It’s the biggest fear of every pre-med student: doing everything you can to realize your dream of becoming a doctor, but being done in by a low GPA
Linda Abraham (@Accepted) a leading med school admissions consultant, tackles this issue head on in 4 Ways to Get Accepted With a Low GPA.
Abraham counsels students to focus on showing that you have overcome whatever flaws led to the low GPA in the first place e.g., you had a bad freshman year, but great grades since then) while also providing positive reasons for a school to be excited about accepting you now (your experiences in medical settings, volunteer work, research projects, etc.)
According to Sarah Russell, director of admissions at MUA, a GPA should never be looked at out of context. “We want your whole story, including what steps you have taken to address your GPA score. That tells us much more about you and it’s a proven way for us to identify the students who have what it takes to graduate.” For more about MUA’s admissions policies, go to our admission's pages.