Can Two Bad Grades Hold You Back from Med School? | Application Renovation (S2 E3)

Today I'm talking with a nontraditional premed who was unsuccessful in her last application cycle. She thinks her low science GPA was the reason she didn't get any interviews. Really, her GPA would've been decent without two bad grades in calculus and pre-calc. Listen in to hear all my advice as I review her app!

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Our student this week applied to med school last year with a down-trending GPA. She is a nontrad who lacked guidance on her premed path. She failed calculus, then only passed pre-calc with a D. In the rest of her prereqs, she got A's and B's. She didn't get any interviews in her first application cycle.

Here are some of the issues we discuss:

• Why did her AMCAS application take so long to get processed (over a month)?

• How can you improve your written description for Institutional Actions (like hers for academic probation)?

• Her Science GPA doesn't look great: Her postbac BCPM GPA is 2.93, her cumulative BCPM GPA is 3.06, and her graduate BCPM GPA is 3.00. Her cumulative undergraduate GPA is not nearly as low, however, at a 3.55.

• What counts as "passing" in your medical school prereqs? On your med school application, "passing" is different from the normal definition we think of.

• For DO schools, calculus would not be counted in your science GPA. So with a couple of low math grades like this, it becomes especially prudent to give DO schools another look.

• Does she need to retake her 509 MCAT (with a 124 Bio subsection score)? She was surprised by my answer!

• Does scribing count as shadowing? How should you write about it in your application?

• How can you write your activity descriptions so that the admissions committees know you actually got CLINICAL experience? And what are the risks of marking activities as "clinical experience" if they aren't truly clinical in nature?

• Why should you use the term "physicians" rather than "practitioners" or "providers" in your application?

• What should you list as the "end date" for extracurricular activities that you're still involved with at the time of your application?

• In your personal statement, how should you balance between storytelling and reflecting about what those experiences meant to you?

• Where do students commonly run into problems when writing about their shadowing experiences in their personal statement?

• We also looked at her school list, which included a fair amount of competitive schools and public out-of-state schools. I give her some advice on how to adjust that list when reapplying.

• How should you document your research publications in your medical school application?

• Is a Special Master's Program (SMP) worth it just to fix a science GPA that's being dragged down by two classes?

For more episodes of Application Renovation, check out the playlist at http://applicationrenovation.com.

Видео Can Two Bad Grades Hold You Back from Med School? | Application Renovation (S2 E3) канала Medical School HQ