<p>I would say look at the MSAR book to get a good feeling of the kind of GPA and MCAT score you need for med school. Personally I think having your GPA and MCAT in range of the schools you are applying to plus having a good reason to pursue medicine will make you a good candidate for medical school.</p>
<p>I don’t believe anyone having a 40 on MCAT would have a very hard time to get into A medical school unless you are really an unpleasant human being (and thus obtained very negative letters from professors) or apply too narrowly. </p>
<p>I applied to 11 schools this cycle and got interview invitations from 9 schools (still waiting to hear back from the last 2 schools). I was offered acceptance to 1 school (top 15) and I still have 5 more interviews to attend. My GPA >3.8 (MCB), MCAT>36 It is not “impossible” to get into medical schools from Berkeley since I personally know so many Berkeley students who successfully get accepted to medical schools. You just need to be very proactive with a positive attitude. Also, please… don’t set your mind on med school from day one! explore all different career opportunities and make a decision for yourself. Good luck!</p>
<p>I know plenty of people who got into med school from Berkeley. But everyone I know had 3.7+ GPA and very good MCAT scores… so I think a 3.4ish is a little too low…</p>
<p>I am a physician practicing in Elk Grove, CA and the father of a prospective Berkeley student. I received my BS in Astronomy from the University of Maryland College Park, a large well regarded state university but not in the same league with UC Berkeley. Not only did I have an unusual major for a prospective medical student but was also a non-traditional student having retired after 20 years as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer.</p>
<p>I had a GPA of 3.65 and an MCAT score of 31. I applied to 20 medical schools (all in the U.S.) and was accepted at one, Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia which is now Drexel University School of Medicine. In terms of selectivity this is an average medical school (acceptance rate about 2%). My classmates came from a wide variety of undergraduate colleges and universities but they all seemed to confirm the stark reality of the earlier post that showed the GPAs and MCAT scores of UC Berkeley students accepted into a U.S. medical school. I do not think I ever met anyone at Drexel with an undergraduate GPA of less than 3.4, irregardless of the rigor of their major, or with MCAT scores less than 30.</p>
<p>It seems that the average medical schools treat applicants from even prestigious schools like U.C. Berkeley the same as graduates from any other college or university. If you have a GPA over 3.4 and MCAT scores of 30 or better you have a better than a 50% chance of acceptance at some U.S. medical school. On the hand if your undergraduate GPA is less than 3.4 and your MCAT scores total less than 30 your chances of being accepted at any American medical school are drastically reduced whether you graduated from Harvard, UC-Berkeley or CSU Dominguez Hills.</p>
<p>What percentage of pre-med students majored in some biological science? From what I remember, it was very high, perhaps because it was “convenient” (biological science major requirements automatically covered the pre-med course requirements).</p>
<p>But wouldn’t it make sense for many pre-med students to major in something else, possibly a seemingly unrelated subject that could be a useful supporting subject in some areas of medical practice (various social studies majors, cultural studies, statistics, computer science, chemistry, economics, business administration, physical education, etc.)? Or perhaps another field of interest that may be useful if the student did not go to medical school?</p>
<p>Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are going to be filling in that gap. They’re going to start doing all of the hard work for physicians (like dealing with all those patients most of the time) so that the number of physicians will still be kept at a low number.</p>
<p>Although Berkeley is known to be quite tough in terms of grading, I don’t believe Berkeley students are given any special consideration when they are evaluated by medical schools. MSAR publishes the 10th to 90th percentile GPA at each medical school in the US, and that’s a good guide to see if you are a good fit at a given medical school.</p>