Odds of getting into medical (MD) school?

[spartan_scalpel]

Bear with me, this might get a little lengthy.

A little backstory may be useful, so I'll start at the beginning. I'm currently a sophomore at a less than stellar college--Ferris State University. However, I started my college career at Grand Valley State University. I was a freshman, pre-med, joined the pre-med club and a sorority. I was in the honors college there, and because of a really bad math professor I ended up with a C, some B's, and A's. Came out to a 3.14 GPA my first semester. Not good, but not terrible considering I was taking honors courses. Here's where I royally screw up. I start dating a guy I went to high school with second semester, and of course I couldn't stay away from him. Every weekend I went to his university to spend time with him, and let my grades slip so badly its inexcusable; literally got a 1.33 because I just did not care, and the only thing that was keeping me at GVSU was my sorority sisters, that I loved and still love very much. So, I made the decision to transfer to my boyfriend's university, which is, you guessed it: FSU.

Yes, I am that girl.

Do I recommend this to anyone? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Stay single during college, seriously. I'm one of those rare instances where everything actually works out and it doesn't end up being a total disaster. I've lived happily with my boyfriend for over a year now, and we have a very healthy, balanced relationship. Anyway, this is not the point of the post--just some insight into my life.

Now, Ferris has a pretty bad reputation for pretty much everything except Construction Management, HVACR, and other similar trade-like programs, in addition to having the only optometry school in Michigan. Any other program is a joke. I did NOT want to go here, I only went to be closer to my boyfriend, since my grades suffered horribly from my inability to balance academics and love life.

But, my grades improved. I currently have a 3.38 GPA, and this semester is killing me so it may end up going down a little bit. I really wanted to have at least a 3.5 by the time I graduate, but I'm not sure if I'll get there. I'm very introverted so I find it difficult to actually throw myself into volunteering and shadowing, so I have pretty much zero volunteer/shadowing hours. I plan on taking the MCAT this time next year, and I know I have to kill it. I really want to go to Michigan State Allopathic Medical School but I'm afraid I'm wasting my time and money applying because I won't be good enough. Not to say it takes less smarts to be a nurse, but I see people in nursing schools with 3.8 GPAs and here I am trying to be a doctor on a 3.38.

Do you think it's foolish of me to apply to MD school? What can I do to improve?

Sorry this ended up being so long--if you stuck with me thank you! Any advice is appreciated.

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[500miles]

You may need to take a gap year if you want to be competitive. What year of school are you in?

The school you go to is not that important to adcoms. If you go to the top of the page and read about sdn essential wisdom, you can see a chart that ranks what adcoms think is important. Your GPA and lack of clinical experience is what will kill you, but not as much the school you go to. DONT take the MCAT until you can score practice exams very well. Your MCAT is probably what will have to make up for your gpa.

What is your science GPA?
Is 3.38 from all the classes you have ever taken, or only FSU?

You need to get in volunteering/clinical hours as soon as possible while continuing to keep your gpa trending upward. Preferable all As, of course.

I wish you the best of luck on your journey!!

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

You still have 2 years which is plenty of time to improve your app. Additionally, I am assuming you are a Michigan Resident which will help when applying to Michigan State. Your decision to leave Grand Valley State University was a terrible decision career wise and decreased your chances of getting into Michigan State. Grand Valley is one of the few schools in Michigan that are partners with Michigan State for an Early Assurance Program to Michigan State.

As is you do not have a single strong point in your application. Low GPA, no volunteering, no clinical experience, no research, no shadowing, and a history of making poor decisions. Why do you want to be a doctor? How do you know that is what you want to be?

You need to learn how to study and do well in your courses. The vast majority of your grades for the rest of your time in college need to be A's to show admissions committees you are capable of handling the rigor of medical school. Go and visit your schools premedical office and ask them what resources are available for struggling students.

Start volunteering - tutor children from disadvantaged backgrounds, or go help out at a soup kitchen.I am sure there are plenty of volunteer opportunities around you. You need to start shadowing physicians. Literally go onto the website of whatever hospital you want to shadow at, look up physicians, find their email and just ask them if they have time in their busy schedule to show you what they do on a daily basis. Not sure if there is a way to get involved with research at your school but you don't have to do it at your school. If you are close to the bigger universities look up their biology department and their labs. I am sure the University of Michigan would have opportunities or even their medical school. It does not have to be wet lab research. It could be clinical research or public health policy work (maybe you can ask someone at your local health department if there is anything you could help out with).

PM me if you want to know details on the GPA/MCAT ranges of students at the Michigan State Medical School.

You can still do this, but you need to put in the work.

 

[831929]

You should not be applying to medical school in the current state of your application. No volunteering/research with bad grades will not get you in. If you are serious about medicine, you can try to do some kind of masters/post bac program but without an upwards trend in your grades, I would consider taking some time off before you continue on your educational path. With what you have said so far, I think you really need to sit down and consider why you're interested in medicine. You didn't mention anything regarding your interest in science and your grades show that the science is fostering any interest in you. This is not a bad thing. It just might mean that this isn't something you are really passionate about. Medical school requires A LOT of studying. Sometimes the subjects are less than interesting to you, which then requires a lot of motivation to focus and learn. So I think you should really explore your feelings on career. Why did you pick medicine? Is there something else you might like more? Do not default to nursing. I don't think people should make that a back up. It's also hard academically and it's a different job from medicine. If you wanted to be a doctor, it doesn't mean you'll want to be a nurse. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Redpancreas]

With a 2.7 GPA (I’m assuming by worse you mean 3.0) and I’ll assume best case scenario (3.5) junior year that’s a 2.97 so work extra, extra hard next year as going up to a 3.6 next year can get your cumulative GPA out of the 2s. The MD #s for CHM are a bit lower than most MD schools, but still up there at what I’d presume would be a 3.6/30 average. Judging by your grades, you’re most likely going on trajectory to be well below their 25th percentile in both grades/MCAT and that still doesn’t take into account your lack of medically related volunteering. Given your GPA struggles, I would strongly recommend against attempting the traditional route and trying to take the MCAT junior year. Here’s what you’re looking at.

Junior Year: Achieve a 3.6+ junior year to bring your GPA above 3.0. Focus just on classes. Maybe sign up for a Friday/Saturday evening or Sunday morning hospital volunteering shift and that’s 160 hours over two semesters assuming you have a 4 month/16 week summer if you do a 4 hour shift. Make sure you pick one that’s got a solid patient care aspect like Hospice for example.


Senior Year: Focus entirely on your classes first semester. Take anything difficult like Biochemistry/Immunology, and MCAT relevant subjects. For second semester, take a much lighter load, tell your BF you need space, and spend 75% of time studying for the MCAT and 25% of your time on classes. Continue the SAME hospital volunteer position.

After Senior Year: Apply for SMP programs that start in the fall. If your MCAT goes well, great. You’re halfway to MSUCHM. Now do your absolute best like your career depends on it in your SMP. At this point, you’re probably going to have to break up with your bf . Depending on your MCAT score/SMP performance (I’m taking the Ferris GPA improvement for granted) you’re looking at a best case scenario of MSUCHM, but the good news is that if you do a few things right, you’re a target for a less pickier DO school.

As for shadowing, do it this summer. Research I feel is a luxury at this point. The school’s you’re going to be targeting aren’t big on it anyways. Maybe you’ll have some time this summer or between your MCAT/SMP. It’s kind of late to apply for a summer research position now, but it’s worth a shot I guess.

If you do all this successfully you’re looking at a 3.17 uGPA (3.7 senior year) and then a 3.7+ SMP GPA would definitely help wipe that GPA stain off your application. Then I’m guessing your ceiling on the MCAT ceiling is around 516ish, but who knows. Then, there’s the 320 clinical volunteering hours you’ve done as well as maybe a research project on the side. This are definitely low tier MD #s with safe DO school entry.

It’s important to break these things down into small steps and make each very easily achievable.

 

[Jamisan]

Are you absolutely sure you want to be a doctor? Do you have any patient care experience? I know you said you're an introvert and that's why you haven't shadowed or volunteered but if you become a doctor your entire job is about working with people and being able to make decisions and having people put their lives in your hands. And it's not just working with people, it's going to be getting very close and personal with people you've never met before. Obviously you need to make sure your GPA is on the rise during your last two years of undergrad and do extremely well in an SMP, but I highly suggest you bite the bullet and get into shadowing this summer. I was told this morning that I need some more shadowing hours before I'll get admitted to my top choice smp and I sent some letters and emails and now, 12 hours later I have 3 doctors who have agreed to allow me to shadow them, with a probability of at least 2 more agreeing tomorrow.

I'm a little concerned that you changed schools and you still say you're not doing as well as you would like and that your GPA will go down after this semester. It's easy to keep saying "oh I'll do really well starting next semester" but eventually you'll run out of semesters. So work very, very hard to get all A's for the rest of undergrad and then apply to an SMP and treat it like your life depends on it, cuz it kinda does. But get shadowing and volunteering in this summer so that you know for sure that you want to be a doctor.

 

[Dr. Meliodas]

Michigan State University College of Human Medicine:
Median MCAT for Matriculants: 505
Median cGPA for Matriculants: 3.63
25th Percentile cGPA for Matriculants: 3.35
Median sGPA for Matriculants: 3.55
25th Percentile sGPA for Matriculants: 3.26

Obviously aim to do the best you can and not just reach the medians for this one school. The median MCAT for accepted applicants last year was a 511.

You have a chance again just put in the work and come back to this post after your Senior year and we can re-evaluate. 1 additional year of a DIY post-bacc is probably enough GPA wise. Make sure to get started on all the other things as well (clinical volunteering, non-clinical volunteering, shadowing, and research - 3 years is plenty of time to rack up more than enough hours and experiences to make you competitive for MD or DO schools) . SMP might be overkill (again depending on what your GPA is after your Senior year.)

 

[Goro]

Bear with me, this might get a little lengthy.

A little backstory may be useful, so I'll start at the beginning. I'm currently a sophomore at a less than stellar college--Ferris State University. However, I started my college career at Grand Valley State University. I was a freshman, pre-med, joined the pre-med club and a sorority. I was in the honors college there, and because of a really bad math professor I ended up with a C, some B's, and A's. Came out to a 3.14 GPA my first semester. Not good, but not terrible considering I was taking honors courses. Here's where I royally screw up. I start dating a guy I went to high school with second semester, and of course I couldn't stay away from him. Every weekend I went to his university to spend time with him, and let my grades slip so badly its inexcusable; literally got a 1.33 because I just did not care, and the only thing that was keeping me at GVSU was my sorority sisters, that I loved and still love very much. So, I made the decision to transfer to my boyfriend's university, which is, you guessed it: FSU.

Yes, I am that girl.

Do I recommend this to anyone? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Stay single during college, seriously. I'm one of those rare instances where everything actually works out and it doesn't end up being a total disaster. I've lived happily with my boyfriend for over a year now, and we have a very healthy, balanced relationship. Anyway, this is not the point of the post--just some insight into my life.

Now, Ferris has a pretty bad reputation for pretty much everything except Construction Management, HVACR, and other similar trade-like programs, in addition to having the only optometry school in Michigan. Any other program is a joke. I did NOT want to go here, I only went to be closer to my boyfriend, since my grades suffered horribly from my inability to balance academics and love life.

But, my grades improved. I currently have a 3.38 GPA, and this semester is killing me so it may end up going down a little bit. I really wanted to have at least a 3.5 by the time I graduate, but I'm not sure if I'll get there. I'm very introverted so I find it difficult to actually throw myself into volunteering and shadowing, so I have pretty much zero volunteer/shadowing hours. I plan on taking the MCAT this time next year, and I know I have to kill it. I really want to go to Michigan State Allopathic Medical School but I'm afraid I'm wasting my time and money applying because I won't be good enough. Not to say it takes less smarts to be a nurse, but I see people in nursing schools with 3.8 GPAs and here I am trying to be a doctor on a 3.38.

Do you think it's foolish of me to apply to MD school? What can I do to improve?

Sorry this ended up being so long--if you stuck with me thank you! Any advice is appreciated.

Read this:
Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

Odds of getting into med school are 100% on you. Odds of you getting IIs are based upon the strength of your app.

 

[spartan_scalpel]

Thank you all for the replies and advice. I recently just got a job as a medical scribe in the ER and I start training next week, which I'm really excited about since it's the first job I've ever had in the medical field (mentally kicking myself for not doing the health course at my local career tech center in high school--would have got my CNA for free!). I'm pretty certain that I want to be a doctor, but I'm hoping that this new job and future shadowing can solidify that. One of my biggest flaws is that if I'm not interested in the material, I don't try very hard to learn it or study. I don't know if this is just me, but I find general chemistry and biology incredibly boring. I look at these classes like an "obstacle" that I have to overcome to get into medical school. However, I'm over the moon to take A&P next semester, even though everyone keeps telling me it's the hardest class they've ever taken and I won't feel the same after the first exam. I took A&P and medical terminology in high school and did very well (I know it's a lot different from college), I would even do assignments and complete them the day I got them because I just liked it a lot.

I know I just need to put in the same effort into the classes I don't like as I do the ones I enjoy. If you guys have any tips on how to get motivated please let me know!

Also, do you think not having an interest in chemistry and (some--mostly anything that doesn't have to do with a human) biology is a red flag that I shouldn't go the medical school route? I appreciate all the feedback!