Hi, I’ll be graduating this spring with around a 3.5GPA. I currently have a 511 on the MCAT. I’m white, from Texas. Here are the Qs:
Getting into Competitive Schools:
-If I want to get into a medical school like Stanford, is it possible? Like, can I do anything in the next two years to make that possible? Is there anything I can do to both make that possible and get scholarship offers?
-Is it worth it to go to Stanford if I can go to in-state Texas schools for less?
-If I do a post-bacc, would I be accepted to competitive medical schools? scholarships?
-Should I apply this summer or wait until I retake MCAT during my gap year? Assume an MCAT retake to be around 520.
Gap Year Options:
-If I get a global health masters in Switzerland, what does that mean for me?
-If I do a year of research at my uni post-grad, what does that mean for me?
-If I join the Peace Corps, what does this mean for me?
You don’t specify your goals - but if you can go to medical school in TX vs. “global health” in Switzerland…?
TX has some great medical schools. Nothing magic about Stanford. With your GPA, you are on the margins of getting in anywhere so take what opportunities you have.
Unless that extra money has 0 impact on you/your family’s day to day finances, no, it’s not.
By “scholarship offers,” I assume you mean grants/free money? There’s very little of that to go around and for a school like Stanford to offer it, you need to be the type of student that the tippy top medical schools are fighting over to enroll. A white person with a 3.5GPA and an 86th percentile MCAT (even with a 98th percentile MCAT) is simply not that student without something absolutely incredible on your app (I’m thinking along the lines of started a fully functioning free clinic in your area or a legit non-profit or if you want to go less clinical: first author JAMA/science/nature/cell papers.) I’m guessing you don’t have something like that or you would have mentioned it.
I have a good friend from Brown who did run a non-profit in college as well as being on my frat’s executive board and did research. He went to Harvard medical school (after getting into several of its peers) and is now a resident at MGH. The only school that gave him money was his home’s state school (he’s not from Texas, and yours are all superior to his state’s school) because they were hoping to lure someone like him away from Harvard. The top schools all wanted him, but they certainly didn’t want him enough to pay him to come.
I have a friend who work in Stanford Med School in admin capacity. She once told me that every candidate went through her desk has almost perfect Gpa and high Mcat. So if you are thinking of taking a gap year or Smp will get you into Stanford that is not going to happen. I think if you apply for med school, consider all the lower level med schools, all in state schools and some DO schools, that is probably the best strategy. Imho, Texas medical schools, may not look at you because your states.
Ah, I really think I’ll be fine getting into a medical school in my state, to be honest! I’m taking the gap year because I’m not wanting to commit 10 years of my life to medical school just yet, not really because I think it will help with admissions. BUT if it were worth it and possible to get into a school like Stanford, I’d consider it. I like the “Doctor” approach given by Maelstrom Monkey.
If anyone has gap year advice, I’d love that! General opportunity recommendations for people with stellar ECs but mediocre GPA would be A++++. I’m not 100% sold on med school either, so policy internships/fellowships or public health stuff or even education would interest me. Caveat: if I’m not getting a degree, I expect to make $. all advice welcome!
Imho, of the three proposed gap year plans, peace corp will have my vote. However, no matter how much EC you have, cannot replace scores. Right now your scores are under the boarder line for any md schools, a stellar EC won’t change much.
D had two full years research（ part time in regular semester full time in the summer) and one gap year in an aids clinic. She had similar stats like yours, her application was turned down by all md schools, luckily she had some DO school in the pool and now she is a m2.
Hmm, that is very true. I know that the accepted ranges are pretty thin for MDs, maybe I’ll consider some DOs.
Also, to answer the very first post I missed, I have to have a gap year anyway and getting a Global Health degree in Switzerland would 1) let me perfect my French skills 2) get experience at organizations like WHO 3) Let me travel b/c really that is what is keeping me from committing to medicine right now. Additionally, it really isn’t very expensive beyond housing, which I could pay for by tutoring English part time. So overall, it is interesting and benefits me as an individual, so I think that is a fine reason!
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Hi, I’ll be graduating this spring with around a 3.5GPA. I currently have a 511 on the MCAT. I’m white, from Texas. Here are the Qs:
Getting into Competitive Schools:
-If I want to get into a medical school like Stanford, is it possible? Like, can I do anything in the next two years to make that possible? Is there anything I can do to both make that possible and get scholarship offers?
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Don’t focus on any particular med school. Getting into any US MD med school is an achievement.
Wisdad
I am not sure a 3.5 Gpa cannot be a physician. I know a kid who is 3.3ish and after went through Smp did get into FIU som.
Regarding the Swiss stint, I have two comments:
D was nuts in French language in her UG, she even took a summer in France to go to a language school. But after her attended medical school, she learned Spanish is the king in US physicians. Now she meets this Spanish group every week.
At WHO you don't get clinical experience. If you want Mph that is an excellent reference not so much in clinical physician.
I would suggest some Smp program such as Penn, Datmouth, BU, Georgetown and Drexel etc. it is expensive, but if you do well you maybe able to attend a good Md. school.
I know if you are first in class at Georgetown you will have a good chance to attend there.
What exactly is your cum GPA? Sounds like you’re not 3.5 yet, but hope to be by the end of the school year.
To be frank…you’re acting like you’re going to have a choice between Stanford and Texas meds. Very likely you won’t even get an II from Stanford. S doesn’t need to accept unhooked applicants that don’t have at least a 3.8 GPA.
All med schools are “competitive” and they’re all very good. Finish the year with the best grades you can. Your MCAT is about an old MCAT 31, which is fine for Texas meds.
Aim for a Texas med if you’re serious about becoming a doctor.
@artloversplus, wisdad didn’t say a 3.5 can’t be a physician. He said a 3.5 who is ambivalent about being a physician shouldn’t bother going to medical school because it will be a miserable experience.
Unless the 3.3ish kid you reference was ambivalent in his/her desire to be a physician it’s not relevant to Wisdad’s statement.
Don’t bother applying to Stanford or other school’s in that tier because you would basically be donating money to them. A 3.5 GPA and 511 MCAT will not earn you serious consideration. Stanford and similarly ranked schools are big on research as well.
You should be worried about getting into A med school because your GPA and MCAT are pretty mediocre. Retake the MCAT if you can do significantly better and apply broadly to low tier schools (Drexel, Tulane, etc.) and your state schools. MD is certainly possible, but school’s like Stanford are a pipe dream.
Yeah, I figured as much! But I’ve just started looking into post bacs and stuff like that and it wasn’t so much “will I get into Stanford with this great scores???” but “is there anything I could do that would get me in?”. It isn’t a priority to me, I just wanted to know if there is anything to really increase my competitiveness in these next few years. And it seems like the answer really is no when it comes to undergrad GPA. Which is kind of stupid, but I guess if I really cared I would’ve applied myself earlier.
Looking at these topics, I’ll definitely retake the MCAT. I personally got my score without studying for psych/social and with minimal studying for the other subjects. I had a family crisis about a month before my test and it really derailed my studying and took a toll on my well-being. I know I could improve to about a 35-36, at least, just judging on how underprepared I was for some sections, but recognizing a bit of studying would’ve served me well!
I currently have a 3.5 and expect to have a 3.5 when things are over, judging by the grade I’ll probably get this semester/classes I am taking next semester.
What happens if I apply to schools with my 511 and 3.5? I hear your first application is your best chance of success, but I’m also thinking it’d be good just to try I have some pretty fun, very community based ECs that I think would turn heads.
Honestly it is such a bummer to be in this position, I’m probably still waking up to the wall I’ve built for myself. When I was applying for colleges, I had that 15AP class, 4.0, 2300 SAT and now I’m barely qualified to get into a state medical school. A huge reason for that has been the onset of mental illness, which I know is 1) super effective! in the physician population and 2) not great to explain to admissions. I know I could do great once I was there if I had the right psychiatric support. Volunteering/shadowing really have been some of the most clear/relaxing/theraputic experience of my college years because they feel so raw and really put life in perspective. I
genuinely think I’d be a great doctor and it I would find a lot of meaning in my work. I’m most interested in fields concerned with radiology, prenatal/neonatal care, rhumatology, and genetics at this point so hopefully getting in is the biggest battle and my med school scores will one day give me more of a choice in residency
I’d expect you’ll get accepted to a TX med schools if you apply to all TX med schools including the DO program at UNT. No chance at UTSW, though. TX med schools favor high GPAs.
OOS, you’re going to run into some problems (unless you’re applying DO) because you’re TX resident . Your stats are average to below average and med schools are going to assume you’ll prefer to stay in-state due to lower tuitions costs.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but neither med schools nor residency programs are not particularly supportive of students/physicians with mental illnesses. (Or physical illnesses for that matter.) You’ll find little sympathy and very limited or no accommodations. Med school and residency are extremely stressful environments where students are routinely expected to work long irregular hours with little sleep and even less time to decompress. Mental illness is #1 reason why med students fail to graduate.
If you want to go to med school, you need to have your mental illness under very good control. You also need to be able to develop & maintain your own support network outside of your med school program.
I wouldn’t say you have no chance at medical school. I would say you definitely have no chance at merit aid at Stanford and probably have little to no chance at a Stanford acceptance but with an SMP and that MCAT score you could probably get in somewhere. Depending on whether your GPA is a mix of As and Cs or just mostly Bs you could even make yourself into an extremely competitive DO applicant with grade replacement.
Yes in terms of the stress and accommodations but I think you’re overstating the lack of support. Pretty sure every medical school has a student mental health service with free sessions from providers who do not interact with medical students in any other capacity and worst case scenario: you are at a hospital which is bound to have a slew of mental health providers that you can access as a regular old outpatient. Medical schools certainly try to be more accommodating of seeking mental health than they have in the past - where I’m not 100% convinced is that the people’s personal (and in particular - unconscious) biases have caught up to the institutional standards projected.
I have some pretty fun, very community based ECs that I think would turn heads.