Ask AdmissionsConsultants

[twu]

quote:

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Originally posted by jsquishy

Hi. I was wondering if I should graduate a semester early. My initial plan was to take the remaining semester to volunteer in third world countries, but my GPA dropped by almost 0.4 in the second year so now I have a 3.58. I’m a junior right now and if I stay for all four years I might be able to boost my GPA to 3.75. But I’m not sure if this will help because the GPA I report will be based on the grades for the first three years. The main reason why my GPA dropped is because I took too many courses in one semester (physical chemistry,biochemistry,engineering,pubpol,cellbio), and I ended up getting a C+ for cellbio.
I’ve always wanted to go to Hopkins, but is this a realistic school considering that my GPA is below the average by so much?

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I believe one of our expert consultants is a Hopkins medical alumnus who was on the admissions board, but let me try to allay some of your worries.

The mean GPA reported by medical schools does not represent an asbolutel cutoff between acceptance and rejection. In fact, many more students than you might think are admitted to medical schools with GPAs below the reported mean. Same goes for the MCAT.

Nationally, the average first year medical student was admitted with a cumulative GPA of 3.56, a science GPA of 3.55, and MCAT composite scores of 29-30.

Furthermore, the numbers only tell a part of the picture. There’s so much more to getting into medical school than just having the right numbers. Premed students think only about the numbers far too often, that they often neglect how the rest of their application looks. Depending on how you spin the application can mean the difference between an acceptance or rejection to any med school, including Hopkins.

Good luck.

Timothy Wu, MD
AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[jwl2523]

Hey, I’m an international student who will be attending University of Virginia as a freshman starting from this fall… and I’ve been thinking of pursuing a premed track, but without a US citizenship or permanent residence, I have now become aware of the difficulties.

But I really do want to get into a US med school, and I hereby ask if it is at all possible… after all, there are quite some med schools that do say they accept foreign nationals, although mostly top tier. And I’ve received my high school education in canada, and will obviously be doing all my undergraduate studies in the US, which will hopefully help?
If I were to attain a good gpa / mcat score (close to a 4.0gpa / 33+ mcat), is there any chance I can get in to a decent US med school?

[twu]

quote:

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Originally posted by jwl2523

Hey, I’m an international student who will be attending University of Virginia as a freshman starting from this fall… and I’ve been thinking of pursuing a premed track, but without a US citizenship or permanent residence, I have now become aware of the difficulties.

If I were to attain a good gpa / mcat score (close to a 4.0gpa / 33+ mcat), is there any chance I can get in to a decent US med school?

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My own informal polling of the medical schools in the Northeast United States has revealed that some med schools do consider foreign nationals (i.e., those without U.S. citizenship or permanent residence) for admission and some do not. If you are truly interested in attending medical school here in the United States, I’d give the schools you’re interested in a call to find out. To date I have not found a comprehensive list describing which schools consider foreign nationals. Sorry I can’t be of more help.

So to answer your question, yes, you have a chance in getting into medical school. You’ve just got to find out which ones will give you a look over.

Good luck.

Timothy Wu, MD
AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[MrMedicine]

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.

[twu]

quote:

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Originally posted by MrMedicine

Should i be explaining this complicated and unfortunate event in my secondaries?

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One C isn’t going to keep you out of medical school, especially when that C was not in a premed course. Sure a C makes you less than perfect, but it won’t be the deciding factor over whether or not to grant you an interview. Should you explain it, I think it’ll seem like you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Good luck.

Timothy Wu, MD
AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[UCBShocker]

Dear Admissions boards:

I hope this is not a stupid question but I can not get an answer from AMCAS. Some of my coursework on my application has an ‘X’ by it, meaining they verified the course with some type of correction though I can not see the change on a lot of them. Is this going to negatively affect my application for medical school in any way? Thanks for your time.

[twu]

quote:

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Originally posted by UCBShocker

I hope this is not a stupid question but I can not get an answer from AMCAS. Some of my coursework on my application has an ‘X’ by it, meaining they verified the course with some type of correction though I can not see the change on a lot of them. Is this going to negatively affect my application for medical school in any way?

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The verification process matches the grade you enter for a particular course against the grade from your institution’s transcript. An “X” I suppose would indicate that there was some discrepancy. I would identify that discrepancy and find out what happened.

Timothy Wu, MD
AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[UCBShocker]

quote:

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Originally posted by twu

quote:

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Originally posted by UCBShocker

I hope this is not a stupid question but I can not get an answer from AMCAS. Some of my coursework on my application has an ‘X’ by it, meaining they verified the course with some type of correction though I can not see the change on a lot of them. Is this going to negatively affect my application for medical school in any way?

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The verification process matches the grade you enter for a particular course against the grade from your institution’s transcript. An “X” I suppose would indicate that there was some discrepancy. I would identify that discrepancy and find out what happened.

Timothy Wu, MD
AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

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No they changed the year I was in school for a couple clsses, like JR to SR because it was summer and they changed OTHER to EDUC for my PE classes. No grades were different, but I do not know if the medical school knows this or not. I mean the changes seem insignificant, I am just concerned about ‘X’ marks on my application.

[thomasj58]

My MCAT score is 35 with 14verbal 11bio 10phys P writing sample and a GPA of 3.9+ I have a good amount of lab background in both chem and bio labs (as many as 30 hours a week) I have also done a good amount of volunteer work but have nothing purely clinical in a patient oriented environment. My interest is primarily research and I intend to pursue an MD/PHD med scientist program. I graduate in 2005 and am wondering how important clinical exposure is to medical school admissions?

[crazy11]

Hi!

I have a question about preparing to apply for medical school. I am aware of the importance of the MCATs, but my problem comes with my grades. I was a bio major in college (class of ’99) and most of my grades in the sciences were Bs with a few of Cs and a couple of As. My general GPA is about a B+, about a B for my major GPA. My question is do I need to retake those classes to boost my application, or should I avoid looking back and maybe take a few more upper-level classes and try to get As in those, like immunology, cancer cell bio, histology, etc. The Cs came in courses like organic chem.

I also wanted to know the importance of the MCATs given what I’ve described above. Does a good MCAT score alliviate some of the mediocre grades?

I’d appriciate any help, thanks for your time!

[jdrball]

I graduated from the University of Georgia with BS in Biology. My MCAT is a 28, and my GPA is quite low at a 2.96. Last year I interviewed and was not accepted. Right now I am faced with the option of attending medical school in the carribean in the fall or possibly obtaining a Masters of Science at Georgetown in Biohazardous threat agents and emerging infectious diseases. My question is will excellent grades in this masters program greatly increases my chances of getting into medical school? Will my graduate school GPA be used pretty much instead of my undergraduate gpa when i am applying? thanks a lot for your time.
-Josh

[twu]

quote:

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Originally posted by thomasj58

My MCAT score is 35 with 14verbal 11bio 10phys P writing sample and a GPA of 3.9+ I have a good amount of lab background in both chem and bio labs (as many as 30 hours a week) I have also done a good amount of volunteer work but have nothing purely clinical in a patient oriented environment. My interest is primarily research and I intend to pursue an MD/PHD med scientist program. I graduate in 2005 and am wondering how important clinical exposure is to medical school admissions?

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Clinical exposure is not so much a requirement for admission so long as you understand why you’re choosing to be an MD. If you can demonstrate that you have a sufficient array of experiences to logically come to the conclusion that medical school is for you, then direct clinical exposure is unnecessary.

What I don’t understand is if research is your primary interest, why get an MD along with a PhD? This is at least a six-year proposition that easily turns into eight or more years in the majority of cases.

Good luck.

Timothy Wu, MD
AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[twu]

quote:

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Originally posted by UCBShocker
No they changed the year I was in school for a couple clsses, like JR to SR because it was summer and they changed OTHER to EDUC for my PE classes. No grades were different, but I do not know if the medical school knows this or not. I mean the changes seem insignificant, I am just concerned about ‘X’ marks on my application.

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It certainly doesn’t sound like it’ll be significant enough for any AdCom. Good luck.

Timothy Wu, MD
AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[twu]

quote:

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Originally posted by crazy11

My question is do I need to retake those classes to boost my application, or should I avoid looking back and maybe take a few more upper-level classes and try to get As in those, like immunology, cancer cell bio, histology, etc. The Cs came in courses like organic chem.

I also wanted to know the importance of the MCATs given what I’ve described above. Does a good MCAT score alliviate some of the mediocre grades?

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There is a sort of statute of limitations on grades and MCAT scores for the purposes of applying to medical school, and I believe that time period is about five years. MCAT scores are usually considered invalid if they are five or more years old, and really believe the same holds for grades. Being that it is now 2004, your grades from college will be reviewed, but it’s really time to just re-take them as a postbaccalaureate. You can pursue this through a postbaccalaureate premedical program or as a graduate student in a “special masters program” specifically designed for premed applicants.

A good MCAT score can help mitigate some of the problems poor grades bring to your candidacy.

Timothy Wu, MD
AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

[twu]

quote:

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Originally posted by jdrball

I graduated from the University of Georgia with BS in Biology. My MCAT is a 28, and my GPA is quite low at a 2.96. Last year I interviewed and was not accepted. Right now I am faced with the option of attending medical school in the carribean in the fall or possibly obtaining a Masters of Science at Georgetown in Biohazardous threat agents and emerging infectious diseases. My question is will excellent grades in this masters program greatly increases my chances of getting into medical school? Will my graduate school GPA be used pretty much instead of my undergraduate gpa when i am applying? thanks a lot for your time.

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No, nothing on your record is ever ignored no matter how old it is or what you have in its place. Everything is inspected by the AdCom.

While your undergraduate GPA is still looked over, however, the AdComs will take notice that you’ve done well as a graduate student. The benefit of programs like Georgetown’s Special Masters Program is that they put you in a class with Georgetown medical students and your grades are a reflection of your standing against the med students there. This indirectly shows whether or not you can handle work at the medical school level. Incidentally Georgetown has a fairly high success rate in getting its Masters students into med school. It should go without saying, but yes, getting good grades at the graduate/postbaccalaureate level will increase your likelihood of an admission to med school.

Remember however that there are factors other than GPA and MCAT which determine which applicants get in and which do not. Don’t be so locked into the mindset that numbers are king and everything else is secondary. If numbers were the only thing that mattered to the med schools, a lot more people would be admitted every year.

Good luck.

Timothy Wu, MD
AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

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