Medical Education US

For anyone out there with information,

I am currently a junior trying to complete my BS program in Psychology. I just recently decided that I wanted to pursue a career in psychiatry, but I do not know what it exactly takes to get into medical school. I understand that one would need satisfactory MCAT scores, letters of recommendation and a good G.P.A., however, I was wondering how high of a G.P.A. is needed to be accepted (the lowest allowable)? Also, what is considered as a good score on the MCAT?

Thanks,
Jason

[ Edited by TruHuSKa98 on 2004/4/23 16:04 ]

Hard for me to say what the lowest allowable GPA is to get into medical school - a lot depends on the particular school and what they are looking for. I've known some people get accepted with lower GPA's because they had exceptional abilities they had demonstrated in other areas of their lives before med school.

As for averages, though, I can show you those - check out this forum thread:

average MCAT scores and GPA for medical school applicants

Dr. Admin,
Thank you for your reply. It was pretty helpful. Looks to me like I have some work to do. See ya later and have a good day!

Sincerely,
Jason

I am currently a second year psychiatry resident. One thing I would strongly recommend for everyone thinking of entering medical school, particularly for those with humanities majors, is volunteer experience in some kind of clinical setting. Admission interviewers want to have some kind of evidence that you are not only serious about pursuing a career in medicine but that you have or are working on developing the people skills necessary to be an effective physician. Experience in a psychiatric facility is probably not necessary and may actually be less of a good idea than volunteering or working in a more traditional medical setting. For we former humanities majors (I was an English major) proving that we can handle the science that is the foundation for most of the current biological approach to medicine is very important. When I was in college I worked as a athletic trainer for one of our varsity teams.