2.9gpa & 40 on mcat ....any opinions on my chances of admission?!?

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southpark

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Hey guys, I have a really sucky gpa of 2.9 and got 40 on my MCAT. Do you know how my chances are? Do you know of anyone was in a similar situation and got admission? Any other opinions? Thanks.
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What was your secret to scoring a 40 on the 'CAT?

I'd say you have a shot. Apply to a variety of schools just to cover your bases.
 
Has your GPA risen since your freshman year? Do you have a good reason for getting that GPA? Can you prove that you are different now than then?

Those are things that could help you. Of course the MCAT score is incredible, but there are many other things that make you who you are.

Are you involved with other things (ECs) that flow from who you are? Do you have a story line that communicates who you are and why you want to be a physician?
 
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...MCAT is good for 2 years. Take some easy courses...raise your gpa then apply next year. 2.9 is too low.
 
2.9 is ridiculously low!!!! it's C+, your mcat is very impressive....take a year of easy classes, boost it up, and then apply...then your chances go up 100000000 fold :D
 
40 MCAT + 2.9 = a poor, but possible chance

40 MCAT + 3.2 (after a good year of A's) = a great chance.

Take the year off, could pay off in the form of getting into a school you really like instead of just settling for which one takes you.
 
I don't see why any school would not take him/her with a 40 MCAT. A 40 on the MCAT is like ....man!I believe this score covers any if not all of the discrepencies which are in the GPA. I said, go ahead apply to as many school as you can. I should definitely get into a few ones.
 
I would agree with TwoSteveSquared. Though the 40 will be eye-catching, I believe GPA will always be more important in the admissions process. What is your science GPA? If it is also that low, then there is little doubt that you should take another year to increase your grades with all A's. I was in a similar situation after sophomore year (GPA was higher, MCAT was to be a little lower), and I decided to take the next two years and max out my GPA and also score well on the MCAT. It worked, I am in my year off now, working in clinical research and teaching TPR MCAT while applying to med school. I have been accepted to a few places, and I now know that my pre-med advisor was correct in her advice. Take the time off, get some valuable experience and raise the GPA. It will pay off. Also, your undergrad school's reputation could be an important factor (Where did you attend?). Good luck !
 
Great MCAT...what the heck happened to the GPA? Make sure you set yourself apart somehow. Even a 3.2 will raise questions with the adcoms. Be prepared to answer them. Take easy classes? While maybe an ok strategy don't think you'll be fooling the schools with this tactic. You said you had a 2.9, was that cumulative or science? I won't bore you, you know what you need to do.
 
Who says one can't apply and take classes simultaneously. Why don't you apply to about 15 dream schools (absolutely no safety schools) AND take easy classes to boost your GPA. This way, you can reapply with your improved GPA if you don't get into a dream school. Apply to a broad range of schools your second time.

With med school admissions, ya never know what will go down. Of 15 dream schools, perhaps one will bite at the GPA/MCAT combo you can now offer. Of course, it all depends on how much free cash you've got. At least you won't "waste" an entire year this way and you may end up at a very nice school.
 
GPA does not indicate "intelligence" as much as it indicates endurance and discipline. That's the problem with a really low GPA, despite the 40. Med school requires, more than anything else, endurance and discipline; a high score on one exam cannot excuse a 4-year record of laziness.
 
Apply! I've known people who have gotten in with less than a 3.0 GPA because they had a 35+ MCAT score, great ECs, and strong letters of recommendations.

If your GPA is due to some personal reasons or hardships, include that in your essay. The MCAT measures the application of SCIENCE, which is the definition of a physician.

Undergraduate courses just measure your ability to memorize crap, and to spit it out on the exam. I don't believe a good GPA says that you're a hardworker. Scoring well on exams has always been because of the WAY you studied, not how long you studied.

MCAT, on the other hand is more than memorizing crap and spitting it out on the exam. That's why not everyone can score a 40+. The MCAT is science APPLICATION, using what you know and koodles to you for doing so well.

Apply..... ESPECIALLY if you're more than just an applicant who spends his time in the library studying to maintain a 4.0 GPA. If you're a leader on campus and so forth...most definitely apply!

On the other hand, if you have 0 ECs, sucky letters of rec, and really no good explanation for your low GPA, then you should spend some time improving your GPA. However, still apply to your state school!
 
hi,

i thought this might give you some hope.

my future brother-in-law, a brilliant person but a profound underachiever went to the univ of chicago where he majored in fun. he graduated with a 3.0 in economics, decided he wanted to go to med school, took the mcat before any science classes (studied for 6 months by himself), got a 41 (11vr, 15, 15), then proceeded to take his science courses while applying to med school and failed half of them while getting As and Bs in the rest.

he applied late to 13 schools, got interview offers at 3 of them (tulane, vanderbilt and uw-madison), went to his interviews at vandie and uw, got waitlisted at both and then was eventually accepted to both schools and decided to go to uw. (he turned down his tulane interview.)

don't lose hope. you can surely do it. a 40 is an amazing score. an upward trend in grades would help. what you need to address is why you didn't perform at the level you were capable of.

taking some classes and acing them should help also and distinguish yourself in your essay.

take care and stay positive.
 
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Hi,

I'd be careful, if I were you....if you load up on a bunch of "easy classes", schools will notice. They really do look at the types of classes you've taken, along with the grade: they DON'T just look at the GPA. If you got a 4.0 in something really easy, it won't look as good as a 3.0 in something really really hard. Schools would rather you take the harder science classes and prove that you can stick them out, rather than take the "bio for nonscience majors" and get an A. (Because we all know that the classes in med school aren't the "for non-science majors" type ;) )
And, like someone said, your undergrad school counts for quite a bit. If you have excellent recommendations, activities, and essays, and your gpa is the only thing holding you back, then I'd say take classes that interest you, try to do well, and go ahead and apply.
 
I would take a year off. Take some easy classes to boost up your GPA, but also get some experience! Try getting a part-time job in a hospital or research lab. Experience and a good MCAT, plus a higher GPA than 2.9 should totally get you in. Good luck.
 
I agree with "shimmer118", schools do look at the kind of classes that one takes. Like I stated, go ahead and apply to as many schools as you can afford. If you don't get in, ask the schools that give you interviews for some pointer on how to improve your weaknesses, (i.e. GPA). Apply! Apply! Apply!!!!!!
 
Hi!, I wanted to let you know that you are very logical thinker, and 40 is owesome scores. I know one professor at uc davis medshool. we were just talking about mcats in general and he said this year out of 120 applicants 26 have above 36 and only 4 had 40 or above so you have a great chance apply apply apply!, don't waste your year. Good luck
harman :)
 
I would say wait a year. I'm kind of similar in that I got a 37 but had a 3.16 GPA. Not much EC's, and about 6 months research. I didn't get a single interview. So I would recommend taking a year or two off before applying. I raised my GPA and did a lot more EC's, and now I'm doing fine applying.
 
Sorry loverboy, but I have to call bull**** on those stats. Out of 120 applicants, 30 DO NOT have a 36+ score! The average for all applicants is about a 28.5, so I seriously doubt that 25% are that far above the average. If they were, then Davis would have a 36+ average MCAT (its actually around 31). I know very well that the UC's receive a lot of strong applicants, but this stat might be too far out, especially at UCD (I'd believe it for UCSF).
 
southpark: As everyone has probably already told you, if you have great EC activities, an upward trend, and great letters of rec, I think you have a good shot. Your gpa and mcat were significantly higher than mine, and so far I have been accepted to 2 schools and been waitlisted at 2 others.

I posted some more info before on SDN. Search for "Never give up. Ever. A message of hope"

best of luck!
-ttac

p.s. loverboy: When you said that there were 120 applicants this year, did you mean 120 interviews? AFAIK there are at least 3000 people applying to UCDavis.
 
southpark...we need more info to make a statement...

But I agree with IDIOT on his remarks!

High MCAT with low gpa looks much worse tahn low MCAT with high gpa
 
I encourage you to apply!

2.9 is a low GPA for med school application, but it's not impossible to get in. I strongly disagree with people who say it is ridiculously low or that it's the result of just being lazy. Different schools and different majors have incredibly different levels of average grades, competition, etc. There is a reason why graduates from top undergraduate schools often get a GPA boost from med schools -- the competition they face, on average, is higher than at other schools. At the same time, their GPAs are usually a bit lower as a result.

I also disagree that the GPA holds more weight than the MCAT, for two reasons. First, some argue that an MCAT score is just luck and endurance, but one could also aruge that it is a more accurate comparison than a GPA because it is a standardized test. Second, studies by the AAMC have shown that the MCAT is a better predictor of student success on the USLME 1 than the undergraduate GPA is.

So apply! If you don't get in, give it another shot!
 
where the hell is this dude? we're giving advice like crazy, and he's a no-show. that speaks volumes to me.

Southpark, you're a smart guy, but that alone won't impress committees (or other people). you need to show that you are a) committed to medicine and a lifetime of hardwork b) motivated enough to carry out these goals c) strong-willed enough to overcome adversity and tough times and lots of stress. there are other things too, you should think about this. if you can bring that to the table along with intelligence (or good test taking ability you might say) then you've got a very nice package. the mcat alone doesn't tell me that you'll make the grades and learn the material in medical school. yes you learned the premed stuff for the exam, but in med school the classes are much tougher, the schedule is much tougher, and everythign else is much tougher. try getting a 2.9 in med school and acing the boards...it'll be DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE.

cha-ching: $ 0.02

PS. Procrastinator: nice call..i smelled that bull**** a mile away....
 
Originally posted by A. Caveman:
[QB]try getting a 2.9 in med school and acing the boards...it'll be DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE.

[QB]••

I object! (Going into lawyer mode here). . . What do grades have to do with acing the boards? If it's true that a 2.9 can't ace the boards then those students who are passing medical school with a "P" instead of a "HP" might fail?!
:eek: AHHHHHHHHHH. I think not.

I agree with the rest of the post though.
Click to expand...
 
"If you got a 4.0 in something really easy, it won't look as good as a 3.0 in something really really hard"

HAHAHA you actually listened to that bs? I heard it at one point in my academic career too...but the more I discovered about admissions..the more I dismissed that theory. Med schools like numbers. Do you think they know the difference between calculus 3a and calculus 31a? All they see is A vs. B. I'll take an A in calculus for lifescience majors any day rather than a B in nuclear physics...or any other equally impressive subject. It's all about numbers. Many schools have a computer program cut out students whose gpa is too low. It's an automatic thing, and a 2.9 does NOT make the cut. Raise that gpa. You have an entire year to do nothing but focus on studying. Don't tell me that you can pull off a 40 on the mcat but you can't get a measley 3.5+.
 
lecular, grades reflect how well you've mastered a subject. when i went to retake the mcat i had to relearn all of general chem, much of physics, and some of bio (almost ignored the organic). why? well cuz it had been a while since i took the classes, but i'd gotten c's in general chem, so i was very scrubby there. people with 4.0's (unless they crammed for every test and have forgotten what they "learned," most likely don't have to study as hard as others to get the same score (obviously they won't spend as much time reviewing at least).

and as far as the P, HP given in some medschools...many med schools use bell curves or curve the grades in some way. in one school i heard of, a 95 and above was a HP. So just because someone gets a P for a class doesn't mean they didn't master the course. lots of schools have obscensely high percentages that you have to get to have an A or a HP...they don't go by the simpler 90-100 = A
80-89 = B
70-79 = C
that we're used to seeing in college. i think the diffence between a 2.9 (let's say that's an 83% verage if you average out all of his exams) and a Pass in med school that might reflect a 92% in every exam.
anyway my point wasn't specifically meant to emphasize grades and percentages, but rather effort. a 2.9 does not reflect much effort..the grade range for C's and low B's reflects this, but a Pass does indeed reflect effort because it might have been a 92% average for that class.
more importantly, a student who gets a "Pass" in medschool probably finished probably finished undergrad with 3.5 (or whatever the avg. gpa is for the med school matriculant) so obviously that "Pass" was difficult to come by (med school is that much harder). now, a student who finishes undergrad with 2.9 and gets into medschool with the same study habits he had in undergrad will surely fail. don't you think? <img src="graemlins/pity.gif" border="0" alt="[Pity]" />
 
Yes, I listened to that "BS." And guess what? With a gpa of well under 2.9 and an MCAT of less than 30, I HAVE received interviews and NO rejections!!!
So I am speaking from personal experience when I post. (And no, I am not a URM. Far from it.)

"and as far as the P, HP given in some medschools...many med schools use bell curves or curve the grades in some way. in one school i heard of, a 95 and above was a HP. So just because someone gets a P for a class doesn't mean they didn't master the course. lots of schools have obscensely high percentages that you have to get to have an A or a HP...they don't go by the simpler 90-100 = A
80-89 = B
70-79 = C
that we're used to seeing in college."

My undergrad school wasn't like that. The vast majority of my classes were graded on a bell curve. There was no such thing as "90-100 = A, 80-89 = B", etc. And class avg. was usually a B-/C, so one had to get at least a full standard deviation above class avg. on a test to get an A-. So, based on what was posted, even though I don't have a 4.0, I did master the material and would be able to succeed in med school, no?
 
AC: Oh okay I see your point now. I agree that a 2.9 measures EFFORT (perhaps because it depends on the circumstance) but in regards to mastery of subject, it's not a reflection of how much you know about the subject.

A 2.9 could mean he mastered the subject but was too lazy to do the busy work and hence the low GPA. In fact, look at Einstein, he failed math in highschool or Gates who skipped his classes at Harvard.

Both of these guys knew their stuff, it's just they didn't do the exams or attend class or whatnot and that would reflect on their transcript with a C D F. However, even though they lacked effort, they both knew their subjects well enough to develop theories and in the case of Gates, the development of an operating system for the Altair.

There's just too many variables at play here. Shimmer brings up a good point too. Family illness where a student works his ass off , different grading systems, busy work that may have counted more than exams...etc etc... all of which could have caused a smart dude who knows quantum mechanics backwards and forewards to obtain a C in it.

And in terms of passing medical school, I wouldn't say that passing it depends merely on study habits but perhaps EFFORT to do the busy work as well :)


:clap: <img src="graemlins/pissy.gif" border="0" alt="[Pissy]" /> <img src="graemlins/pity.gif" border="0" alt="[Pity]" /> <img src="graemlins/laughy.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughy]" />

YAY NEW ICONS!
 
This doesn't make sense to me. It is now January. Isn't it too late to apply for admission to 2002? Wouldn't someone with a 40 MCAT be smart enough to know you should have applied by now.
 
The original poster didn't mention anything about applying now. southpark just asked about applying in general. It's those of us who replied that have been talking about "take a year off" vs. "apply now" (meaning this coming summer).
 
If you can score a 40 on the MCAT (which is spectacular), I'm sure you can ace any class (not just easy ones) if you just work at it. If you can get a 4.0 next semester (with a moderately difficult courseload), you have a much better chance than those with high GPAs and low MCATs. Also keep up with the ECs, I aced the SATs but was still rejected by Harvard because I never went out.

Best of Luck!
 
hey shimmer,
i know that some schools use bell curves for undergrads (ie. hopkins). obviously when i made my point i was saying that most schools don't use bell curves (this goes generally for when most people post or talk..they are making general statements..see how it works?)
anyway, my friend had a solid C there (hopkins) for his freshman year, then came to Univ. Miami and has gotten straight A's since. BUT before you jump to ridiculous conclusions, you have to realize the kind of motivation that leaving your ivy league school because of bad grades can stir up in a person. my friend didn't study at hopkins, and now studies harder here (the guy even has a test day meal and ritual). but definitely classes at UM are easier and on top of that no bell curve is used (92-100 = A) for most classes. so there you have an example of something (i forgot what my point was--and i don't i care or that it matters anyway).

Also, I am SURE that adcoms know what schools use what systems, so they probably take special considerations for students from bell-curve schools, ivy leagues, and whatever else (tough courseloads). which is a good reason why the guy with under 2.9 got some interviews. and if you had family trouble during school that's supposed to be explained in the personal statement, and they give you some slack for that.

but i do agree that there's a lot of bs work that goes into getting an A in a class. stuff not limited to mastering the material (ie. bs research papers for a biochemistry class). homework is also bs that helps decide your grade but at the end of the year doesn't show your mastery. but guess what..we'll see the same **** in medschool. there might be homework and there might be bs research papers.
also, remember that while at the end of the year you may master a subject and ace the cumulative final, if you got B's in the midterms, then you may get a B in the class even though you mastered the material. do you deserve an A since you mastered it? NOT really. consistency plays a role in getting good grades, just like it plays a role in maintaining a good gpa and proving to medschools that you're consistently good. so ending up with that B, and adding all the other classes that make up your gpa will show what kind of STUDENT you really are...not what kind of LEARNER. in the end all that matters (for patients) is how much you've learned, but medschools and medschool adcoms and residency directors want to know that you're a good student too, in case they need you to learn something right away for an exam (or surgery, whatever) tomorrow. see the difference? getting that awesome mcat score offsets gpa's because it shows that you can do the work intelligently and that you've learned the material, but it does not completely make up for gpa because it doesn't prove you're a good student. you need to be a good student.

PS. i make sense like a muhfuhka. if i sound rude don't be upset, i doesn't look like i'll be interviewing in more than two places (applied to 30) so i'm very upset with everthing (everyone too)
 
Make sure you let us know when you got your results back.
 
talk about bringing a thread back form the dead. one of the persons that replied to that thread as a same year applicant graduated from medical school three years ago!
 
What the...
looks like they didn't have avatars back then.
 
southpark said:
Hey guys, I have a really sucky gpa of 2.9 and got 40 on my MCAT. Do you know how my chances are? Do you know of anyone was in a similar situation and got admission? Any other opinions? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I mean, according to your stats, my pre-health advisor would probably say

"AIM for DO!"

And in THIS case, I would agree. Also, there is the prospect of enjoying Pina Coladas in the Carr-i-bean.

(BTW, this post is not meant to be condescending. Just funny, and sincere)

EDIT: I JUST realized how ancient this thread is. OMG. I have just made a gigantic hippo of myself.)
 
ATTENTION: THREAD IS SEVEN (7) YEARS OLD.


Stop posting in it. Thank you.
 
bentz said:
I don't see why any school would not take him/her with a 40 MCAT. A 40 on the MCAT is like ....man!I believe this score covers any if not all of the discrepencies which are in the GPA. I said, go ahead apply to as many school as you can. I should definitely get into a few ones.
Click to expand...

My 40+ certainly didn't cover for my deficiencies in other areas last year.... I'd suggest the OP to apply if he's not financially strapped, but it'd be better to wait a year and prove that he's gotten over whatever that caused the low GPA(unless he already has a good explanation for it).
 
dingyibvs said:
My 40+ certainly didn't cover for my deficiencies in other areas last year.... I'd suggest the OP to apply if he's not financially strapped, but it'd be better to wait a year and prove that he's gotten over whatever that caused the low GPA(unless he already has a good explanation for it).
Click to expand...

You are a typical SDN applicant. 3.81 and 41 :eek::eek::eek:
 
avksx said:
ATTENTION: THREAD IS SEVEN (7) YEARS OLD.


Stop posting in it. Thank you.
Click to expand...

it's actually almost 8 considering this thread was made in Jan 02 and we're in Dec 09.
 
I hate every last one of you.
 
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