advise needed

[dukette]

Hello-

I am currently a second semester freshman at James Madison University in Virginia. I am also a Virginia resident, and I have aspirations of becoming a Pediatrician/ Neonatologist. I was wondering if it is still possible to get into med school, or if all is lost. The problem is, I was a very good high school student with a very high GPA, then I came to college and didnt do so well. My first semester was very rough, and I ended up with a 2.6 cumlative GPA for the first semester. I recieved a C in my biology course.My second semester is going better, and I am hoping to get a 3.0 GPA. I still know this is not a very high GPA, but I have 3 more years to raise it. Do you all think that I can still get into med school with a freshman cumlative GPA of about a 2.8/3.0? I was wondering how much wieght is on the freshman year? Should I take the biology class I recieved a C in again, or will it be overlooked as my first semester as a freshman? How much weight is on cumlative GPA with gen eds, versus scientific and math GPA? I am currently a Biology Pre- Med major, but I am considering switching to Health and Human Services Pre Med major, with Biology as my minor. Would this be more impressive to med schools? Or do they prefer biology majors? Any advise would be greatly appriciated!!

Ashley

[twu]

quote:

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Originally posted by dukette

1) Do you all think that I can still get into med school with a freshman cumlative GPA of about a 2.8/3.0? I was wondering how much wieght is on the freshman year? 2) Should I take the biology class I recieved a C in again, or will it be overlooked as my first semester as a freshman? 3) How much weight is on cumlative GPA with gen eds, versus scientific and math GPA? 4) I am currently a Biology Pre- Med major, but I am considering switching to Health and Human Services Pre Med major, with Biology as my minor. Would this be more impressive to med schools? Or do they prefer biology majors? Any advise would be greatly appriciated!!

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1) Asking whether or not you’d get into medical school based on a solitary datum is too far-reaching for even someone with a crystal ball. You just can’t tell. There aren’t any numbers out there that show matriculated medical students at the 125 AAMC medical schools and the 20 AOA medical schools had a particular freshman year GPA. All three and a half years (including the Fall semester of the senior year) are considered important to the AdComs. The most important courses to focus on, of course, are your premedical requirements (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Organic Chemistry).

2) Cs are never good grades to have on a premed transcript. In some circles they’d be considered the “kiss of death.” However Cs are not the end of the world. Here’s the problem: if you retake the course, you’d better get an A (or A-). Anything less than an A-, and you’re really shooting yourself in the foot — how can you instill confidence in the AdComs that your prowess in biology is up to an A or A- level if you even on re-taking the course you don’t do well? Alternatively you could do well on the MCAT Biological Sciences section and see if that’ll help with making up for the C. My belief is that your best bet would be to retake Biology, get an A, and do well on MCAT Bio (>10).

3) Both the cumulative GPA and science GPA are given a lot of weight, but the science GPA tends to grab the attention of the AdCom much more. Math GPAs tend to fall under the category of “science” — which is what we in med school admissions land refer to as the “BCPM” GPA.

4) The data on how relatively easy it is for certain majors to be admitted to med school may seem clear-cut, but it’s really subject to interpretation. For example it’s known that about 1/3 of applicants with biology majors are admitted to med school while 2/3 of math majors get in. Immediately this may seem like being a math major is the best thing to do if one wants to enter med school. The catch is the number of bio majors is somewhere in the neighborhood of tens of thousands while math majors number less than 700. The statistics aren’t any more convincing for other types of majors. My feeling is if you do well in any major, regardless of what it is, you’ll have little difficulty getting into med school. The take-home advice: take a major you’re truly interested in and get As in everything. I am not familiar with the particular major you describe and the data available makes no mention of such a major. Don’t major in something because you think the med schools would like to see that.

There’s more to getting in than your GPA, MCAT, and your major. Extracurrics, research, your personal statement, letters of recommendation, all those other non-quantifiable aspects come into play. You should concentrate on those as well. If you’d like some advice on how to navigate through the rest of your premed career, let us know. Our experts have been doing this for quite some time now and many have picked up on exactly what to do to increase one’s chances of being admitted.

Good luck to you.

Timothy Wu, MD
AdmissionsConsultants
703.242.5885

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