Can I get into medical school?

You’ve probably heard the numbers before and been appalled: 3.6 GPA and 30.5 MCAT. These are the rough averages for getting into a MD program in the USA. But do you NEED to hit those numbers to get in?

The numbers above are only averages and therefore there is a broad range of scores and GPAs that are accepted to medical school every year. Although balanced numbers are preferred, some students rock a 35 MCAT and a 3.2 GPA and get accepted. Others get in with a 3.9 GPA, and a 27 MCAT. Each school also takes into account letters of rec, your personal statement, your extra-curricular activities, and research experience. But keep in mind that if you don’t have a GPA and MCAT that are within some realistic range of the averages of the schools you want to apply, no number of hospital volunteer hours, leadership experiences or letters of recommendation from Obama himself will get you an acceptance. (Well, maybe ;-p)

Like the subsections in the MCAT, it’s better to get have more balanced numbers. Therefore, it’s probably better to have the 3.6 and 30 than a 4.0 GPA and a 23 MCAT or a 37 MCAT and a 2.8 GPA. Low numbers make it easy to weed applicants out with a simple statistical elimination.

So what if you can’t get in ‘the range.”

If you are not within the range, but your dream is to be a doctor, there are still options. Osteopathic medical schools have slightly lower standard for admittance (around a 3.3 and 27 MCAT depending on the school). Osteopathic medicine is based upon the principle that the body is an integrated whole. It has all of the same elements of medical school plus the additional benefits of osteopathic manipulative techniques to diagnose and treat patients. ‘DOs’, or Osteopathic Doctors, are still licensed doctors in the US and can practice in a variety of specialties. I’ve heard it can be more difficult to enter into certain specific specialties later on in residency. That said, there are orthapedic surgion DOs and a range of specialties, it just takes a bit more red tape crossing to enter into an MD residency program.

Caribbean medical schools also offer admittances with lower averages as well. Schools in the Caribbean are generally cheaper, but it is more difficult to later practice in the States. If you are able to study and get competitive board scores throughout medical school, then your chances of practicing in the states or transferring to a US medical school are high.

Don’t forget that you can work in the healthcare field and not be a doctor!

If patient care and being a health care professional is definitely your thing, consider being a nurse, nurse practitioner or a physician assistant. You could also work in policy or health administration by being a master of public health. Nurses and PAs still work directly with patients and administer drugs, put in IVs and are vital to an efficient medical delivery system. You also might find it better than being a doctor! Nurses don’t have to deal with nearly as much blame for medical errors, malpractice lawsuits, years of schooling, debt, and get to spend more time with patients than doctors. Plus, with a few more years of schooling, nurses can become Nurse Practitioners and gain a higher salary, more skills and responsibility.