Home Forums Medical School Admission Secondaries

Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #21984
    MrMedicine
    Participant

    I just graduated from a top liberal arts college with a rather low GPA of about 3.3. During my junior year i received a C+ in an economics course becasue the professor unfortunately decided to double the weight of an exam from 30% to %60 after we had already taken it. Althought this was agains school policy, my petition could not be granted because the professor had left the faculty by that point and that course was necessary for my major. Should i be explaining this complicated and unfortunate event in my secondaries? I will be attending a masters program in the coming year to show my academic abilities.

    Thanks in advance for any help that you can give.

    #27635
    y82benji
    Participant

    Your 3.3 GPA isn’t that bad. (Avg admitted GPA ~3.55-3.6, so 3.3 is low but not out of the ballpark) Probably not as competitive as you would like it to be, but it wouldn’t necessarily keep you out of medical school. If you do have aspirations of going to a top 50 school, your choice to pursue some graduate classes first is probably a good one to help boost your chances.

    When considering grades, a C+ isn’t horrible. It is generally said that a “C” or lower in any premed classes (bio, chem, organic, and physics) needs explanation, but other classes not as much. You don’t want to come off as whiny (but trust me, I’ve gotten screwed over too, so it’s not like I don’t know understand your frustration over it) and you don’t want to draw too much attention to a negative. You should focus on your strengths and what you have to offer. I would doubt that one grade in a non-premed course (especially a C+) will be the difference in whether or not you are invited for an interview. Then, if they ask you about it, you can explain the situation.

    Also, “complicated” is bad for these essays. Not that you want to be turning out top quality “See spot run.” stuff, but if it is a complicated situation trying to explain it in a limited essay space you run the risk of submitted a confusing essay which could count against you.

Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.