Low GPA / High MCAT Med School Admission

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

I am worried about getting into a med school due to my low GPA. My freshmen year I had around a 3.5-3.6 GPA and was on DEANs list and doing well. However, at the end of my fall semester sophomore year I received my 3rd (possibly 4th) head injury/concussion. As a result, I had unofficially withdraw from a course(couldn’t look a computer to code in my computer science class) and my GPA dropped to around a 3.3. To make things worse, this was when I was completing almost all (except orgo and math) of my BCPM /pre-med requirements. I even received a C/C- in one. The following two years I have been mostly receiving A-'s or better and have brought my GPA to hopefully a 3.55 but more realistically a 3.45, by the time I graduate. Unfortunately this uphill trend in my GPA is not shown in my BCPM GPA because I had already completed almost all of my pre-med requirements by this point.

What are my chance of being competitive to good/top-25 med schools and/or just getting into any?

Here is some more info…

School: Top 3 Ivy

Major: Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering

Overall GPA: 3.45
BCPM GPA: 3.32
Major GPA: 3.57

MCAT: 32-36

Experience in the health field:
200 Hours Shadowing Doctors (30+ In the OR)
100+ Hours Volunteering at ER

Research:
1000+ Hours in a BME Lab
Lots of wet lab experience
Lots of Computer Science Analysis
Experience Dissecting Cadavers
Not published but contributed majority (I am cited and used my code/analysis for a paper)

Awarded a large fellowship for research over the summer

Volunteering Else Where:
1000+ Hours educating minorities on there rights
~100 Hours for habitat for humanity (Built an entire home with 3 other people)

Leadership
Founded two clubs
President In both
One has 100+ members and around $7,000 - $10,000 coming in each year
Other works directly with the UN and I in direct collaboration with major UN official (presidents and celebrities have come and talked)

Other EC’s:
Built a website and ran social media for both clubs
Built an app that is used by students needing access for ambulances or other emergency services
Played on the youth olympic soccer team as a kid and had college offers but gave it up to do pre-med and become a doctor

Legacy:
My grandfather was a pioneer in his field and has an honorary degree at the medical school of my undergraduate institution

Letter Of Recommendation
The PI/head of my lab is one of my professors and head chair of the department of one of my majors
Professor of a class I had (received A+) and is a founding father of his field
Head Chief in a hospital (whom I shadowed)

Background:
Not 1st generation, but both my parents didn’t go to college
Low income
African-American male

2

The only way you’re going to find out is to apply. It’s probably worth trying one application cycle to see what happens. If you apply wisely, I think you’ll be successful.

https://www.aamc.org/download/321514/data/factstablea24-2.pdf

Do you have any community service? This is one area where you seem to have a glaring void.

FWIW, med schools tend to average multiple MCAT scores. So your “actual” MCat for application purposes won’t be 36. It’ll be the average of all your scores.

Where you choose to apply will be key in your ability to gain a med school admission. You’ll need to check the MSAR and apply to med schools where your MCAT average is solidly in the middle and higher of their accepted range and your GPA is at or above the 10th percentile. MSAR is your friend, shell out the $30 and use it to make your list. If you have any service with the African American community, you should apply to the HBCUs.

There will be place on med school secondaries (What else do you want us to know?) to explain about your medical issues/concussion. But whatever you do, don’t make it sound like you’re making excuses for your low GPA/sGPA. Adcomms hate that.

Not all med schools consider (or even ask) about legacy status–so don’t count on that to help you. At many med schools about the only thing legacy status guarantees you is a courtesy interview.

Your HS soccer won’t have any effect on your med school application and you probably shouldn’t even list it on your AMCAS primary.

If you do apply and have an unsuccessful cycle, then you’ll need take a couple of gap years to fix your application. Take some challenging upper level bio as a non-degree seeking student at a local 4 year college and ace them. This will demonstrate your ability to be successful in med school. Continue clinical volunteering and add some community service. Then reapply.

Good luck.

3

One thing–most med schools won’t accept a C- in pre-req as fulfilling admission requirements. You’ll need to retake any pre-reqs that you got a C- in. (C is OK, but C- isn’t.)

4

I think that you have an excellent chance of getting into medical school if your LOR’s are excellent and you interview well. You have several major advantages including being African American and at Yale or Harvard with a decent GPA in a difficult major along with a pretty good MCAT score. If you have a strong upward GPA it will show in your transcripts. There are really very few African Americans with your academic record applying to medical school, so your chances are very good.
I do however have some questions about your narrative as it just doesn’t quite ring true for me. First your writing skills leave something to be desired. Secondly why are you getting so many concussions at such a young age? I can understand one or maybe two but not three or four unless you are playing football or involved in something like boxing. I also find it unusual that your grandfather was involved in the field of medicine and neither of your parents went to College. Most parents with a University degree send their children to College. You are not a legacy. lastly, if your name is not on a scientific paper you did not have a major part in that publication. Now you may have good answers to these questions but I am not impressed with any pattern of excellence. Much of what you have done appears to me like ticking off boxes on an application.

5

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Not 1st generation, but both my parents didn’t go to college


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Sounds like you are 1st gen college student.

Why the MCAT range? How many times have you taken and what was each score?

As an AA male, you probably will be desirable since many med schools really want to matriculate more black males.

Make sure the rest of your app is superb.

Others can chime in here. Should the student mention the concussion anywhere? In PS?

6

I think you have a good chance at DO school, don’t ignore that. MD school is 50/50 Gpa is too low and exactly what is your Mcat? 36 is vastly different from 32. And your AA status do help.

Not sure if concussion will help but it should not hurt,IMHO.

7

Not in the PS unless it had a direct influence on the OP’s decision to become a physician. And if mentioned at all, it should be a brief mention and never the focus of the essay. The PS is NOT the place to bring up GPA issues. Doing so will only draw the readers’ attention to the low GPA.

The purpose of the PS is to explain why medicine, not try to explain low grades.

The place to discuss the concussion and its effect on GPA is in the secondary questions. Some med schools specifically ask applicants to explain any low grades. Others ask about overcoming an adverse situation or handling a challenge. And nearly all secondaries ask a ‘Is there anything else you want us to know?’ type question. Any of those are the best place to talk about the effect on the concussion on GPA. The explanation should be straight-forward and factual and avoid any whiff of self-pity or whining.

8

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Not in the PS unless it had a direct influence on the OP’s decision to become a physician.


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That’s what I was thinking/wondering. It would seem like a possible way to cleverly mention the personal experience (not the grade aspect) and how that particular issue (concussions) has become a national and personal concern because of the long-term effects and later more serious consequences of concussions.

But, I can also see how it could be an issue to mention and that the secondary Q’s may be a better place.

9

I think you have a good chance at a DO school, so apply 30 schools with 10 DO and wish the best. Otherwise, if MD is insisted, do not apply this cycle, you can go to an SMP program at GWU, Temple or Drexel and do well in that, they will teach med school material, if you do well in it, you have a better chance.

I know a kid with about your level, did just that and got into a MD school.

My question, just like the others, is what exactly is your MCAT, please post by each section. A 32 and 36 is vastly different and if you did not do well on verbal you might have a problem

10

BTW, FWIW, with your stats, I think you should forget about the TOP 25 med schools. You should be grateful if you can get in any MD schools.