dragonic

I'm currently a rising senior at a top 20 university. My dream is to become a pediatrician, but like most aspiring doctors I'm worried about my application.

My weak point in my med school apps will be my GPA. Freshman and sophomore year of college for me were rough - I was dealing with personal issues that made me unmotivated and withdrawn from my schoolwork. I didn't work to my full potential and only made a 3.2 those years, which I regret.

The summer between sophomore and junior years of college I went through a lot of changes, resolved my personal issues, and finally got myself to a place where I could focus on my education and career. That summer is when I realized I wanted to be a doctor. Since then, I have been able to work to my full potential at college. Junior year I got straight A's, including bio and orgo, and if I continue that senior year (I don't see any reason why I won't) I can graduate with a 3.75.

My question: I realize that I will be up against many applicants who maintained perfect GPAs all along. Will med school admissions committees be willing to understand that my freshman and sophomore grades don't reflect my potential, considering that I will finish college with two years of perfect grades? Or will they fail to look past the number? Is a 3.75 worth worrying about?

WayOutWestMom

If you apply after graduation (giving yourself time to fully remediate your GPA), write a convincing explanation for your early weak grades and why it will never happen again in your PS and the rest of your CV (including your MCAT score) is strong, then your application will be competitive. Which is the best any one can hope.

i_wanna_be_Brown

3.75 is a damn good GPA, not really sure what the issue is. I doubt you'd even need to address this in the PS but you would definitely want a response ready for interviews since I'm sure it will come up there.

cadriethiel

I also had a low GPA freshman/sophomore years and raised it to a 3.72 or so. Don't write about it your PS, because it only draws attention to what is (most likely) a non-issue. A 3.75 is great! Spend your time writing about your good qualities!

Princess'Dad

Often the freshman year is not looked at. Your junior grades will help

Bigredmed

Agree with Brown...3.75 is fine and better than a lot of people

https://www.aamc.org/download/270906...ridall0911.pdf

The acceptance rate over the last 3 years for students with a GPA between 3.6-3.79 (presumably where you'll end up) who had an MCAT >27 was 67.8%.

The #1 thing you have to do, and in my opinion this task will be made more difficult by being at a Top 20 UG, is to make sure you apply BROADLY. A poor application strategy where you fail to include a mix of schools from all perceived tiers could be a recipe for disaster. Anecdotally, it seems that peer pressure at top undergrads prevents students from following through on an appropriate set of applications, and then you end up hearing on CC or SDN about the student with great grades, great MCAT and great pedigree who failed to make it into med school and how unfair it is that some poorer applicant "took" their spot. So just be sure to apply to a mix of public and private schools, all schools in your home state and some out of state places that regardless of in-state preference still take a fair number of OOS students.

jasonleb1

I know it's a completely different animal but I had a similar situation going into college. My early high school grades weren't too great but I kicked it into high gear Junior and Senior years. An admissions officer told me it "showed growth" and I got into the school (it was a top 20).

sarahjudith

An upward trend is always good. I assume that you're planning to take a gap year so that your senior year grades will count? Also, what is your sGPA (BCMP)?