Medical School, Science GPA

Hello! So I have a GPA question, I recently found out for med school that they look at science GPA too (I just switched to pre-med). I think people usually have a better overall GPA than science GPA, but for me it’s the other way around. If I have an A average for me pre-med classes could that help make up for a low GPA (~3.0 but from a top 10 university)??? Also I took most of the science classes later so that shows improvement? My cumulative GPA isn’t so grade b/c grade deflation and I had some mental health breakdowns during the middle of my college experience, a big reason was sexual assault/rape, something I rarely ever disclose, but since this is an anonymous site… Anyway, any feedback or responses would be super awesome, thank you!! I’m looking for anything I can do to offset my low cumulative GPA.

You should complete all your premed classes before saying you have a 4.0 in sgpa.
Sorry about your rape problem, that will do you in for the worst. And I am sorry that you have a 3.0 gpa which is not med school worthy. Perhaps like MWOM stated, a 521(100%) in Mcat may make up some thing.

D was graduated from top 5 school with 3.5 gpa and 34Mcat, but she did not get into ANY MD schools, no II from MD schools either, she is an OMS3 now.

Unfortunately, a below 3.2 GPA will probably get you auto-screened out at most medical schools.

And I agree with the poster above who says it’s too soon to say your sGPA is 4.0–you haven’t taken enough science classes yet for it to be a good measure.

However, if you can demonstrate a strong upward trend grade-wise (near 4.0 performance in everything) for at least 2 academic years while taking a full load of tough upper level sciences, that together with a strong MCAT may make you a viable candidate at your in-state public med school(s), at those medical schools that reward re-invention and at most osteopathic med schools.

When and if you get to the point of applying to medical school, you will have an opportunity to explain why your earlier grades are not terrific. You can disclose what happened to you–or not–your choice.

Med school admissions really doesn’t consider the prestige of your undergrad nor alleged grade deflation at various schools. The MCAT is the great equalizer when it comes to GPA.

And if you do decide to pursue medicine, you need to know that admission is more than just taking the right classes and the MCAT. You need to demonstrate a passion & commitment for the field through your ECs. All pre-meds are expected to have community service with the less fortunate, physician shadowing in a variety of specialties, clinical experience, demonstrated leadership and, if possible, laboratory or clinical research. Some med schools like to see teaching/TA/coaching experience too.

A career in medicine doesn’t automatically mean becoming a physician. There are dozens of other healthcare professions that don’t involve med school.

Here’s a website to help you research other healthcare careers: [Explore Health Careers](https://explorehealthcareers.org/)

And if you can’t redeem your GPA during undergrad and still wish to pursue medicine, there are post bacc programs that can help you improve your chance for a med school acceptance. In particular, consider doing a SMP, Special Master’s Program, which a graduate program that is essentially the first year of med school classes. If you do well (GPA 3.8+, top 1/3 of the class) you may have a chance at gaining a med school admission.

BTW, medical school does consider grade deflation in top schools. On my D’s UG website, it is stated:

"The mean GPA nationally for applicants accepted into MD programs in 2016 was 3.70. The mean GPA of xxU students accepted into MD programs in 2016 was 3.58. Specific to the sciences, the mean accepted science GPA nationally was a 3.64 and the mean xxU science GPA was a 3.51. It is clear from those results that the medical schools are valuing the rigor of the xxU experience when they consider candidates. "

As you can see, top school graduates do get a slight advantage in Gpa, but not by a large margin.

It is advised that a premed track students should not attend a top University as you are competing with the best of the best. As a result, it is likely that you cannot get a med school worthy Gpa. It is the best to attend a college that you are the top 25% of the entering freshman, 10% would be even better.

Depression is a common cause of lower GPA, if happens, its better to take a gap year to take care of it before it effects your performance. An analogy is that if a Brain Surgeon had a depression, he ignores it and go ahead to do a surgery anyway. The patient eventually died because his mistake, who is going to blame? The depression?