@colleg2017 - one of our friends’ DD was accepted to UPitt GAP couple of years ago and she is doing well there. I believe maintaining high GPA is not a challenge at UPitt, or in other words, it is not known for grade deflation which is a huge concern for pre-meds. Not sure about CWRU. You might want to find out so you can decide based on opportunity to succeed as pre-med. UPitt has a lot of nearby opportunities for shadowing, volunteering and research. My understand is that CWRU is not as well-situated as UPitt. Again, you might want to find out more.
Last year I had 3 hours on a Sunday and drove thru CWRU and I think within a mile the famous Cleveland Clinic is there. So that can be tapped for all medical EC. Also few of the students from bay area who are studying in CWRU, normally do the medical EC back here during summer. So I think it should not be that bad for that aspect in CWRU.
@srk2017 @Mimic17 @BS_MD2017 and others congrats on BS MD admission.
@Mom22DDs thanks a lot for your feedback. we have made sure improving GPA is our top priority.
Can I get some opinions here? I’m currently a junior and the past couple of posts have reiterated that GPA is a very big factor for these programs. 5 years ago, my sister was accepted to the Villanova/Drexel program (now discontinued) with a 2250 SAT, 4.4 GPA, created the operation smile club, played 2 varsity sports, and zero research experience. I have about the same ec’s as she does but the difference is that her unweighted is higher. She finished with a 3.94 but I will finish with a 3.8… However our weighted GPA’s are the same, and my school only reports weighted. Just in terms of the GPA aspect, will they value me any less than her?
@pillow56 - BSMD programs are getting more competitive each year (ex: Case Western got 2200 applications this year vs 1700 last year). 3.8 is low for most top to mid tier schools unless you have extremely strong ECs.
@pillows56 - I’d agree with @srk2017 . I would also recommend being involved in good medical related ECs, even if you are not into research. With the programs getting more competitive, ECs are the differentiating factor when everyone that applies has high GPA and strong stats. Our limited experience is that medical ECs are given consideration, especially in interviews.
@srk2017 @Mom22DDs i understand, the whole medical ec’s aspect is a great determining factor, but just for GPA, what if my school doesn’t specifically report unweighted? I will have a 4.4 weighted at a top 5 hs in Pennsylvania… so will they look at my transcript, unweight my GPA, then evaluate me with everyone else? I’m not sure how it works
@pillows56 - My understanding is that each college uses its own calculation for GPA based on grades (A, A- etc.) reported on your transcript (some also calculate Science GPA and/or MPCB -Math, Phy, Chem, Bio- GPAs in addition to overall GPA) and use this calculated GPAs to evaluate applicants uniformly. We tried to find out if many schools use weighted GPA, and it seems like most use unweighted GPAs really, except for some schools in Florida.
@pillow56 FYI, Drexel/Drexel BS/MD program application specifically asks for unweighted Science GPA. You may have to calculate yourself or ask your school guidance counselor to calculate it for you.
Some schools may give preference to in-state applicants. Most high school students attend college with 50 miles of their home (statistics).
@pillows56, with my DS experience I have understood that even if Highschool reports only weighted GPA, they’ll mention that it is weighted GPA. Colleges definitely look at the transcripts, and they will see the unweighted. Weighted GPA varies from school to school. Some of PA schools, high achievers will have weighted GPA 5.5-5.6. I think unweighted GPA carries great value with BS/MD process.
@pillows56, another place where the colleges will know the difference is in common application. Few BS/MD programs like Penn State and Pitt don’t use common app. Most of the programs do. Common app specifically asks students to fill in unweighted GPA and weighted GPA. So, even before school sends report, the comparison is made weighted to weighted.
@pillows56 You are asking the right question. But you will never get the right answer because no one knows what each college will do. Every one knows, every school is different (in terms of quality) and each school differs in their reporting (UW or W). In general tilt goes towards UW because, W is so hard and involves so many variations. For example, what is W, do you include any Honors and AP or just AP or do you include all HS years or include only 10 & 11th or do you have any cap like only for 8 courses will give W etc etc. Since every school have their own rule, it will become insane for every college to understand individual school reporting and bring some std in their evaluations. Overall the system works, and all colleges use some magic formula to understand/evaluate the variations of 40000 schools reports.
Do your best in the current semester and increase the odds to get in to some program. GL
@pillow56 I think that it also helped my dc to go to every single presentation from the schools that had identified as bs/md programs of interest. In the case of Case the head of admissions was at one local presentation, the head of PPSP at another local pres and the regional rep at a couple other local presentations… a lot of opportunities to build real affinity and then build an understanding of the school into your “Why this college” essay. This field attracts amazing candidates so what else can you do to make yourself memorable and still seem genuine…
Hey guys! I was accepted into HPME yesterday and I was wondering if it’s difficult to maintain a 3.6 GPA at Northwestern. I know it’s much lower than others (like UPitt at a 3.75 GPA) but I just want to know how difficult it would be.
Neomed results may be arriving via mail tomorrow.
anyone hear back from REMS?
@Harryp17 - Yes the delay is unusual - the website still says decision by 3/15…
@Emerald28
Questions on Neomed.
- Which city are u from in OHIO (assuming Instate).
- What are ur GPA / class rank / ACT stats.
- Interviewed in all 3 UG 's? (YSU, Akron, Kent)?
- How would u rate ur interview in these 3 + Neomed on a bad / OK / Good scale
- Your ranking of schools (preference mentioned)
6. Tomorrow once u get the eenvolope (snail mail) what is the result.
Here are mine
- Cincinnati
- 3.75 UW, 4.33 W, 14/490, ACT 33
- Interviewed at YSU / Akron (and Neomed ofcourse). Was not invited from Kent.
- YSU - OK, Akron - Good, Neomed - Good
- YSU as #1, Akron #2 (YSU better STEP program and coverage for MCAT + relatively cheaper fees/ better scholorship)
- Keeping my fingers crossed. Will pray tonight.!!
@Pannaga, you can join this thread for more on Neomed discussion. http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/multiple-degree-programs/1763204-official-thread-admission-into-neomed-bs-md-program-fall-of-2016.html#latest