<p>I talked to the Dean of Admissions at Harvard Medical School and he said they didn’t care about GPA as long as you were “in the range”, which he defined to be about 4.6/5.0 or above. </p>
<p>However, he added that he had a 3.8/5.0 in biology at MIT and got into Harvard Medical School anyway. He said he was screwing up in school and wasn’t sure what he wanted to do in life, and then after sophomore year he discovered on a trip cross-country on a Harley Davidson that he wanted to be a doctor. After that he raised his GPA to a 3.8. He also claimed to have “totally awesome research” as an undergrad. Incidentally, he said he was rejected from all other medical schools he applied to. It tells you how subjective medical school admissions can be.</p>
<p>In general, though, just concentrate on the GPA. You can always take a year off after you get your degree and do some community service.
The best strategy is to spend as much time as you can studying your first two years until you establish yourself. You can do other stuff, but don’t do things that are work to you. And try to get off-campus when you can (IAP and summer.) The campus can get to you.</p>