<p>IWBB - Did you do equally well in both your majors? </p>
<p>Would you have continued with both if your grades started dipping in one consistently? It sounds like Shirafune has A-s in history while all science grades are As.</p>
<p>Without combing through my transcript (which I’d have to reconstruct from memory), I would say initially my classics major was better than my biology but as I progressed I started getting Bs in some of the more advanced classics classes and getting As in more advanced bio classes so by the end they were probably the same especially since a classics BA is 8 courses (although I took 9 I think) and a bio BS was 20 (I think I took 21).</p>
<p>I’d hardly call A- sabotaging a GPA. I wouldn’t even call Bs in humanities sabotage.</p>
<p>If you had 4.0 without them and 3.75 with them by the time of application, you are dropping down a lot. Why give up that much of an advantage?</p>
<p>So I guess the better question is how does this non-science double major play into the selection process. In</p>
<p>It doesn’t.</p>
<p>texas, I don’t think a 4.0 has that much advantage over a 3.75, and call me old fashioned, but I went to college to do more than just be a pre-med.</p>
<p>I was able to find my AMCAS so I’ll give you a breakdown of my Bio major GPA (essentially my BCPM), my classics GPA (essentially other). Like I alluded to before, I only took 3 classes that didn’t count towards either major (I think I actually did only do the 20 minimum for the biology BS and I got 2 Bs in Cognitive Studies Dept classes and an A in a policy class on healthcare).</p>
<p>Freshman Fall
Gen chem 2 - A
Calc 2 - A
Classics - A
Classics - A</p>
<p>Bio GPA - 4.0
Classics - 4.0
Bio Total - 4.0
Classics Total - 4.0</p>
<p>Freshman Spring
Orgo 1 - C
Classics - A
Classics - S</p>
<p>Bio GPA 2.0
Classics - 4.0
Total Bio - 3.33
Total Classics - 4.0</p>
<p>Soph Fall
Orgo 2 - B
Bio - A
Bio - A</p>
<p>Bio GPA - 3.67
Classics - N/A
Total Bio - 3.5
Total Classics - 4.0</p>
<p>Soph Spring
Bio - A
Bio - A
Bio - A
Classics - A</p>
<p>Bio GPA - 4.0
Classics GPA - 4.0
Total Bio - 3.67
Total Classics - 4.0</p>
<p>Junior Fall
Physics 1 - A
Bio - A
Bio - B
Classics - B</p>
<p>Bio GPA - 3.67
Classics - 3.0
Total Bio - 3.67
Total Classics - 3.8</p>
<p>Junior Spring
Physics 2 - B
Bio - B
Bio - A
Classics - B</p>
<p>Bio GPA - 3.33
Classics - 3.0
Total Bio - 3.6
Classics - 3.67</p>
<p>Senior Fall
Bio - A
Bio - A
Bio - A
Classics - A</p>
<p>Bio GPA - 4.0
Classics GPA - 4.0
Total Bio - 3.67
Total Classics - 3.71</p>
<p>Senior Spring
Bio - A
Bio - B
Classics - B</p>
<p>Bio GPA - 3.5
Classics GPA - 3.0
Total Bio - 3.65
Total Classics - 3.63</p>
<p>I never thought about dropping either one. I wanted to be a biology/classics double major and I was going to be a biology/classics double major.</p>
<p>texaspg</p>
<p>Could I ask where you’re getting the 3.75 by the time I finish college? I’m averaging a 3.92 per quarter (3 science classes + 1 history class) and that’s pretty much my course style for at least another year. The history program at my school isn’t many units so I won’t even be taking history every quarter. Perhaps you’re assuming I’m on the semester system? Assuming the worst, I think I’d pull at least a low 3.8. </p>
<p>Also, how do medical schools compare a good University of California with a good private university (in terms of GPA inflation/deflation etc)? Any examples you guys could give? The discussion so far has been extremely helpful.</p>
<p>Shirafune - I am assuming half and half on the two majors and assuming you will get lower grades on some sciences too as you progress. </p>
<p>IWBB - thanks for your transcript. 
</p>
<p>Did you apply after junior year or senior year? I would have thought that GPA is a bit low for MD/PhD but I guess not. People keep saying 3.8/36 is what makes one competitive.</p>
<p>after senior</p>
<p>Depends on what you mean by competitive. My advisor said my numbers certainly wouldn’t keep me out of any school. I agree that for the top 10 MSTPs my GPA was on the low end but I think my research experience was really my biggest weakness (1 year and 2 summers at the time of application). I also think MSTPs are willing to dig deeper down the US news rankings if the research record is good (at least that was my experience on the interview trail as well as comparing the MD/PhD admits to MD admits at my school).</p>
<p>Thanks IWBB for sharing your stats. My son is a double major in CS and Bio at JHU with a 3.8+/38. He has 3 years of research and a first author paper. His worst science grade also was in Orgo, where he got B+ for the whole sequence. I am concerned that he is not competitive for some of the MD programs (UPenn, Cornell, Columbia etc.) in his rather top heavy school list. You give me a bit more confidence that it may work out for him.</p>
<p>the exact words I got about my competitiveness from my pre-med advisor were “there’s no reason you can’t get into any program in the country.” But then later on he did describe schools like that as “unlikely” for me while the lower parts of the top 20 were “less likely”, and schools on my list in the 20-30 range were “more likely.”</p>
<p>My son is not trying for MSTPs like you. His pre-health committee interview is not scheduled yet. They are overwhelmed with ~380 kids trying to go through the committee process this year. Once the interview is done he is going to finalize his school list. He wants to stay in the North East. We shall see.</p>
<p>^true, so the combo of better numbers plus MD only means that he’s way more competitive at any given school than I was.</p>
<p>If the history classes are really for fun and you don’t need the major and you find you are getting less than an A, you could pursue the history courses, one per term as P/F, just for fun. DD several P/F classes, many of hers only offered that, but she wanted to do some advanced math and not stress A v B, so did some of those P/F.</p>
<p>Hi everyone, </p>
<p>I just wanted to know what your thoughts are on transferring as a pre-med? I am considering transferring from a higher ranked private institution with a better pre-med program and a med school to a lower ranked state school that is brilliant in economics and has no med school…this is in order to be closer to family.</p>
<p>Also, although my credits are transferring, half of them do no necessarily count towards the degree and, as the advisor at the lower ranked school told me, were just taken for no reason. </p>
<p>Should I still transfer? Will this hurt my chances for admission to med school in any way?</p>
<p>My 4-year university doesn’t have a pre-med committee :/</p>
<p>Is that not good?</p>
<p>Sunshinesea7: Does this mean your school does not have pre-med advisors? I think getting advice about courses etc. is helpful.
I wouldn’t transfer for it, but I would seek out help. Let me know if you want my thoughts.
H</p>
<p>I asked them and they said Biology:Cell and Molecular is usually the way to go and there is no “Pre-Med” major… Looks like the adviser for Pre-Med is basically the adviser for Biology… and not all Biology majors are Pre-Med. </p>
<p>It’s confusing.</p>
<p>Not many colleges have a major called premed. Someone intending to go to medical school can major in any subject as long as they complete the required classes to apply to medical school.</p>
<p>Wahooie - what year are you in? Being in a college with a medical school is not all that important for being a premed. Lot of those with medical schools are not on the same campus either.</p>
<p>Someone who has pretty much already done the Pre-Med track (but now deciding on PA instead b/c of their grades, ect), who goes to a different university, suggested I do Microbiology (Guessing the Clinical Laboratory track??) instead of just Biology: Cell and Molecular, though they nearly look the same to me except for Ecology and an extra Chemistry (Quantitative Statistics).</p>
<p>Is Micro better?</p>
<p>Cept no Cell Bio in Micro either… or Molecular… so… neither major is perfect for Pre-Med. This frustrates me. I asked them about it but they haven’t replied yet. If it wasn’t for them I would have signed up for random classes which wouldn’t work lol</p>