were planning it to be, and now you're worried about your chances of getting into medical

school.

Or maybe you decided late in your college career to pursue something as rigorous and

competitive as medicine.

I have good news – there is still hope.

Here's what you should do.

What's going on guys, Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com.

I'll start by saying your GPA is one of the most important factors in your application.

The importance of learning from your mistakes and changing systems to produce more desirable

results cannot be overstated.

This is a skill that will serve you well as a future medical student, physician, and human

being.

If you are unwilling to revisit your systems and optimize your studying, learning, and

testing strategies, you will not be successful in this journey.

We provide dozens and dozens of videos and blog posts

on how to optimize your GPA and MCAT – if you haven't already, these free resources

are going to be the best place to start in improving your study habits and strengthening

your numbers.

Now in order to strengthen an application with a weak GPA, we first have to understand why

medical schools care so much about your GPA.

It comes down to one thing: can you handle the rigors of medical school?

At Med School Insiders, our team's combined dozens of years experience on medical school

admissions committees and advising students have made us intimately familiar with the

ins and outs of the medical school application process.

Medical schools are particularly interested in your science GPA and MCAT to judge whether

or not you can keep up with the demands of medical school.

The material isn't particularly challenging, but the quantity and the rate at which you

learn is unprecedented.

As they say, learning in medical school is like drinking from a fire hydrant.

Understanding this, it makes sense that the best thing to do with a low GPA is to perform

well on the MCAT. That won't just happen from just wishing it into existence though.

It's a matter of restructuring your study strategies and study habits.

We have several videos on this channel and blog posts on our website outlining how I

got a “100th” percentile score (in reality can't go higher than 99.9)

and we also go into how you can also achieve a top score by utilizing a series of systems

and study strategies.

To take your score to the next level, we also offer tutoring with top MCAT scorers on our

website, so you can actually learn from the best.

But let's say you've already taken the MCAT and your score isn't where you want

it to be.

Here are the next steps.

First, decide if you need to retake the course. If you have a D or an F in any of your pre-requisite

courses, including biology, chemistry, physics, math, english, biochemistry, psychology and

sociology, etc., you need to retake the course.

Simple.

Learn from your mistakes the first time around and crush it on the second go.

It's imperative that you master this material, not only for the MCAT, but schools will also

require at minimum a passing grade to count the pre-requisite as fulfilled.

There's no need to retake a course for a B or a B-.

Retaking a course with a C is generally not necessary either, unless you are particularly

weak on the material and need it for the MCAT.

Some suggest retaking or even auditing a course if you need a refresher prior to taking the

MCAT.

I would argue against this.

Your time is better spent learning from high yield MCAT resources and doing practice tests. Not sitting in a classroom.

Number 2, Bolster Your Transcript. Let's be realistic here.

Your GPA can only change so much, even if you were to get straight A's from here on

out.

That's just simple math.

With each subsequent semester, your GPA becomes more and more set in place and harder to change,

either up or down.

Schools understand this, and if you had a suboptimal early career in college, they don't

expect you to have a 3.9 by the time you graduate.

Rather, demonstrating a consistent upward trend is essential. This is much more encouraging

for a medical school to see – perhaps you have learned to hone your study strategies

and are now ready for the rigors of a medical school curriculum.

For this reason, the second half of your university transcript is going to be more important than

the first half.

If you've already graduated, consider taking 1-2 years for a post-bacc or special master's

program, preferably one offered at a medical school.

Do not take these programs lightly – solid performance is warranted.

Shoot for at least a 3.5 or higher if you're going the D.O. route, and a 3.7 or higher if you are going

the M.D. route.

Formal post-bacc programs are more targeted

to those who are switching careers, and mostly provide the pre-requisite courses.

Certain programs have reputations of graduating a significant portion of non-traditional students

into affiliated medical schools.

You could absolutely do the same thing independently at a nearby college.

Of course, a four year program would be stronger than a community college.

But, if costs are a major concern, don't rule out the community college option.

If you do opt for a do-it-yourself path, take classes that are similar to what you will

be taking in medical school.

For example, anatomy, cell biology, histology, immunology, molecular biology, pathology,

physiology, etc.

Now SMP's generally offer classes that are medical

school level, or at least cover the same material, and last either 1 or 2 years.

These are generally affiliated with medical schools and can be promising routes to gaining

admission.

You'll be gaining exposure to medical school faculty in the process, which can be a significant

advantage.

However, this comes at a significant financial cost.

Additionally, SMP's are considered high risk, high reward.

If you perform poorly and cannot get into medical school, then your SMP degree won't be of

much help elsewhere.

Ultimately, the post-bacc vs. SMP route is highly personal and will depend on multiple

factors on an individual level.

Number 3, Strengthen Your Experiences and Extracurriculars. While applying to medical school requires

you to check certain boxes, we at Med School Insiders believe in a more individual approach.

Many of us were competitive college athletes, dancers, artists, and musicians.

Every applicant will have completed volunteering, gotten clinical exposure, and done some level

of research.

Definitely do not overlook these important aspects of the medical school application.

However, I advise you to consider a more holistic picture to the process rather than just completing a checklist

Target research you enjoy – it doesn't have to be basic science cancer research.

By doing research you are genuinely interest in, you'll be more likely to work harder,

excel, earn an abstract or publication, and even get a stronger letter of recommendation.

By pursuing extracurriculars that you enjoy and by working on developing yourself into the

type of person that will become an excellent physician, you will be much more successful

in the end.

I was fascinated by the brain, and so I volunteered in the emergency department where I enrolled

stroke patients into clinical research protocols.

I enjoyed it, I got volunteering experience, and clinical research on top of that.

On the side, I was the Lead Designer in an organization which allowed me to pursue my

artistic interests and hone my leadership skills.

Ultimately, both the stroke research and being lead designer were beneficial in my path to

becoming a doctor.

Number 4, Consider D.O. and Caribbean M.D. Schools. The fact remains that osteopathic D.O. schools

and Caribbean M.D. schools are significantly easier to get into than United States allopathic

M.D. schools.

In addition, D.O. schools are much more forgiving for low GPAs with an upward trend.

If you haven't already, be sure you consider your options and weigh the pros and cons of

each path.

For most students, I advise going D.O. over Caribbean M.D., but that may change based

on a few variables.

Ultimately, each applicant is unique and there isn't a single answer that is best suited

for everyone.

Hopefully you found the advice in this video helpful and relevant to your situation.

If you need additional personalized help, visit MedSchoolInsiders.com to speak with

one of our physician advisors - they have real medical school admissions committee experience.

These are the best people to learn from, because they've been in your shoes, and have actually

served on the adcoms at top institutions.

Whether you need tutoring in chemistry or editing your personal statement or even

need help planning out the next 2 years so that you optimize your performance on the MCAT,

we've got you covered.

Use the coupon code LOWGPA to receive $20 off your purchase of $100 or more.

Coupon is valid for the first 20 customers.

Thank you all so much for watching.

If you found this video helpful, let me know with a thumbs up.

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so you don't miss the next upload.

If you have any additional questions, let me know down in the comments.

And I will see you guys in that next one.