This is a highly entertaining and useful guide to answering the “Can I still get into medical school with a B?” question. This article shares insight on what you need to do as a college senior to maximize your chances of acceptance into med school. This article also offers lots of advice from those who have been there and done that as well as great advice from some of the premed advisors at a variety of colleges and universities around the country.

The article below presents you with some of the most important information on getting into med school with a b, getting into medical school with a D, getting Bs in pre-med classes, can I still get into med school with a bad first year & getting into med school with b’s. All you have to do is read on.

You will also discover related posts on how many Bs is too many for med school, is an a- bad for medical school & getting into medical school with C’s on Collegelearners.

can you get into med school with bs

College, especially for pre-meds, is a difficult and delicate juggle of many balls; we have to manage courses, extracurricular activities and try to maintain a healthy social life, just to name a few. Inevitably, there are semesters when it all becomes too much to handle, and it’s easy to drop a ball amidst the craziness. A class that seemed tough yet manageable at the beginning of the year can become an insurmountable liability to one’s beloved GPA. There is nothing worse than teetering at, or barely above, the dreaded ‘C’ range with no confident idea of how the grade will turn out at the end of the semester. We know that withdrawing from a course, resulting in a ‘W’ on the final transcript, is an option for all students. But, is it advisable for students planning on applying to medical school? What if it only happens once? What about twice? Students in this position are faced with a couple of options to consider:

Finish out the course. If the end grade is in the ‘A’ or ‘B’ range, the decision paid off.
This is a seemingly straightforward option. Remember, however, that most college courses have few assignments that are heavily weighted. Thus, if you have failed to perform consistently at the ‘A’ – ‘B’ level throughout the semester, this can be a risky decision. Taking advantage of professors’ office hours, tutors and review sessions are excellent ways to steer toward success.

Finish out the course. If your grade is in the ‘C’ range, retake the course for a higher grade or choose not to retake the course and keep the ‘C.’
In general, pre-med students are advised to retake courses in which they have earned a ‘C.’ In reality, one or two ‘C’s will not rule out medical school for anyone, especially for otherwise high-achieving students. The key is an ability to reflect upon how the experience challenged you to be better, which can be communicated in a personal statement and interviews. If you already have a ‘C,’ or two, don’t panic. Analyze your study habits and prepare yourself to tackle your remaining courses in more effective ways.

If you do choose to retake the course, medical schools will likely see both grades; if you are able to get an ‘A’ on your second attempt, the grade will average out to a ‘B.’ Medical schools calculate your AMCAS GPA based off of every single course that you have taken, including incomplete, withdrawn and study abroad courses, college-level courses taken in high school, and even courses expunged from transcripts. The AMCAS GPA is used to evaluate an applicant’s ability to complete medical school and is a determining factor in extending interviews to applicants.

Withdraw from the course and take it again at the same university or another institution.
The decision to withdraw is difficult; it is mentally, emotionally, and financially frustrating. As pre-med students, it is not in our nature to enjoy failure or giving up when things get difficult; we tend to gravitate towards challenges. It is not easy to give up on something that required such hard work and dedication, even when the graded results fail to reflect these efforts. It is not easy to think about having to relearn material and pay for the course yet again. It is not easy to think about the other students who somehow managed to do well in the course, and how it is going to place them at an advantage over you when it comes time to apply to medical schools.

Withdrawing from one course is not going to keep you from attending medical school. Withdrawing from two courses is not going to keep you from attending medical school. Withdrawing from three courses… well now this is starting to look like a pattern and that is what is going to keep you from attending medical school.

During the application process, medical schools take into consideration the rigour of the courses students have taken in order to best prepare themselves for the challenges of medical school and their futures as doctors. If an applicant consistently withdraws from the tough science or math courses at his or her university and then takes these same courses at the local community college, it might send a message to medical schools that the applicant is unable to handle the workload or rigor of medical school.

Take a Deep Breath.
If you’ve already withdrawn from a class, or are planning to do so, it is okay – especially if you are a student with otherwise above-average grades. Clear your head and prepare yourself to crush the remaining classes in your course load – it is better to withdraw from one class than to become so consumed with improving the grade that all the other classes suffer. Medical schools understand that we are all human; sometimes we overcommit ourselves one semester or experience hardships that make it difficult to focus on school. What many college students fail to hear often enough is the importance of taking care of physical, emotional and mental health. In this situation, humility is key. There are many understandable, human reasons to withdraw from a course. How can you take those reasons and explain to medical schools the ways in which those reasons made you a stronger applicant, person, and future doctor?

lowest gPA ever accepted to med school

Because of the sheer volume of medical school applications they have to wade through, admissions officers have to make some initial screening decisions based largely on GPA and MCAT scores. The average GPA for medical school matriculants in 2017–2018 was 3.64 science, 3.79 non-sciences, and 3.71 overall.

How Important is GPA for Med School?

Student boosting GPA for medical school
Generally speaking, your undergraduate performance is the most important aspect of your medical school application. The most competitive medical schools may use national GPA averages as cutoffs for initial selection. But at most medical schools, successful candidates can still score below these national averages, if they are above average in any of the other components of their applications.

Top schools also consider subjective aspects of a student’s academic record, such as the type and difficulty of courses taken, GPA trends (an upward trajectory is good!), special academic projects undertook, and the reputation of your college or pre-med major.

Which GPAs do Med Schools Care About?

Your GPA, for the purposes of applying to medical school, consists of your science GPA, your non-science GPA, and your cumulative GPA. Your science GPA is comprised of grades in medical school prerequisite classes like biology, chemistry, physics, and math. Your non-science GPA is comprised of grades in all your other classes. Each GPA is calculated for your undergraduate career, for any non-degree-seeking postsecondary work, and for any degree-seeking postsecondary programs. In other words, you could conceivably have nine different GPAs! Each medical school has its own policies for deciding which GPA means the most to them when they’re choosing which applicants to interview and/or to accept.

What is a Good GPA for Med School?

It is extremely difficult to get into medical school with a cumulative GPA of less than 3.0. Here’s how med school applicants compare to enrolled students (i.e. matriculants).

How Do Your Grades Measure Up?

Use resources like the MSAR (Medical School Admissions Requirements) database to help you compare your grades to the average med school GPAs for the schools on your list. The MSAR Online is available for a $27 subscription fee to students looking for information on U.S. and Canadian medical schools.

You can also find average GPAs and med school acceptance rates in our online school profiles. Just use our med school search to find the programs you want to research.

Strategies for Applying to a Med School with a Low GPA
If your GPA is on the low side, you’ll need higher MCAT scores to compensate.

But remember: Although grades and scores play a large role in your application, medical schools are also interested in who you are, why you want to be a physician, and whether or not you have a clue about what being a doctor is really like. So, if you’re applying with a less-competitive GPA, here’s what you’ll want to play up on your application:

Exposure to the healthcare field (professional or volunteer work in a hospital, clinic, hospice, or other healthcare setting)
Academic research experience
Leadership and community service
Personal skills and qualities like empathy, communication, and strong interest in the sciences

Why is GPA So Important?

Question: It feels like premeds spend a lot of time stressed out about grades. Why do med schools focus so much on GPA?

Answer: Med schools focus less on GPA than premeds think. They ultimately want to know that any applicant that they admit will be able to successfully navigate the curriculum and the board exam(link is external) (which plays a large role in residency placement). Every school will have a target GPA range in mind, derived from past successes of students in their program. You can see these GPA ranges for individual schools in the MSAR(link is external) (free access at HPA) and GPA ranges for Princeton applicants in our data binder in the HPA office.

Medical schools also look at your GPA, course choices, and especially GPA trends, to learn more about you. Recovering from a lower GPA in one term could be a sign of resilience and persistence (important qualities in future doctors); an upward trajectory can demonstrate a capacity for improvement and adaptability. Continued struggle without making active changes to address them could be a red flag. They will look to your letters of recommendation for corroboration of your potential for academic success.

Beyond your academic profile, your personal competencies and your potential as a classmate, colleague, care provider, are also critical. In addition to academic metrics, medical schools place a high value on community service, physician shadowing, clinical experience, leadership, and performance in the interview when selecting students (see the AAMC Using MCAT Data in Medical Student Selection report(link is external) for more information). They’re also looking for individuals who fit their particular missions (this podcast(link is external) provides a good example of this). And the more experience you have beyond your grades, the more they have to evaluate. Give yourself the time you need and seek the experiences necessary to develop yourself personally and professionally. HPA can help you figure out what experiences can help you achieve this.

How Do Medical Schools Evaluate Grades?
Question: I just had a quick question about how grades are considered by med schools for admission. I am currently taking a schedule with quite a few difficult advanced and graduate-level classes (advanced physical chemistry, and I did integrated science). Would it be considered positive when I apply for medical school and can it compensate for low grades? If, for example, I get a B in the graduate-level class, would that be considered an A normally since it’s a more difficult class?

Answer: It’s impossible to generalize to every medical school admissions philosophy, but in general, we’d say that maintaining balance in everything that you do is key (and we know that this is easier said than done). An ambitious course schedule is something that we certainly highlight when we write your committee letter to medical school, to be sure that they’re aware that it distinguishes you among your peers. That said, if your class schedule is negatively affecting your physical or mental health, leaving you no time to develop important personal competencies (e.g., teamwork, social skills, communication skills) in co-curricular activities, and ultimately not allowing you to enjoy everything that Princeton has to offer, you might reconsider your choices. Don’t forget that medical schools aren’t just looking at your academic ability – they’re looking holistically at your potential as a classmate, colleague and care provider.

To address the second half of your inquiry, a B in a graduate class isn’t a “low” grade by any means, but we would encourage you not to try to make conversions between grades and difficulty of classes. We provide additional context regarding your GPA (in terms of your major, course choices, Princeton’s grading policy, and many other factors), but the GPA is ultimately the number that the medical schools will see. If you’re concerned about your academic progress, don’t hesitate to come in and talk with an adviser about it.

Calculating Your GPA(s)

Question: Dear HPA, I have been wondering about something and couldn’t make it to drop-in hours this week, so I thought I’d email this question. I’ve had a rough year with my independent work and now I’m worried now that my departmental GPA is going to hurt my chances for med school – is it going to?

Answer: Your question gives us the opportunity to clarify the way in which medical schools will (and will not) ultimately look at your grades. When you apply to medical school, your application will require that you calculate two numbers – 1) Your “Science GPA,” consisting of ALL courses you’ve taken at the undergraduate level in biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics (this is called your BCPM) and 2) your “All Other GPA,” which, as is suggested, consists of “everything else,” that is, NOT those sciences. There is, for better or worse, actually no place in the application to list your departmental GPA. Medical schools want confirmation that you are able to handle the sciences that form the foundation for medical education, and they want to know that you’ve taken on a broadly challenging and interesting undergraduate course of study… but ALSO keep in mind that these numbers are parts of a much bigger picture of the overall application that you will submit. Please come by to talk to an adviser about your preparation for the health professions – either academically or otherwise – at least once a semester.

The Science GPA for Med School

Question: What do I count in my premed science GPA? Is it all science courses or just the required premed courses? Do engineering and math classes count? What about astrophysics and geoscience? Thanks so much for your help.

Answer: Your “premed” GPA is more commonly known as your science GPA, and sometimes referred to as your “BCPM” GPA (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math). When you apply to medical schools using the online application, you will classify your courses according to the course content. For example, if over 50% of the content of an engineering course is Biology, regardless of the course number, professor, or department, you can classify the course under Biology. AMCAS leaves these decisions up to you; you are the person who categorizes your courses.

For guidelines on what AMCAS suggests maybe the proper classifications for your courses, refer to the AMCAS Course Classification Guide(link is external) online.

After you submit your application, a verifier will compare your official transcript to the information that you entered in your application. You are responsible for selecting the correct course classification, but AMCAS reserves the right to change classifications if they believe that the classification that you have selected is inaccurate.

Science GPA for Non-MD Professions

Q: I’ve been thinking about applying to professions other than medicine recently. Is science GPA still something I need to worry about? Is it computed the same way for dental or vet school as it is for med school?

A: Allopathic (MD) medical programs look at your grades in all classes that are Biology (including Neuroscience), Chemistry, Physics, and Math (see AMCAS Course Classification Guide(link is external)) to compute a “BCPM” GPA. Osteopathic (DO) medical programs compute a “Science GPA” that does not include Math but does include Biological Anthropology, Engineering, Epidemiology, and Public Health (see AACOMAS Course Subjects Guide(link is external)); veterinary medical programs have a similar system (see VMCAS Course Subjects Guide(link is external)). Dental schools include Math and most types of Engineering within the Science GPA (see AADSAS Course Subjects Guide(link is external)). Other professions that use a standardized application system (e.g., Physician Assistant, Optometry, Pharmacy) will have a similar subject guide – if you have questions about others, let us know and we can help you find that information.

MCAT Score to Balance GPA?

Question: Hi HPA – I’ve talked to older students who took the MCAT who are hoping for high scores that’ll make up for lower GPAs. How high do you need to score on the MCAT to make up for a low GPA?

Answer: Determining whether your academic metrics are competitive for medical schools is dependent on a lot of factors: what courses you took; what the trajectory looked like (did you have a hard first year and then improve over time?); what medical schools you’re aiming for; how strong your academic letters of recommendation will be, especially in the sciences; and the strengths of other aspects of your candidacy, among other factors. A junior with a lower GPA, for instance, would almost always be better off waiting to strengthen other aspects of their candidacy so that their academic metrics had time to improve, they’d have stronger letters (from the thesis, for example), and they’d have more experiences as part of their portfolio before applying. A student who has taken two glide years who showed academic improvement and who has done amazing humanitarian, clinical, or research work (with strong letters to go along with them) has more of these other strengths that may help to offset GPA to a degree.

We talk with students all the time about the strength of their candidacies and we’re happy to do so with you, but if you just want some numbers to go from, for now, the MCAT/GPA grid published by the AAMC(link is external) will give you some data to use as a guide. For example, it shows that among students with a GPA of 3.0-3.1, about 15% were accepted, regardless of MCAT; about 84% of students with a 517 or greater MCAT were accepted regardless of GPA. There are other tables that will give you additional data, including the MCAT/GPA averages by race/ethnicity(link is external) and MCAT/GPA averages by the state of residence(link is external). Accepted Princeton students tend to have a lower GPA and higher MCAT relative to national averages. HPA has additional data that we share with students available in our office. And keep in mind that in addition to academic metrics, medical schools place a high value on community service, physician shadowing, clinical experience, leadership, and performance in the interview when selecting students (see this report(link is external) for more information). In addition to studying for the MCAT and classes, give yourself time to engage in enriching co-curricular experiences.

First Semester GPA
I.
Question: I’m a first-semester first-year. Everyone tells me Princeton will be harder than high school, but how do I know if I’m doing what I need to do when I won’t get grades until midterms?

Answer: It’s great that you’re thinking proactively about doing well here! As a pre-health student, every semester’s grades count, and it’s nice to gain some momentum in this first semester rather than having to dig yourself out of a hole. Your faculty and preceptors will be able to give you suggestions on this – be sure to visit them during office hours! You could ask them for clarification on a topic from class, you could ask them to look over your notes and see if you’re capturing the important points, or you could even sit with them and explain how you understand topics from lecture, to see if you really understand them the way that they expect you to. The McGraw Center(link is external) is another of your best resources to be sure that you’re studying efficiently and effectively. They have a number of workshops about study strategies and effective learning(link is external), they host study halls(link is external) where you can go and work through problem sets with a trained upper-class tutor, or you can schedule a one on one consultation(link is external) where you can talk about what you’re doing in your classes and get suggestions on adjustments that might make you even more successful. McGraw is for any student who wants to do better, not just for students who aren’t doing well. Plus, they hire student leaders to work as tutors and consultants, so if you start going now, you could be setting yourself up for a great job in a couple of years – many of our highly successful premed students have worked for McGraw.

II.
Question: What GPA should I aim to have at the end of freshman fall?

Answer: Try not to place any value judgments on yourself based on your first semester. Whatever grades you receive, you should focus more on the story and the effort behind those grades, and on lessons learned this semester that you can apply to subsequent semesters. If you struggled in one course, think about what you could have done differently—maybe you need to preview information before class, review notes right after class, work with study groups, go to office hours, rebalance your overall course and co-curricular schedule so that you have more time to devote to certain classes. Do the same analysis for courses where you did well—what helped you succeed in these cases? Are there lessons that you can apply to others? Your grades will be less important to medical schools (and to your future career more broadly)—your capacity for improvement, resilience, and growth mindset(link is external) will be much more important.

Creating a Positive Mindset for Exams
Question: I’m a first-year and I’m really nervous about my first midterms. Do you have any advice?

Answer: We talked about this at our Aspiring Docs lunch this week! Here are some of the ideas that we brainstormed:

Read through the McGraw Center test prep tips(link is external), check Principedia(link is external) to see if there’s any specific advice on test prep for your classes or schedule a Learning Strategy Consultation(link is external) to talk through your game plan. Feeling like you’re in control and have a plan can reduce stress.
If you’re nervous about a premed course exam, consult with an HPA Peer Adviser about how they and their prehealth friends studied for their exams.
If possible, do a practice exam sitting in the classroom where you’ll take the real exam, under the same time constraints. This can serve as a “dress rehearsal” for the real exam. As you sit in the room, think about what strategies you’ll use if you start to feel anxious during the exam. What will you focus on in the room to help you re-centre? Are there certain seats that may be better for you (for example, there may be fewer distractions if you sit close to the front, or away from the door).
The night before the exam, get a good night’s sleep. Studies show that getting healthy sleep is critical to your mental health.
On the day of the exam, take five minutes to write down all of your worries about the exam. Putting the thoughts on paper can help you compartmentalize them and keep them from running through your head as much during the exam itself.
Remember that no single test or single grade will make or break your prehealth plans. Go in as confident as you can, try to establish a positive frame of mind, stop and take a deep breath from time to time, and know that every test you take will help you be better prepared for the next one. Good luck!
C on Midterm
Question: Hello – as a freshman it may be a little early for me to be worried about this, but I had a question. I just got my midterm exam grade for my ART class. My grade wasn’t great (it was a C). I’m wondering how big of a role this would play if I apply to med school. I guess it’s better for this C to be in an ART class and not in my CHM class, right? I was pretty disappointed when I saw the grade; I’m not used to doing this poorly. Any advice you can give would be appreciated.

Answer: Yours is a very typical question this time of year, as many students experience post-midterm misery. Let us first point out that you’re a freshman, and you have seven more semesters to shine academically, so you’re right to say that it’s early. An extremely common phenomenon (some might say disorder!) among freshman premeds is the shock one feels upon realizing that Princeton isn’t high school, and the focus and discipline required to excel in high school, while a good foundation, needs to be built upon in college – not rested upon . . . As long as your academic performance continues to improve over the years prior to applying to medical school and your final grade point average is in line with the averages of accepted students at the medical schools to which you’re applying, then some trouble in freshman year – or even sophomore year – is not an issue. In fact, capacity for improvement is one of the qualities that medical schools seeks in its applicants, so take heart and work on improvement!

C in Genetics
Question: I have a question about grades. I am a sophomore. I took Genetics this fall, but I got a C. How much will that jeopardize my chances to apply for medical school and what can I do to make up for that? Should I retake the class for a better grade?

Answer: One low grade isn’t the end of the world. Schools will look at your overall GPA and science GPA (all Bio, Chem, Math and Physics grades taken together); those overall GPAs, plus the strength of your letters of recommendation and MCAT scores, will all be taken into account when considering your academic readiness for med school. Other factors will also be weighed in evaluating your overall readiness to become a physician.

Retaking a C would not be worth the time. better to take another course and do well in it than retake something you’ve already successfully passed. If you chose to repeat, both grades would count equally in your GPA.

Feel free to make an appointment or come by during drop-in hours to discuss your candidacy more holistically!

JP Grades and Calculating GPA’s
Question: Hello. I am a Molecular Biology major and wanted to ask about the calculation of the science GPA for the AMCAS application. Does my junior independent work grade get factored into my science GPA on the AMCAS? Also, is it factored into my Princeton GPA? Thank you so much for your help.

Answer: Yes it does. Your grade is included in both your AMCAS and your Princeton GPA’s. When you complete your AMCAS application during the summer before the year you’d like to enter med school, you will list all of the courses you have taken above the high school level. All of the grades for these courses (as long as credit was awarded) will be factored into your AMCAS GPA’s—your “BCPM” (science), your “All Other,” and your “Cumulative” (overall) GPAs.

PDF-ing
I. How do PDFs look to med schools?
Question: How does PDFing a course affect my application to med school? If it is a class that is not a premed requirement and does not count towards my major, can a PDF have a negative effect on an application?

Answer: The spirit behind a PDF is to encourage exploration and experimentation in curricular areas in which you may have had little or no previous experience.

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II. PDF’ing the English Requirement
Question: For the English premed requirement, I have taken a writing seminar and have PDF-ed another English course. However, I was told that PDF-ing does not count toward my requirements. Is this true? Do I need to take another English course for a grade?

Answer: Yes. All requirements for health professional schools need to be graded. In all likelihood, you will end up applying to some medical schools that require two semesters of English (about half of them do), and all classes that are required for admission or entrance, whether science or humanities, need to be graded. For answers to other questions regarding the English requirement, check out the archived Questions of the Week.

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III. PDF’ing a Biology Course
Question: I have AP in chem and bio, and need to take one upper-level chemistry class and one upper-level biology class as part of my medical school prerequisites. Can these classes be taken PDF, or must they be taken for a grade?

Answer: Because you’re using them for prerequisites, you must take them for a grade. As a general rule of thumb, we recommend taking all of your science courses for grades rather than pdf. As written in the Undergraduate Announcement, the spirit behind the pdf option is “to encourage exploration and experimentation in curricular areas in which the student may have had little or no previous experience.” By the time you’ve reached advanced science electives, most of them will not fall into this exploration and experimentation philosophy. Of course, there are always exceptions to this rule of thumb, and we would encourage you to talk with us about potential implications if you’re considering PDFs in your science course work.

‘PDF’ vs. ‘Audit’
Question: Hi HPA! I am currently taking Economics 101 (Macro) P/D/F. However, this is a very, very a busy semester for me. I also heard from both the professor and other students that it is not uncommon for P/D/F students to be the ones that end up with the D’s in the class because they are typically not the ones pouring their hearts and souls into it. I was wondering whether med schools see any significant difference in taking a class P/D/F or for audit. Econ does not fulfill any of my unmet distribution requirements, and I already have three classes beyond what I will need to graduate. Therefore, Econ is a class that I am taking purely out of personal interest. I was wondering, from the pre-med point of view, whether I may audit it, or whether I should stick with the P/D/F?

Answer: As long as you haven’t audited other classes in the past, go ahead and switch to Audit if you really want to. Having more than one Audit on your transcript may appear overly cautious so limit yourself to one, if possible. Having one ‘audit’ on your transcript doesn’t make much difference, however. Just make certain that you are sitting well with credits toward graduation and that, as a rule, you’re not always shying away from difficult coursework. Also, please do not believe everything you hear about a professor’s grading habits!

PDFing Sciences in Spring 2020
Question: Hi HPA – what’s your opinion on PDFing premed prerequisites? What about advanced science courses?

Answer: As of March 19, 2020, there is no consensus among health professions schools regarding whether P/F grades will be accepted in place of letter grades. Keep in mind that many medical schools are using online learning within their curricula, so this will provide helpful practice. And in medicine, you will often be required to perform under stress and in unexpected circumstances, as you are this semester.

Because you have been given the option of taking the courses for grades, we would strongly recommend maintaining the grade option for your sciences, especially prerequisite courses.

You may consider PDFing other courses, which would allow for more time to focus on those science courses, and be sure to use the McGraw Center’s resources(link is external) to maximize your online learning. Your performance this semester will be a testament to your resilience and adaptability, which are among the core competencies that medical schools seek(link is external) in future physicians.

That said, our hope is that health professions schools will understand the unprecedented circumstances that we are all facing this spring, so if you feel that you need to PDF a science course, reach out to us so we can talk with you and provide advice based on your specific situation. We will try to help convey your rationale and your specific situation in our committee letter of recommendation, but it is still unknown how schools may respond.

Keep in mind that there are a number of medical schools that have moved to competency-based entrance requirements rather than specific courses, so there will be some schools you can apply to, even if other schools ultimately will not accept the PDF grades for prerequisites. We hope to learn more from schools as the semester progresses.

We continue to recommend that you demonstrate academic readiness for the rigor of medical school by engaging in robust graded science preparation (at least 10-12 biology, chemistry, science, and math courses, ideally taken during a full course load), securing strong academic letters of recommendation, and doing well on the MCAT.

PDFing this Semester (revisited)
We’ve received many questions around PDFing—keep them coming! We’re happy to chat about your specific situation. Broadly, as the PDF deadline nears, keep these points in mind:

Most medical schools have stated their policies regarding the pandemic, and most are willing to accept pass/fail grades.
PDF’ing a few non-science and non-prerequisite courses during college has never been a cause for concern in medical school admissions.
Double-check the policies of your public state medical schools and any specific medical schools you’re interested in. We’ve collected links to prerequisites websites for many schools that are popular with our applicants.
Through the HPA committee letter, we help schools understand the context around your academic performance. We will include information about Princeton grading policies, but also customize our letter to describe your own personal situation to try to help allay any concerns that they might have.
Medical schools review applicants holistically, considering all educational and experiential aspects of each candidate. Admissions deans have said that there is rarely if ever a single factor (like a single PDF grade or even a single semester) that will make or break a candidate. Your grade trends, course choices, letters of recommendation, and MCAT scores will all be taken into account as medical schools consider your academic readiness for their programs.
Chat or email with your director of studies, dean, or us if you’d like to talk about your specific situation!

is an a bad for medical school

10 Red Flags That Medical School Isn’t Right for You

If you’re struggling in undergrad science courses because you dislike science, medical school may not be the right fit. (GETTY IMAGES)

Even for students who have always dreamed about a career in medicine, medical school may not necessarily be the right path. These 10 critical questions can lead you to or away from sending in your applications and deserve serious consideration.

1. Does your partner or spouse understand the sacrifices you will be making and still want to support your decision? I remember breaking up with a serious partner when he could not accept the amount of time I had to study or be away nights, weekends and holidays. Only you and your partner or spouse know your values and can discover the right answer. Children also need to fall into the supportive category during your medical training.

2. Have you been honest with yourself about not scoring higher on too many repetitions of the MCAT? Despite thorough test preparation, some students repeatedly take the Medical College Admission Test and achieve the same scores. You will be taking standardized tests for years to come during med school and residency. If you are scoring in the lower 25% of the MCAT, I recommend considering other options.

3. How robust is your GPA? Will it stand up to the 3.7 average GPA of most medical students? There are a few students who have taken a 3.0 with them into a postbaccalaureate program and come out with grades that prove they have truly learned how to handle rigorous courses. However, not every school will look past that 3.0 GPA because it counts in their class average. Some will, and it may be worth that extra one to two years to prove it.

4. Is it what your parents want or is it truly your passion? Med school is too long and hard to push yourself if it isn’t what you want. I have seen students drop out because they couldn’t make themselves like it enough to sacrifice what is required.

5. Are you willing to follow rules and be extremely patient? These qualities are terribly critical to survival as a trainee. You will be taking orders from others for many years to come. That doesn’t mean you can’t think for yourself, but the supervising physician gets the last word in almost every case. You also will have to do the scut work and not the glamorous surgeries for a long time until it is your turn. Patience is important in knowing you don’t control your time, your workday choices and sometimes the burdensome loans. Is patience something you can pull up when needed?

6. Will the inflexibility of medical training take away the control over your life that you don’t want to give up? How about not getting adequate sleep when you are on call? Will it be OK that you don’t get the vacation time you requested or the holidays off you wanted? This is really a burden when family support is far away.[ 

7. Have you loved science and do you thrive in mastering it? Was it easy to get good grades in those courses? You will be spending a lifetime learning more about science.

8. What truly is your passion? Be honest with yourself. Is it making money? Investment banking, financial modeling, accounting or other professions can give you status and a firm financial platform a lot earlier than most doctors and give you more control over your lifestyle. Is it music, art or another creative venture that will have to be put on a back burner for a long time if you go into medicine and perhaps never get back to the level of accomplishment you once had?

9. Do you like volunteering or sacrificing for others? This is really important to see in a med school applicant over a long period of time, often from high school. You can tell when a student puts off volunteering until the end. “Oops, COVID came and I didn’t get to do it.” I am hearing and seeing that the strong applicants did it early because they knew it was important years earlier.

10. Do you really know how hard it is to be a doctor? Did you resist shadowing before the coronavirus pandemic because you didn’t think it was important enough? Do you know the agony doctors have experienced trying to get insurance companies to take seriously appeals for their patients? Have you asked them how many hours they have to give up from their home life to deal with medical records, insurance claims and much more? Know about this and be ready to accept what lies ahead if you decide to become a physician.

can you get into med school with 3 5 gPA

Applicant GPA is one of the most important factors for medical school admissions, which is why many students worry about medical school GPA requirements. Admissions committee look at your GPA and MCAT score to assess your academic prowess and to judge if you have an aptitude for medical sciences.

So, just how important is your GPA? What should you be aiming for? How does your score compare with the score of others? Fear not, this blog will answer these questions and will go over common medical school GPA requirements to help you determine how your GPA holds up against other applicants and matriculants. We will also provide strategies to help you if you have a low GPA.

Please note: Although we have made every effort to provide the most accurate information, admissions information changes frequently. Therefore, we encourage you to verify these details with the official university admissions office. You are responsible for your own results. BeMo does not endorse nor affiliate with any official universities, colleges, or test administrators and vice versa.  If you see an error here, please notify us with the updated information, and we’ll send you a FREE copy of a BeMo ebook of your choosing! You can receive our Ultimate Guide to Med School Admissions, our Ultimate Guide to MMI Prep, our Ultimate Guide to Medical School Personal Statements & Secondary Essays or our Ultimate Guide to CASPer Prep! Please email us at content [at] bemoacademicconsulting.com with any corrections, and we’ll arrange to send you your free ebook upon confirming the information.

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What are the most common medical school GPA requirements

Your GPA is an important consideration for medical school admissions committees. Each university will have its own set of medical school prerequisites and many set minimum medical school GPA requirements to filter out applicants. Admissions committees have thousands upon thousands of applications to review each year, so setting minimum requirements helps to weed out those they do not feel are best suited to handle the rigors of medical school. While there are some medical schools that don’t require the MCAT, many schools do and also set minimum MCAT scores required for consideration, often along with the minimum GPA requirements.

Some medical schools, however, don’t believe in assigning a minimum acceptable GPA because these schools place importance on reviewing applicants holistically and consider every application they receive regardless of GPA and MCAT scores. In line with these views, some schools send out medical school secondary essays to every single applicant, whereas others may screen using GPA and MCAT scores before sending out secondaries. It’s important to note that just because a school doesn’t set minimum GPA or MCAT requirements, it’s not necessarily easier to get into and most accepted students still have very competitive scores.

In general, setting the minimum GPA requirement at 3.0 seems to be a common practice between medical schools that assign these standards. It’s also common to see different GPA standards in place for in-state vs out of state applicants. For example, the University of Calgary sets different GPA requirements for in province vs out of province applicants, requiring a higher GPA for the non-resident group. There are also medical schools that set much higher minimum GPAs, like Virginia Commonwealth University, which sets their medical school GPA requirements at 3.3.

The following table shows the average accepted GPA for last year’s applicants, according to AAMC data (for medical schools in the US) and AFMC data (for medical schools in Canada).

Select fields:

Country

Average Accepted Overall GPA

Average Accepted Science GPA

Average Medical School GPA Acceptance Rates

Country	Average Accepted Overall GPA	Average Accepted Science GPA
Canada	3.62	NA
US	3.73	3.66

Keep in mind that these numbers represent mean statistics, meaning that there were accepted students with both lower and higher scores than these. Also, matriculant data is always higher than applicant data – for example, the mean science and cumulative GPA of last year’s applicants to US medical schools was 3.45 and 3.56 respectively. This shows how competitive medical school admissions are!

Also, calculating Canadian medical schools’ “average” GPA is a little difficult, as they tend to have different GPA requirements for out-of-province students and some schools have their own GPA scales. They re-calibrate student GPAs based on this scale, so it’s difficult to calculate a precise average that takes all schools into account. The given figures are a rough estimate.

So what does this all mean for you? That if you have a low GPA you won’t be accepted and that if you have a high GPA you will be accepted? The truth is, yes, your GPA score is a very important factor when considering whether or not you will receive an interview and acceptance letter. However, just because you have a certain GPA, whether it’s a 3.5 GPA, 3.9 GPA or 3.0 GPA, it’s impossible to determine your exact chances of getting into medical school. That’s because numbers are just numbers, and most admissions committees are interested in a variety of factors outside of your academics. There are students with low GPAs that are accepted and students with near-perfect GPAs that are rejected. Each applicant is unique, both in their academic record and extracurriculars for medical school. There is no exact formula that says x and y will equal admission. Instead, admissions committees focus on admitting applicants with good grades and test scores, strong dedication for helping others and those that can demonstrate suitability for the profession.

Is my GPA competitive

You may have heard that a 3.5 GPA for med school is competitive, but that’s not entirely accurate. What may be competitive at one school is not necessarily competitive at the other. Indeed, applicants with GPAs above 3.5 who score well on the MCAT have better chances of acceptance than those with lower GPAs, even if they did exceptionally well on the MCAT. For example, students with GPAs between 3.40-3.59 who scored greater than 517 on the MCAT have a 70% acceptance rate compared with the 49.8% acceptance rate of those who scored the same on the MCAT but had GPAs between 3.00-3.19. While you can still get into medical school with a low GPA, it’s a lot more difficult, and all other areas of your application need to really stand out.

If your GPA falls between 3.4-3.6, you can still get accepted, but in these cases, a good MCAT score can improve your chances of acceptance. Some of the easiest medical schools to get into report mean matriculant GPAs between 3.5-3.65 which means that even with a lower GPA, you can still be competitive at these schools. What’s important is that you determine what the mean GPA and MCAT scores are at the schools you’re considering so you can target your applications appropriately. Review our medical school acceptance rates blog to find this information at all medical schools in the US.

Why is my GPA important?

Admissions committees highly value an applicant’s transcript because to them, how you perform academically in your undergrad studies is an indication of how you may perform in medical school. If your science and cumulative GPA are on the lower side, it will be difficult to convince the admissions committee that you are a strong candidate. The pressure, stress, and difficulty of medical school isn’t for everyone, so in the admissions committee’s eyes, if you struggled with your undergraduate coursework, you’re likely not capable of handling the medical school workload. The good news is that many medical schools realize that assessing candidates based solely on GPA isn’t effective for selecting the best applicants.

Many students have a hard time adjusting when they first attend university so a few lower grades here and there at the onset of your studies isn’t as serious as low-average grades throughout your entire studies. Similarly, some students choose to enroll in notoriously difficult courses because they think it will look better to the admissions committee when really, these courses weren’t required and only served to pull down their overall GPA. While medical school GPA requirements are still an important part of the admissions process, many schools realize that there is so much more to candidate selection than grades and test scores.

How much weight is placed on GPA?

Even though there is no magic number corresponding to how much weight is placed on GPA in the selection process, it is undoubtedly important. The AAMC conducted a study that surveyed admissions officers at 113 medical schools across the US to find out which areas of application data are important when determining which applicants should be invited to interview and which should be offered acceptances. Admissions officers ranked personal statements, community service, letters of recommendation, MCAT score and both the cumulative and Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Math (BCPM) GPA as the top 5 most important factors for interview invitation. Of these 5 aspects, cumulative and BCPM GPA top the list. When it comes to offers of acceptances, both cumulative and BCPM GPA remain in the top 5 most important considerations, as does community service and letters of recommendation. However, GPA is less important and interview recommendation takes the number 1 spot when committees begin sending acceptance letters. From this study alone, it’s obvious to see that both your cumulative and science GPA are essential in the admissions committee’s decision, both for interview invitation and offers of acceptance.

What to do if you have a low GPA

If you have a low GPA and are worried about your chances of acceptance at medical school, there are a few different strategies you can try to help your case. The avenues open to you will depend on where you are in the medical school application timeline. If you’re still in your undergrad or completing an alternative postgrad degree, you can focus on strategies for improving your GPA. Remember, schools look at the overall “trend” of your GPA as well, and if you can show a steady improvement, that works in your favor with admissions committees. Here are some strategies to improve your GPA:

Be strategic about your classes

Many students are under the mistaken impression that they need to focus only on challenging, high-level science courses to get accepted into medical school. While science courses do form a large part of common medical school prerequisite courses, there are also a few programs that do not ask for any coursework prerequisites or have a broader, more interdisciplinary coursework requirement. Even schools that do ask for science coursework won’t necessarily be impressed with you just because you took challenging courses. Admissions committees look at the GPA as well as the level of difficulty of the course. If you take on too many challenging courses and achieve average to poor results in all of them, that’s not really likely to impress anyone. In fact, your low GPA may even disqualify you from secondary applications in a few medical schools!

That’s why it’s important to be strategic about the types of courses you pick. While making sure you meet the requirements for your chosen medical schools with important science subjects, keep your overall GPA in mind and mix in a few “easy” courses. Most medical schools appreciate students who combine academic excellence in science subjects with an exposure to other humanities and social science disciplines. Also, if you’re really struggling with your workload, think about choosing some courses that you are already familiar and comfortable with, such as subjects you covered during IB or AP classes in school. This can help you get an easy “A” and improve your overall GPA.

However, as you employ this kind of strategic thinking, make sure you also consider your own interests, and the requirements for medical school. You don’t want to go too far in the other direction and end up with a high GPA but a course load that doesn’t meet minimum requirements. Having a balanced undergrad curriculum is critical.

Build good study habits

If you’re happy with your overall course load, and still find yourself struggling to improve your GPA, consider if you need to put in some work towards revamping your study habits. Remember, you will need good study habits and a disciplined, focused outlook to handle the challenging medical school curriculum. Review your study schedule and make sure you are optimizing it for efficiency. Make use of different types of learning resources such as flashcards, guides, question banks, videos, and webinars to help you study more quickly and retain knowledge longer. Consider what kind of learner you are, and which type of learning environment suits you. Are you a visual learner? Try to find videos and webinars related to your coursework to aid you in your study plans. Do you prefer one-on-one studying? Consider taking on a tutor for your toughest subjects.

Your grades could also be low because of poor test performance due to stress, bad health, or any other reason. It’s important to maintain your health despite the challenging and busy premed schedules. Cultivate good habits of sleep, rest, nutrition, and exercise that will help to improve your focus and make you more productive and engaged with your coursework.

The closer you get to the actual medical school application season, the less time you have for improving your GPA. The next few tips are applicable for students who are approaching or already in the medical school application season and don’t have much scope to improve their GPA before the application deadline.

Do well in your MCAT

This is absolutely critical to keep your application competitive despite a low or average GPA. Medical school admissions committees are looking for proof of your academic prowess and ability to handle the tough medical school curriculum. Your GPA and MCAT are the two most important indicators of this ability, so if one is low, the other should be, at the very least, above average.