As a current 3rd year medical student I wish I had found this before. From my personal experience shadowing in the OR with a surgeon was the best clinical experience for my application, I was also a scribe. All in all I respect Dr. Gray for helping and sharing his story. The application process is hard and I think if you find something you're passionate about and mold your application around that with related LORs is what gave me a chance. I was also very dedicated to the underserved community, took 3 years between my undergrad (working) and did all the volunteer, mission trips, and homeless service I could. I am passionate about this, find your lane and run with it. my scores weren't amazing but competitive, but at least it helped me.
Wish her the best. I am applying this summer. I started with a 3.49 ended up after another year with a 1.92. Took a break to get my stuff together. Gotten As ever scince in general chemistry, anatomy physiology, general microbiology , pathogenic microbiology, immunology, foundations of neuroscience, cognative neuroscince, and genetics. I am taking human pathophysiology with the pa students this fall. Never say never my cummlative gpa will be low. But I have had around a 3.8 in upper sciences. I'm also and publishing a few resrach articles. I plan on emailing admissions like he said. That's amazing that you have two bachelots a post bac and a phd. Good luck I'll pray for you.
Dr. Gray, how do we know admissions committees are taking the time to look at GPA trends? If a school decides their hard cutoff is a 3.5 for sGPA or cGPA, will they even bother to see a student might have struggled initially but then had a 4.0 for 3 years straight? I'd just appreciate if you elaborate on this more because I know you stress not to focus so much on that final number, but I can't imagine all schools are looking at applications in this holistic manner especially top-tier schools. Thanks for doing what you do!
Does a chaplain in a clinical pastoral education program at a hospital count for clinical experience? Most of my job was providing spiritual and pastoral care for patients but some was doing so for staff. I did attend Treatment Team Meetings regularly and worked on-call and regular hours in several clinics and in-patient units. Just found your channel today and love it. I think this person is closest to my situation so far.
I have a similar situation, but moreso, that I decided I truly wanted to go into medicine in the Winter semester of my third year... now I'm at roughly an undergraduate CGPA of 3.5 which is below the cut off for Canadian schools.
Hi, I found your channel recently and I’m in need of so much help. I’m desperately searching for guidance. I truly want to be a doctor. I’ve known for years that I wanted to be a physician to meet people one on one and help them be better/improve their lives and be a partner with them as a doctor one they can trust and communicate with(especially minorities and underserved communities just because I know there is a lot of extra knowledge and support needed in these communities) my problem is that I’m headed into senior year with a 3.11 GPA in Biomedical engineering. I transferred to university and This major has been such a hard obstacle. To learn how to problem solve in this way, how to study efficiently and handle the load has been a journey . I’m no genius. I have to work or everything (not complaining just saying that I wasn’t one of the students who just “got it”) and well I sort of gave up on being a doctor. I did only a few shadowing (internal medicine, optometry) but I saw that I needed to put aside medical school for my sanity as I tried to do my major and still be involved on campus (out reach director of poetry Club, active with my campus ministry and church groups) I decided that I’d stick with just going to the military after school but my heart for being doctor has come back . I can’t leave this earth knowing I never even tried. It hurts thinking of not trying and it feels impossible to even try. So I want to try after I graduate but I don’t know what to do. If I do try something, I’ll join reserves but if I don’t I may just go active rite. But the point is, I truly truly just don’t know what to do to achieve this goal. What should be the game plan?? I’m seriously I just in need of some guidance . I hate the post bacc idea just because of the money but I do know about it.
Can you talk more about post bacs and how they actually help your Gpa? Or if they don’t help your undergrad gpa they just have a separate section under the medical school app?
Thank you Dr. Gray for your videos. I am in a similar situation but science GPA is below 3.0 and I am planning to take the MCAT on June 28th. My question is should if I get a good score on the MCAT but since my GPA is below 3.0 , should I even apply to medical school or DO schools? Or focus on getting into post bac and then apply to med school later? My extracurricular and clinical experiences are pretty solid with lot of involvement in school and worked a part time job as well. Any feedback would be appreciated.
This video has been so helpful. I graduated 6 years ago with a bachelor's in accounting and a 2.9 GPA. Now I want to go back to get into med school and I am worried it wont happen because of my poor GPA. Hoping to ace all of the science classes I have to take for prerequisites. Not sure if I should go back and get a second bachelor's or not.
Ace those science classes and then re-evaluate. You might not need to do the post-bac but it all depends. Focus on those classes for now and you'll be great.
Hi Dr. Gray, Is it ever okay to request to connect to admission officers from schools you’re interested in going to on LinkedIn? I noticed even if they don’t connect back they view your profile 🤷🏾♀️
Are these advice sessions free? And if someone if not comfortable showing their face, would you still have an advice session with them? (I guess the skype logo would show when they are speaking)
What matters most overall is your GPA. An A- is worth 3.7 grade points while an A is worth 4 grade points. If you're applying via TMDSAS, the signs don't matter an A+ or A- will convert to an A.
I took a class and didn’t expect the final awful grade, retook it and did much better which replaced the grade but amcas still counted that awful grade which completely brought down my actual gpa. Should I write letters to schools explaining or just got for it? I had a much higher masters degree gpa but I’m afraid of getting kicked out before secondaries 😓
I think you should go for it. Some schools may see your improvement and give you a shot if the other parts of your application are strong! Be positive.
I also am a non trad student with 4 kids at home, 2 bachelors and trying to go through this application cycle. I wonder if in my personal statement I can highlight my most meaningful experience or if I let this experience to the short essays? My GPA is around 3.30. Is it enough? I am taking the MCAT in september.
I think the problem is that she did the post bacc as a “grad” post bacc. That’s unheard of. Doing a post bacc that doesn’t contribute to you undergrad gpa doesn’t make much sense to me.
I literally have the same story as her but a little better GPA, I'm glad to see another person who started as a cook and then wanted to do more.
OMG! Same here this is my year to apply and it’s crazy to reflect back on my journey. From culinary school to now.
Y'all wanna chop vegetables fr
As a current 3rd year medical student I wish I had found this before. From my personal experience shadowing in the OR with a surgeon was the best clinical experience for my application, I was also a scribe. All in all I respect Dr. Gray for helping and sharing his story. The application process is hard and I think if you find something you're passionate about and mold your application around that with related LORs is what gave me a chance. I was also very dedicated to the underserved community, took 3 years between my undergrad (working) and did all the volunteer, mission trips, and homeless service I could. I am passionate about this, find your lane and run with it. my scores weren't amazing but competitive, but at least it helped me.
Wish her the best. I am applying this summer. I started with a 3.49 ended up after another year with a 1.92. Took a break to get my stuff together. Gotten As ever scince in general chemistry, anatomy physiology, general microbiology , pathogenic microbiology, immunology, foundations of neuroscience, cognative neuroscince, and genetics. I am taking human pathophysiology with the pa students this fall. Never say never my cummlative gpa will be low. But I have had around a 3.8 in upper sciences. I'm also and publishing a few resrach articles. I plan on emailing admissions like he said. That's amazing that you have two bachelots a post bac and a phd. Good luck I'll pray for you.
Great job
did you end up getting in?
Did you end up getting in?
I like her personality:)
Dr. Gray, how do we know admissions committees are taking the time to look at GPA trends? If a school decides their hard cutoff is a 3.5 for sGPA or cGPA, will they even bother to see a student might have struggled initially but then had a 4.0 for 3 years straight? I'd just appreciate if you elaborate on this more because I know you stress not to focus so much on that final number, but I can't imagine all schools are looking at applications in this holistic manner especially top-tier schools. Thanks for doing what you do!
i do not see any school that has a cut off at 3.5, according to MSAR. Most are around 3.0
These videos are so helpful, thank you so much Dr. Gray! I watch every single one :)
Thanks!!
Does a chaplain in a clinical pastoral education program at a hospital count for clinical experience? Most of my job was providing spiritual and pastoral care for patients but some was doing so for staff. I did attend Treatment Team Meetings regularly and worked on-call and regular hours in several clinics and in-patient units. Just found your channel today and love it. I think this person is closest to my situation so far.
She's so educatedddd
Keep up the amazing work doc! Always looking forward to your videos ☺️
I have a similar situation, but moreso, that I decided I truly wanted to go into medicine in the Winter semester of my third year... now I'm at roughly an undergraduate CGPA of 3.5 which is below the cut off for Canadian schools.
Oh man the line between shadowing and clinical experience is so tricky I feel overwhelmed
It’s not super tricky. Traditional shadowing is super passive.
can you do update interviews/videos of what ended up happening to these pre-meds?
I am also curious to know if she ever got in.
Hi, I found your channel recently and I’m in need of so much help. I’m desperately searching for guidance. I truly want to be a doctor. I’ve known for years that I wanted to be a physician to meet people one on one and help them be better/improve their lives and be a partner with them as a doctor one they can trust and communicate with(especially minorities and underserved communities just because I know there is a lot of extra knowledge and support needed in these communities) my problem is that I’m headed into senior year with a 3.11 GPA in Biomedical engineering. I transferred to university and This major has been such a hard obstacle. To learn how to problem solve in this way, how to study efficiently and handle the load has been a journey . I’m no genius. I have to work or everything (not complaining just saying that I wasn’t one of the students who just “got it”) and well I sort of gave up on being a doctor. I did only a few shadowing (internal medicine, optometry) but I saw that I needed to put aside medical school for my sanity as I tried to do my major and still be involved on campus (out reach director of poetry Club, active with my campus ministry and church groups) I decided that I’d stick with just going to the military after school but my heart for being doctor has come back . I can’t leave this earth knowing I never even tried. It hurts thinking of not trying and it feels impossible to even try. So I want to try after I graduate but I don’t know what to do. If I do try something, I’ll join reserves but if I don’t I may just go active rite. But the point is, I truly truly just don’t know what to do to achieve this goal. What should be the game plan?? I’m seriously I just in need of some guidance . I hate the post bacc idea just because of the money but I do know about it.
I had a 3.7 GPA and I thought that was horrible! Not to mention sssssssooooooooo many grad schools made me feel like it was low too.
so is a 3.7 bad for medical school?
Which episode is Dr. Gray referring to regarding the student with the 2.7 -> 2.5 GPA? I’m
Interested and I’m pretty sure more ppl are too
Can you talk more about post bacs and how they actually help your Gpa? Or if they don’t help your undergrad gpa they just have a separate section under the medical school app?
Thank you Dr. Gray for your videos. I am in a similar situation but science GPA is below 3.0 and I am planning to take the MCAT on June 28th. My question is should if I get a good score on the MCAT but since my GPA is below 3.0 , should I even apply to medical school or DO schools? Or focus on getting into post bac and then apply to med school later? My extracurricular and clinical experiences are pretty solid with lot of involvement in school and worked a part time job as well. Any feedback would be appreciated.
I suggest re-taking the classes you got a C or lower. But you need to NAIL the MCAT. Apply to carrebian schools
Thank you Dr. Gray.
She reminds me of the girl from American Pie.
OMG YAS
As a nurse for 4 years do I need to do some shadowing?
Would a pharmacist count as clinical experience? I work in hospital and retail
This video has been so helpful. I graduated 6 years ago with a bachelor's in accounting and a 2.9 GPA. Now I want to go back to get into med school and I am worried it wont happen because of my poor GPA. Hoping to ace all of the science classes I have to take for prerequisites. Not sure if I should go back and get a second bachelor's or not.
Ace those science classes and then re-evaluate. You might not need to do the post-bac but it all depends. Focus on those classes for now and you'll be great.
Good thing is that your undergrad degree was non-science....they almost wont care if you ace 32 + credits of pre-reqs. My two cents...good luck!
The length of excuses I hear some premeds make. “In cooking school we could just fail and take it again so that’s how I approached pre med courses” 😐😐
Get out of her face
it wasn’t really an excuse. she was simply explaining her situation and why she had a horrible gpa.
Hi Dr. Gray, Is it ever okay to request to connect to admission officers from schools you’re interested in going to on LinkedIn? I noticed even if they don’t connect back they view your profile 🤷🏾♀️
I wonder if she ever got in. I hope so!
Are these advice sessions free? And if someone if not comfortable showing their face, would you still have an advice session with them? (I guess the skype logo would show when they are speaking)
Yes, they are free. Yes. You have to show you’re face.
Bruh just man up and show ur face lol he legit saves your future so its worth it
Thank you for making these videos :) I was wondering if you had information about applying to medical schools in Canada?
Nothing super specific. I’ve done a few Premed Years episodes you could look for.
@@MedicalSchoolHQ thanks :)
How big of a difference is an A- compared to an A in the eyes of med schools? Obviously an A is preferred but I currently have more A-‘s than A’s.
What matters most overall is your GPA. An A- is worth 3.7 grade points while an A is worth 4 grade points. If you're applying via TMDSAS, the signs don't matter an A+ or A- will convert to an A.
She's awesome
I took a class and didn’t expect the final awful grade, retook it and did much better which replaced the grade but amcas still counted that awful grade which completely brought down my actual gpa. Should I write letters to schools explaining or just got for it? I had a much higher masters degree gpa but I’m afraid of getting kicked out before secondaries 😓
I think you should go for it. Some schools may see your improvement and give you a shot if the other parts of your application are strong! Be positive.
I also am a non trad student with 4 kids at home, 2 bachelors and trying to go through this application cycle. I wonder if in my personal statement I can highlight my most meaningful experience or if I let this experience to the short essays? My GPA is around 3.30. Is it enough? I am taking the MCAT in september.
What your degree in and what your school.
I think the problem is that she did the post bacc as a “grad” post bacc. That’s unheard of. Doing a post bacc that doesn’t contribute to you undergrad gpa doesn’t make much sense to me.
I WANT TO TALK WITH YOU, IS IT POSSIBLE
Great content and subscribed! Would love hear what you think of our grad school channel. Thank you very much.
She seems nice but doesn’t seem like she knows what she wants lol
First!
Second?
Apply broadly to DO too and Burrell COM and UNM