HELP ME! - I'm a Senior with a GPA below 3.3!!
1.
Should I apply to medical school this summer? The first thing you need to decide is whether you are going to apply to medical school after Senior year. This is a difficult decision. Our experience is that students with GPAs under 3.3 rarely get interview offers, even if the rest of their application is strong. No interviews means no acceptances. Some students (or their parents) feel that it's a good idea to
“have a crack at it” and see what happens. This is a bad strategy. Not only will you be wasting a lot of time and money (approximately $2000 just to submit your primary and secondary applications) but you will also be hurting your chances of getting accepted in the future. Most schools will
not consider a second application from the same individual unless there are
substantial differences from the previous application, which means waiting at least a couple of years before re-applying.
2.
What happens if I don't apply this summer? The good news is that if you really want to go to medical school you will probably be able to get in eventually. The bad news is that it may take some time. The most important thing to do after graduation is to pursue things that interest you. Not only will you perform better at a job you enjoy, it will help you to define your interests more clearly and will make you a stronger med school applicant. Jobs are also a great opportunity to get good reference letters, so make sure you do your job well. The most popular post-graduation jobs for pre-meds are basic research, clinical research, international development work (eg Peace Corps), teaching at an independent school or through Teach for America, and healthcare consulting. Clinical research is a great option for people who want to work in a hospital environment and interact with patients on a daily basis. If none of these options appeals, you should do what most interests you. We've had alumni accepted to medical school from almost every field you can think of including the media, high-tech industry, management consulting, the non-profit sector, and graduate school, amongst others.
3.
What else can I do to improve my application? No matter what field you choose to enter after graduation, you need to make sure that you are challenging yourself. If your undergraduate GPA was under 3.3 or 3.4 you should seriously consider taking additional science classes through the Harvard Extension School or another university. Courses that relate to your job, or science courses such as biochemistry and molecular biology, are ideal. You will need to be really organized to juggle the demands of your job with the demands of your courses, so be prepared! The benefit of taking courses is two-fold: firstly, you get higher marks on your transcript and secondly, you prove to the medical schools that you can handle multiple competing commitments and do it well. You may also want to do volunteer work at a local hospital or with an organization that caters to kids, the elderly, the homeless, or any other at-risk population. Finally, you should keep in touch with your Winthrop House Pre-med Advisor. Send them an email every couple of months, arrange a meeting if you're passing through Boston, and generally keep them up-to-date with your plans.
5.
What about doing a post-bac program? An alternative post-graduation option is to go the post-bac route. This is most appropriate for students who haven't yet taken the pre-med requirements and who want an intensive year in order to prepare for application to medical school. There are also post-bac programs that cater to students with low GPAs or to students from under-represented minorities. The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) has a helpful
website that lists most of the available post-bac programs. Doing a post-bac program will cost you a lot more money than working and taking night classes and
won't give you any real-world work experience. Some students prefer the security of being in a defined program, however, and some parents want their son or daughter to be in school rather than working. The programs vary in terms of the certification that they offer. Many are “diploma” courses but some do offer Masters degrees. Please note that post-bac programs
do not guarantee acceptance to medical school and, usually, do not prepare you for any alternative career. For this reason we would recommend that you think carefully about this option before choosing to pursue it. You may find that working in a medically-related field and taking evening courses is better preparation for medical school. If you would prefer to be a graduate student then you should consider doing a Masters degree in a field of interest to you. Options include a Masters of Public Health, a Masters of Public Policy, or a Masters of Science.
6.
When should I apply to medical school? We would recommend that you wait at least one year after graduation before applying to medical school. During this time you should try to excel at your job and do some additional coursework in a scientific area. Think carefully about who you will ask to write your reference letters. Strong letters come from people who know you well so make an effort to get to know your boss and co-workers. You should also try to be a model student in your classes - get to know your TFs and professors, go to their office hours, do your homework, ask questions, do all the things you didn't do as an undergraduate! The best time to apply to medical school is right after you've had a really good year. If your first year after graduation doesn't go so well, you hate your job and your boss, and you want to move to a different city, then you might want to wait an extra year before applying to medical school. The best time to apply is when your job is going well, your boss loves you, you've earned good grades in your night classes, and you have a great volunteer job at the local hospital that you really enjoy.
When you're ready to apply to medical school the first order of business is to let us know. Check the Winthrop House Pre-med Website for the name of the current Senior Pre-med Tutor and send him or her an email. Hopefully you've kept in touch with your pre-med advisor and have already told them that you are applying. If not, get in touch ASAP! When choosing which medical schools to apply to, keep an open-mind. Make sure you include a healthy dose of less competitive schools in your application pool. You must
absolutely, definitely, positively apply to your local state school if you are fortunate enough to have one. You should also scour the Medical School Admissions Requirements handbook (a copy is available at OCS and at the Winthrop Resident Dean's office or you can order one online through the American Association of Medical Colleges) to identify medical schools with lower GPA requirements. Most important of all,
APPLY EARLY! Submitting your AMCAS application by mid-July and your secondaries by early September gives you a substantially better chance at admission to medical school than applying late in the season. Don't hurt your chances at admission by being disorganized!
