Low Gpa & Chances

[cirquelle]

Hi. I’m currently applying to med school, having graduated from Stanford. I have a 3.2 overall gpa, my sci gpa even lower (3.1).
I got a 31Q on the April 2004 mcat (11V, 10P, 10B).
I am very involved in many extracurricular activities and my personal statement shows passion for health care…

With my background at Stanford, people around me apply to UCSF, Harvard, etc.. but no one talks about the smaller schools that accept lower GPAs. I’m wondering what and where my chances are of getting in to med school? Carribbean?

Any advice on what the top DO schools are?

Thanks.

[y82benji]

You may wish to consider applying to either a mix of MD schools and DO schools or just applying to MD schools and if you don’t get in applying to DO schools the following year. There are plenty of good “lower tier” schools to which you could apply. I think you should go ahead and apply to MD programs because if you are strong everywhere other than GPA you’ll still have a chance with several medical schools. Just make sure you apply to a good number (like 20-25) to maximize your chances. Don’t go Carribbean if you don’t absolutely have to and your scores seem way better than that. An important thing to consider about your GPA might be this – is the 3.2 from a mix of As and Cs or have you gotten straight Bs in the sciences except for one A? Cs are the real killers, but Bs are not bad, especially since you did fairly well on the MCATs. If you have all Bs or something very similar, I think admissions committees will respect the fact that you got those grades at Stanford.

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