Dear Reader 26

Jen said...

K, could you make a post about grades? I've always felt like pre-meds need 4.0's (or at least above 3.8) to even be eligible for a good med school, but at the same time there are so many older students who are sticking with pre-med even though they get mostly B's. Am I wrong, or are those students just aiming lower or what? I'm a pre-med dreaming about UCSF Med...... and my GPA isn't looking good, so I was wondering what your opinion was.

Dear Jen,

Thanks for stopping by! There are so many myths surrounding med school applications, and although I haven't been through the process myself, I know a lot of people who have. And from all the people I've talked to, it seems like the consensus is that you do not need a 4.0 gpa  to get into medical school. If you look at various schools' statistics, it shows that people get accepted into med school with not-so-stellar gpa's and mcat scores. But then again, it varies from applicant to applicant. However, it seems you're aiming for a top-tier med school, in which case, having a mid-tier gpa would probably hurt your chances. If you look at the statistics for top-tier medical schools, then yes, their average gpa's are up in the 3.7+ range with MCAT scores in the 35+ range. But those are just averages- which means there are applicants with lower scores (albeit there are applicants with higher scores as well). If the older premed students that you mentioned in your comment above are mostly getting B's, then their average gpa's would be around... 3.0+ I believe (science GPA i'm assuming). I think it's safe to say that these students are probably not aiming for Harvard med or UCSF. But you are :) As I was writing this post, I started writing about how your GPA and mcat score do not have to be so high to have a chance of being accepted; that admissions committees will also look at the rest of your application (letters of rec, extra currics, awards, etc) so work on making it extraordinary. But then I stopped and decided to rewrite it to what it is now. I rewrote it because in truth, I believe that you have to at least pass their numbers in order to be considered with the other applicants in the applicant pool. This is strictly my opinion. If a school has an average gpa of 3.7 and avg mcat score of 35, then you don't want to stray too far below their average. I think this only gets worse as you go up the ladder in medical school rankings. So for UCSF, you might want to try getting as close to their averages as possible. The lab tech in my lab recently got accepted into UCSF. His gpa was around 3.8, mcat score of 37, and had extra currics that I could not imagine having the time to do. He said the reason for his getting into UCSF was due to sheer luck- that he worked with someone who also happened to be close friends with someone on the interview panel. But I believe he could have gotten in without his "luck". He is one of those brilliant (and frustrating) people who can do everything without putting in an ounce of effort (or so it seems). His example might be a bit discouraging but he is the only person I know personally who got into UCSF so I'm sharing it with you. So in conclusion, if your gpa is looking a little low, then concentrate your efforts on raising your gpa and focus on getting a great mcat score when the time comes to make up for a lower gpa. If you were aiming for a mid-tier med school, my advice would be different- I would still advise to increase gpa and mcat score, but on a lower magnitude. But with a top tier school like UCSF, you want your stats to be up there and on par with the rest of the applicants. Letters of rec, extra currics, etc are extremely important too, but come in second/third after gpa and mcat (especially for top-tier schools). But once again, this is my opinion. I hope I didn't discourage you in any way. Besides, it looks like you still have time to raise your scores :) 


Best of luck! 


-K