MD 3.3 GPA at UVA - looking for gap year options!

[uvapremed]

Hi everyone!
I am a senior at UVA majoring in Biology and minoring in French. I am taking a gap year next year and hoping to begin medical school the following year. My GPA will probably be around a 3.4 when I graduate, so it is low, though UVA is a very good and difficult school. I am taking the MCAT in March/April and anticipate getting around 515. I have 3.5 years of research in a Biochemistry Forensics lab, and 3 years (2 full-time summers and part-time during school) scribing and doing research for a neurologist. I will have good letters of rec from both research professors. I shadow a lot, volunteer sometimes, am active in some clubs, and studied abroad.

I recently met with someone on the UVA admissions board and was told I should not graduate on time in order to get my GPA higher, or I will probably not be eligible to go to med school here. I would love to go here or to an equivalent school, but am also looking at other schools in VA. I am trying to decide what to do for my gap year now- I would prefer to graduate on time and either work full time (I have a job offer with the neurologist I scribe/research for, or could look into other jobs) or do a masters program (public health or physiology possibly.) I would prefer to work and make money, but feel like a masters program would show an improved GPA and make me more competitive. I would love recommendations on what to do with my gap year and how else I can improve myself to get into a good med school. Thanks in advance!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I am from VA, got into UVA med, and have had several friends from UVA go on to med school, so I'm fairly familiar with the process there.

You are very likely not going to get into UVA med with a 3.4. UVA usually first interviews the best (stat-wise) med students at UVA, then the best (stat-wise) med students who are VA residents, and then goes down the list until they meet whatever quota they're trying to fill. They also take the MCAT very seriously - median is a 36 which is a 518 on the new scale.

n<10, but everyone I know from UVA who interviewed at UVA med had a GPA of >3.75 and the majority were 3.85+

The other VA schools are more lenient, but a 3.4 is still quite low. Your best shot is likely EVMS or VTech. My friends who graduated with GPAs around 3.5 at UVA ended up going to EVMS, though they did have relatively high MCATs (35-40).

Now I am not the right person to comment on whether you should delay graduation vs. do a postbacc vs. do an SMP, but I think the best thing for your application would be to 1) do very well on the MCAT, as a high score means that the other VA schools will be reasonable options for you and 2) try to raise your GPA.

ECs look fine - trying to do more ECs will have marginal benefit to your app compared to raising GPA or doing well on the MCAT.

Masters programs are going to be worthless unless it's an SMP, but again, I would look into other GPA repair options further before you commit to anything.

The 10th percentile GPA at UVA is just under a 3.6 and the median is ~3.85.