<p>Is my GPA competitive for allopathic med schools? I'm a junior that will be entering my spring semester.</p>
<p>Overall GPA = 3.584
BCPM GPA = 3.384</p>
<p>I'm mostly concerned about the BCPM GPA because its low. I am a chemistry major.</p>
<p>I am a NJ resident btw</p>
<p>The AAMC charts can give you some guidance for your race and ethnicity. </p>
<p>Here’s one AAMC chart. There are others. <a href=“https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/157998/mcat-gpa-grid-by-selected-race-ethnicity.html</a></p>
<p>The New Jersey med schools’ websites can give you some guidance on that NJ aspect.</p>
<p>Your UG pre-med advisor may have an acceptance grid available, too. </p>
<p>From looking at those three, the picture should start coming into focus. </p>
<p>To put it bluntly, you might better plan on killing the MCAT. Good luck. It can be done and is done every year. Just not by a high percentage of everybody who wants to do it.</p>
<p>Can you wait until after you graduate when another year’s grades might improve your science GPA?</p>
<p>I mean my overall isn’t that bad, is it? I probably can get it in the low 3.6’s after next semester. I also think i’ve got a shot at scoring in the 31-33 range on the mcat. According to the chart, theres about a 75-80% acceptance rate with those stats. With that said, my BCPM gpa prob still won’t be the best, probably in the low 3.4’s. With that said, am i still in a sticky situation? I’m just worried that the BCPM Gpa is kind of crap, and how heavily is it factored in? </p>
<p>Thanks so much, it’s been a tough semester.</p>
<p>actually, i misread the chart. I’d probably closer to the 55-65% acceptance rate.</p>
<p>please any other input?</p>
<p>* I’d probably closer to the 55-65% acceptance rate*</p>
<p>that’s why I mentioned applying after senior year IF you can raise your GPA by including senior year grades. I would certainly want to increase my chances above 55-65% acceptance rate.</p>
<p>I’d be competitive for DO right? Not that it matters all that much, but what’s the earning power for a typical DO? I’m not completely sold on going the DO route yet if my stats aren’t good enough for MD, and would possibly take a gap year if thats the case</p>
<p>Having gone through this process recently, if medical school were my end goal (as it should be), I wouldn’t be comfortable applying solely to MD programs with a 55-65% shot at acceptance. You’d have to apply very creatively and to a large number of programs to make that worthwhile, which is time consuming, emotionally taxing, and expensive.</p>
<p>If I were in your shoes, I’d seriously consider DO programs. I think you can learn a lot on the internet, but I’d also suggest reading some books (I think there’s one called “The DOs” which I’ve heard is a good read) and talking to some physicians (both MD and DO) about the differences. As far as I can tell, DOs used to be completely different from MDs and over the past few decades, have come to be practically equal (which means that people of your parents’ generation probably believe DO << MD, whereas your friends probably believe the two are nearly equal). </p>
<p>Shadow some DOs too!</p>
<p>If it doesn’t seem like the DO route is the one for you, then if I were in your shoes, I think I’d give MD a shot (if I did indeed hit the 31-33 MCAT mark that you expect). If it didn’t work out, I’d use that bonus year to do something great to bulk up all aspects of my application (especially the non-academic ones, since it’s hard to improve a GPA that has 120h behind it) and then apply again. If I didn’t hit the MCAT mark (say, ended up 28 or 29) I’d reconsider the DO route or would consider retaking it and applying the following year. </p>
<p>What do you want to do?</p>
<p>So lets say, i apply to both DO and MD after my junior year. I don’t get accepted to MD but get accepted to DO, can i defer my acceptance for DO (as a fallback) and then re-apply to MD the following year in hopes of getting in?</p>
<p>Deferral policies are school-dependent. Some will allow you to defer; some won 't.</p>
<p>However, I believe that you must report on your AMCAS that you’ve been accepted to a DO school. (You have to report any medical school–and it doesn’t specify MD-only–acceptances you’ve received in the past.) Having a med school acceptance which you didn’t follow thru on or didn’t accept will hurt your chances (a lot) in the next admission cycle.</p>
<p>A lot is going to depend on your MCAT. I tend to feel like the 3.4-3.6 category is the one in which a good, average, or bad MCAT has the most impact on whether or not you actually get in anywhere.
When you’re on the cusp like that, it helps to have something really great to make you stand out (MCAT).
That said, with your GPA you have a totally legit chance of getting into med school. You can definitely do it. You know it’s not a sure thing, so that should be more motivation for you to get killer grades in your last few classes, do some great activities, and get a great score on the MCAT.</p>
<p>thanks so much for the encouragement john. that really did hit home and give me the extra sprit. out of curiosity what’s the mcat score that i should be shooting for to really make me stand out with the so-so gpa? 34+?</p>
<p>I would say 32+.</p>
<p>But the MCAT score is only going to get you into the “not automatically cut pile.” You need to have some ECs that make you stand out. Once you make it past the initial screening (which is GPA +MCAT driven), it’s all about the ECs, LORs and special stuff you’ve done. </p>
<p>(Worked for D1 who had a so-so 3.44 GPA [both science and cumulative] and a strong 36 MCAT, but it was the other stuff that got her noticed: extensive hands-on clinical experience, 2 publications, outstanding LORs.)</p>