<p>I am currently a junior at Cornell and will have around a 3.75-3.78 cumulative GPA and 3.7 Science GPA. Do you think that is good enough for a top med school? The reason I am asking is, because if it is not, I am considering taking a year off before med school so that med school's could see my senior year grades as well (which I think will be higher since I am done with the prereqs.) What do you think? Do you think doing this would increase my chances?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I don't know a huge amount about this, but I believe your grades are high enough to put you in the running for all med schools in the US. Congratulations on your fantastic grades!</p>
<p>i think GPA is only a small factor for med school admissions. But yes your GPA is in the running for a top med school as long as you EC's are great along with your MCAT's.</p>
<p>Your GPA is fine for most med schools. Whether you want to take a year off or not depends on your MCAT scores as well as what you have done to ready yourself as a "physicians". For the latter, some sort of EC's to let them know that you are aware of what you are getting into will be important, unless you come from a physician family. </p>
<p>I suppose the premed advisor at Cornell would have told you the same thing. </p>
<p>The average age of med students has gone up quite a bit in recent years. Many students now take a few years off for one reason or another but not usually because of better GPA when their senior year is also factored in.</p>
<p>Looking for a "top" school is really beside the point. </p>
<p>Your GPA is good, but as others have mentioned only part of the equation. Be more concerned about the rest of your application so that you can get into any medical school.</p>
<p>Also most med schools won't care about your senior year. Some will ask to see those anyways if you've been put on a waitlist. Really though, at this point, how much is your GPA going to change just by adding in a year of classes, I'm sure you can do the math and see just how little impact the year will have.</p>
<p>As for the "top" med school debate - remember that there are only 125 medical schools in the US, and all are excellent and will give you the knowledge and experience to be a practicing physician. Unless you are going into academic medicine (more specifically the research aspects) or you are hoping to have a practice that caters to a very prestige oriented patient population (ie plastic surgeon to the stars), prestige is largely irrelevant. Most patients never ask their doctor where they went to medical school or completed their residency training, and care far more about whether the doctor listens, explains, and makes them feel better. Even if you do want to be a plastic surgeon to the stars, names like Yale and Stanford medicine are likely bigger draws than WashUSTL, U of Washington or UC San Francisco, names that hold more weight in the medical field.</p>
<p>I would agree. Most all US allopathic med schools are excellent and very selective. If you are admitted to any of them you're doing well. And, as bigred says...what's more important is what happens after graduation. There, academic talent must evolve into something more beneficial for others.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your advice. I very much appreciate it :)</p>