Will transferring hurt my chances of getting into med school?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hi all,

Last semester I was sexually assaulted by two men and am currently working with the university that I attend in an effort to potentially have the students who committed it suspended or expelled. Unfortunately, the experience has made attending this university almost unbearable for me, as I am forced to see both of them on campus from time to time. I’ve gotten through this year despite depression/anxiety/PTSD as a result of the assault, but I know that I can’t continue to attend this school if I want to do well. Being here is a constant reminder of the trauma, and it is wearing me down.

That being said, I am afraid that if I transfer universities, I will not get in to a university that is considered “more prestigious” than the one I am currently at, or that even if I do transfer successfully, it will hurt my medical school application (I have heard that med schools often consider transferring an effort to “erase” a mediocre gpa).

My current GPA is a 3.34 (60 total credits). I’m worried that this isn’t high enough to transfer into a good school, but if I’m being honest, I really made my best effort, considering the conditions.

Does anyone have any insight regarding this? Would it be better to complete another year at my current university to give myself an opportunity to improve my GPA, and then transfer at the end of my junior year? Should I just “tough it out” and stay at my current university until I graduate?

Thanks in advance for any help.

P.S. Schools that I am currently looking into are the University of San Francisco, the University of North Carolina, and Boston University. If anyone has additional comments on any of these, feel free to share as well!

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The most important thing is to take care of yourself first. Worry about med school admissions later.

If being on your current campus is causing you distress and you feel unsafe, transfer ASAP. Don’t worry too much about the prestige factor. Any of the colleges you mention will offer what you need to apply to med school.

Also practical reasons dictate that you transfer sooner rather than later.

  1. many colleges require a minimum number of credits (usually 45 or 60) be earned at the school that will grant your diploma
  2. you will need time and coursework at your new school to establish the personal connections needed for med school application LORs

You’re going to need to some time both to heal and to improve your GPA. Plan to postpone applying to medical school until after graduation or possibly after a gap year or two. You want to be as emotionally stable and healthy as possible for application cycle (which is brutal and filled with rejected even for the most attractive applicants) and for med school itself which is emotionally exhausting and unrelenting.

On the secondaries applications for medical school, there will be a place to explain anything you need to— why you transferred, why you had a dip in your GPA. You can say as much as little as you want. You don’t need to disclose that you were sexually assaulted.