You’re a pre-med college freshman sitting in your intro chem class. You understand your professor’s statements about atomic orbitals. You sink back in your chair and start thinking of attending your first biochemistry class in medical school. Life is good. What you may not know at this point is that only about 17% of freshman pre-meds get into medical school. Four people in your five-person study group aren’t getting in. Yet, you sit blissfully unaware of the facts surrounding medical admissions.
Admission into medical school remains one of the single most daunting feats any undergraduate student can hope to achieve. The requirements may vary by school, but overall, the consensus is that high GPA and MCAT scores are required. I tell my pre-med students the safest course of action is to maintain a science GPA of A-. Medical school admission is so competitive they don’t merely look at a student’s overall GPA. There are three types of GPAs, at least in the realm of medical admissions: the Science GPA, non-Science GPA and the overall GPA. One might say that the very existence of such statistics is a reflection of the competitive nature of medical admissions.
Great, so you’ve maintained an A- GPA among your science courses. And you’ve taken the MCAT, and you can’t wait to apply! Not so fast! First, you have to ensure you’ve taken all prerequisite courses. That’s right, the simple act of applying to med schools has prerequisite courses. You can apply without having taken all required courses, but you won’t be seriously considered as an applicant. Not only that, but an advisor from one’s undergraduate program usually compiles and submits all documents needed for admissions after stamping them with a seal of approval.
By now you’ve probably pictured med admissions as running a set of hurdles. The first hurdle is freshman science. The second hurdle is the dreaded organic chemistry class. The third hurdle is hoping your professors know you well enough to write you decent letters of reference. The list goes on, but ultimately a strong application has a good GPA, MCAT scores, your CV, letters of reference and your un