p>I basically want to know if it's worth even pursuing med school. I'd be fine going to any med school (ideally in a fun place to live). I've looked into Hawaii, the Caribbean, maybe Vegas? </p>

<p>Looking forward to your responses. Thanks</p>

<p>Bump!! Please respond</p>

<p>3.0 is not good. Only 19% of white applicants (correct me if I’m wrong), regardless of MCAT score, got accepted into any US MD school. To get above 50% chance, you need an MCAT score in the 97th percentile or higher: <a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/2012factstable25-4.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/2012factstable25-4.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I would go DO before I go caribbean MD (match rates for DO students are 85-90% compared to 40-45% for foreign MD).</p>

<p>You should look into a master’s program to try and raise your GPA.</p>

<p>UHawaii SOM does not accept OOS applicants. The UNevada SOM has 3 campuses and only 1 of them is in Vegas. (How do you feel about Elko?) UNSOM accepts <5 OOS applicants each year.</p>

<p>Thanks for your responses! Does it not make a difference which undergrad I’m coming from? </p>

<p>I have friends who have gone on to MIT physics phd programs with under 3.5 GPA from Hopkins because it’s known how unnecessarily difficult Hopkins undergrad is. </p>

<p>I’m very proud of my 3.0 and have worked hard for it. I’m technically in my third year of Hopkins but am graduating early for financial (among other) reasons. And plan on doing the HPSP for med school and entering the army after med school as an army doctor (ideally endocrinologist).</p>

<p>What can I do in my time off between Hopkins and med school (ideally 1 year) that can make me a stronger med school applicant? Aside from more school… Like a masters or postbac. I was looking into lab work or a research assistant?</p>

<p>Obviously I should aim for my best on the mcat but what score would make me a strong applicant for any med school?</p>

<p>I’m a Florida resident by the way.</p>

<p>What school you come from doesn’t matter enough to make up for a 3.0. Plenty of your pre-med classmates from JHU are getting GPAs of 3.6+. PhD programs are MUCH more focused on your research and LORs than your GPA so I’m not surprised that you have friends who have gone on to prestigious PhD programs with sub 3.5 GPAs. How many of your friends have gone to medical school with sub 3.5 GPAs? I already told you what kind of MCAT score you need, and while research does help, if the GPA isn’t high enough they won’t even look at the research etc. and a masters or postbac will probably include research as well.</p>

<p>The very first round of application review is a computerized screen of GPA and MCAT. 3.0 is definitely approaching (if not in) the territory of too low to make it past the screen. Even at UF, the average GPA for students is a 3.72 ([FAQ:</a> Frequently Asked Questions » Medical Admissions » College of Medicine » University of Florida](<a href=“FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions » FAQ » Medical Admissions » College of Medicine » University of Florida”>FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions » FAQ » Medical Admissions » College of Medicine » University of Florida)).</p>

<p>The people who are getting 3.5+ GPA from Hopkins are going to Harvard, Hopkins, or UCSF med. </p>

<p>I know a few people with sub 3.2 GPA from Hopkins who are now in med school.</p>

<p>I should have elaborated more (or maybe I misunderstand what your goals are). As I said in the first post, 20% of people with a GPA of 3-3.2 get into medical school somewhere so obviously you can get in, but I personally would want odds much higher than that before dropping a couple grand and many, many hours on applications. If your MCAT score is in the upper echelons (what was your SAT score? Your percentile is most likely going to be lower on the MCAT than the SAT), you can start to get your odds that you’ll get in from “unlikely” to “coin toss” to “good chance”. While you know a few people with sub 3.2 who got in, that outcome probably represents the minority of JHU applicants with sub 3.2. Trust me, plenty of kids from much more prestigious/difficult institutions than JHU struggle if they have a low GPA. Also, do you know their whole application?</p>

<p>Have you held leadership roles in your fraternity? I hope “play a sport” means varsity at least but hopkins is only D3 except lacrosse (which, if you are on the JHU lacrosse team, would be quite the nice touch to your application). Does community service events mean one off things with your frat or a long term volunteer position somewhere? Have you ever shadowed a physician or been involved in some sort of patient contact setting? Did you have your own project in the lab or were you more of an assistant? Have you ever held any leadership roles in your frat?</p>

<p>“Worth” is up to you. If I were in your shoes, I would want a higher GPA unless I had a 40+ MCAT (99.9+ percentile), and if I got an MCAT score like that, I’d probably still want a higher GPA so that I could go from targeting “any med school” to targeting “med schools I want.”</p>

<p>Thanks for the tips brown. I decided I’m going to look at Florida public schools to get my MS in biomedical sciences so I can be a more competitive med school applicant after. </p>

<p>Thoughts? Thanks in advance</p>

<p>Bump. Any responses?</p>

<p>doing a master’s (where you will still get to do research) sounds like a great idea.</p>