Medical Education US

Hey,

I am a first generation college student as well as a Puerto Rican male attending a small state college in New York and am transferring to a second tier private university (st. lawrence university) in the fall.

I have not taken any pre-med requirements although I scored excellent in chemistry in high school and I am quite passionate as well as knowledgable in Chemistry/Organic Chemistry

I ended my first semester of college with a 1.42 gpa, and am on an upward incline, although, I am quite sure the rigor at SLU differs vastly from my small SUNY college. I am more concerned with how medical schools will think of my gpa. My gpa is 2.65 and should be 2.8-3.0 after Spring semester.

My gpa is due various issues although I have since overcome most of them and will deal with what I must.

Q: Will I be able to get my gpa to somewhere competitive in the next two years? (Given that I do well for the most part minus the transfer bump).

Thank you.

Cyrus_Blake,

Obviously that first semester's grades are hurting your GPA significantly. You must have averaged around a 3.2 the other two semesters (assuming you just finished your 3rd semester of college). The 3.2 GPA is on the border of what can get you in to medical school. Obviously, the better your grades are the next two years, the more your GPA can improve. In general, the pre-med science courses are very challenging.

You can view tables with the GPA and MCAT scores were for minority students accepted to medical school here. That should give you a better idea of what your chances are based on your GPA, but your MCAT scores can help (or hurt you) significantly.