gpa factor?

[esb]

hello

i've been looking around the forum and thought this might be the best place to ask my question
i have a bachelors in cognitive science and finished with an overall gpa of 2.9
i'm planning on entering a postbac program since i have not completed any of the required science courses for med school

now i know that gpa is a big factor in med school
but i was wondering how important the overall gpa would be
the science gpa would be whatever gpa i gain from the postbac
how would they calculate the overall gpa?
would my overall gpa be a combination of my undergrad gpa (2.9) and the postbac gpa?
is it possible that a stellar science gpa but a mediocre overall gpa would affect your chances?

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[student1799]

would my overall gpa be a combination of my undergrad gpa (2.9) and the postbac gpa?
is it possible that a stellar science gpa but a mediocre overall gpa would affect your chances?

Yes and yes.

This is the problem faced by many nontrads (including me, BTW): we may do wonderfully in postbacc programs, but due to "baggage" from our pasts, our overall GPA is still subpar.

There are a couple of ways to deal with this:

1. Consider DO schools as an alternative. They have more liberal methods for calculating the GPA than MD schools: if you did badly in a class and retake it, the grade for the retake REPLACES your old grade, rather than just getting averaged in with it. For students who did poorly in science prereqs and retake them, this results in a much higher GPA than the MD system. But, if you took none of the science prereqs in college, it might not be the best idea, because the courses you'd have to retake would be your old (presumably non-science) classes. Med schools would probably not look favorably on your retaking classes that have little to do with med school.

But even if you don't "repair" your undergrad GPA by retaking classes, DO schools are generally more flexible in looking at applicants' grades than MD schools. However, you are still going to need a decent GPA--especially in science--to get into the better DO schools.

2. Take a lot of science classes (beyond the prereqs) to raise your GPA as much as possible. For MD schools, this is your only option. Depending on how many credits you earned at a 2.9 GPA, it could take years to get your GPA up to a respectable level (say 3.3 or higher). And remember, you need to get A's or very close to it in order for this strategy to work at all.


Realistically, it's highly unlikely that you can raise your overall uGPA to national averages (3.5+) just by taking more classes--you'd be at it way too long. If you do extremely well in your science courses AND get a very high score on the MCAT, you may be able to get consideration at DO schools and some MD schools with a sub-3.5 uGPA--provided you clear the all-important 3.0 hurdle, and do a great job in explaining yourself in your application essays.

In any case, you have your work cut out for you. Good luck in your thought process.