<p>"I think that it might be pertinent to note that MIT uses a 5.0 GPA, whereas I’m pretty sure that Harvard, Princeton, etc. etc. use a 4.0 system, don’t they?</p>
<p>Therefore 3.77 at MIT = C+</p>
<p>70% of MIT graduates getting into medical school with a C+ GPA? Pretty good, I think."</p>
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<p>I think everyone has to convert their GPA to a 4.0 scale, so I assume the 3.77 is out of 4.0. Like most statistics, they don’t tell the whole story I’m sure. Probably it’s not a symmetric curve around 3.77. I imagine that most of the people getting in are around 3.6-4.0/4.0 but then there are some people with low GPAs that apply for the hell of it that brings the admittance rate down to 70%. From what I understand, at ivies they wouldn’t let those people apply. I do know an MIT person who had slightly less than a “B” average in biology that got into a top 5 medical school. (I don’t know what her GPA was for sure, but midway through junior year I think it was like 3.8/5.0.) It took her a long time to get into medical school though–she had years of medically related community service after graduation. There was another MIT guy who got into Harvard Med with a 3.8/5.0 GPA, but ironically it was the only med school which took him. I’m sure there MCAT scores were very competitive. </p>
<p>My feeling is that if you get a 4.2-4.3/5.0 GPA, you will probably get in somewhere–especially considering MIT people tend to be able to get outstanding MCAT scores. If not, you can take like a year of post-bacheloriate coursework at an easier place to boost your undergrad GPA slightly.</p>