Graduate GPA

I am not sure if I should start this thread in another forum.


I am just worry about the graduate GPA. I got an MBA and I had a low 3.45 GPA (just for the MBA part). Which is sad because there was a lot of folks that were not particularly bright, yet ended up with 4.0. I have plenty of good reasons for this but there is no point in sharing them, it won’t change the numbers.


I am taking my pre-reqs right now and feel confident that I will end-up with a 4.0 or close (baring any act of god). . For now, in GChem my scores are perfect (I kind of screwed up on 1 exam and got 97, the class average was 68). I also have a PhD in Biochem (graduated top my class back in France). I excelled in all the science classes in the past explaining my confidence in the pre-reqs GPA.





How will the low grad GPA factor in my application if at all?


Thanks for your input.

A 3.45 graduate GPA isn’t horrible and likely won’t be a factor.


What is generally true of graduate GPAs is that a good/great graduate GPA won’t make up for having a crappy/mediocre undergrad GPA, but that a poor graduate GPA CAN hurt your application (especially if you had a low undergrad). What you tend to see is people who didn’t get into medical school doing graduate degrees (MPHs, for example) thinking that the MPH or whatever will help them get into med school. Generally, it won’t.


There ARE some graduate degrees that might help - SMPs can be looked upon favorably, as well some pure science degrees. I’ve known a few people who didn’t get into medical school who did graduate degrees in anatomy and were then able to get into medical school (of course, being able to get LORs from professors who are also professors at the medical school is helpful.

From what I understand, the graduate GPA is given little attention, especially if it was in a non science-related subject. This is probably less true if your graduate GPA was low, but many graduate programs out there require you to have at least a 3.0 GPA to graduate, so there is typically a floor to how low the GPA can be. If you prove you can ace the science courses and do well on the MCAT, I don’t see why a relatively low graduate GPA from years ago should make a big difference.


Also, your post made me laugh. I never considered myself to be particularly bright or a great student, but still got my MBA with a 3.9 GPA

DaveMM


I certainly didn’t have you in mind when I was talking about the MBA, the non bright students (in my own class) who landed a 4.0. It is commendable to do so and didn’t mean to discount anyone’s performance (especially when mine was less than stellar).


Anyway thanks for the input. I greatly appreciate it.