<p>What GPA should someone aim for, in undergrad, if they're planning on going to med school. Is it true that it's so hard to get a 3.5 even with much hard work and intelligence? If so, why is undergrad (at the "good" schools) so hard?</p>
<p>It's all about the MCAT's...but you still need a pretty good gpa.</p>
<p>4.0000000000000000000000000000000000000</p>
<p>jk ? thats what my friend said =/</p>
<p>No dude you need a 34789137419783941738940357819742304.09 gpa to get into med school.</p>
<p>Truthful, I bet you'll get a lot more replies in the premed forum.</p>
<p>The dean of admissions for Harvard Med told me that you should be "in the range" and defined that as 3.6/4.0 or higher for Harvard. He was speaking to MIT students so the GPA expectation would probably be higher for less demanding colleges.</p>
<p>Yea, it depends on colleges but i think a 3.8 would be something to strive for.</p>
<p>I hear from some people I know who are applying this year that med schools look at your college and major--that it's not a cut and dried gpa. In other words, a 3.3 gpa at MIT with a double major in math/physics might equal a 3.9 at state u. with a history major. make sense?</p>
<p>again, they also said it's all about the MCAT's....a high score and you're in somewhere.</p>
<p>NJlaxfan169,</p>
<p>Actually, that tends not to play out too much in reality. Med schools get so many apps that they don't really spend that much time weighting a GPA from school X vs. school Y.</p>
<p>The average GPA of an admitted med applicant was 3.5, which means you have a range and standard deviations. </p>
<p>But it doesn't stop there. The average MCAT is now a 31/32, which is a fair jump from recent years.</p>
<p>And then we have the difference between DO and MD, which used to be large, but is quickly closing.</p>
<p>what is the MCAT out of? ( i don't want to go to med school and have never really cared, just curious)</p>
<p>mcat is out of 45 with a letter attached to your score for the essay.
and collegealum314, actually bluedevilmike made a really good argument about why gpa standards are not lower for schools like mit or higher for lesser known schools. imma try and see if i can find it.</p>
<p>^ keep in mind that 45 is nearly impossible to get. id say if you get a 3.5 and 30+ mcat your going to get into at least one med school.</p>
<p>sorry, it wasn't bluedevilmike, it was sakky who made those arguments. </p>
<p>read all of sakky's posts.</p>
<p>3.5 GPA and 30+ MCAT used to be the prevailing hurdle to get over for a probable admit, but that has changed in the last couple of admission cycles. It's not such a sure thing anymore. Above 3.6 and 32-33+ is more like it now.</p>
<p>I think 3.6/31 is the new 3.5/30.</p>
<p>Huh... I must be too old, then.</p>
<p>3.6 and 31-33, it is.</p>
<p>is 31 that much better than a 30?</p>
<p>1.) That's the average and will depend heavily on the rest of your application.
2.) No, no more so than a 1100 is than a 1000. The key is to think of it as a mean, however. It represents thousands and thousands of students. For their average to move even a little, there has to be a significant statistical shift -- it can't just be coincidence.
3.) The MCAT is "officially" out of 45. It is a good year when ONE kid, somewhere in the country, out of 75,000 test takers, manages to get a 43. It's just unheard of. Back when I took it (2004) only about 160 kids got so much as a 40. Officially, it is practical to think of the MCAT as being out of 40.</p>
<p>Unless you are studying for it, in which case you should think of it as being out of 48. (So that you don't get complacent as you approach your goals.)</p>
<p>According to my fianc</p>
<p>Your fiancee is right on the money.</p>
<p>In fact, my premed advisor didn't seem to care much about our overall score. The only thing she paid attention to was our lowest subsection when giving retake advice.</p>
<p>A 15, 15, 6 is a terrible score despite being a 36. Straight 11's is a very good score.</p>