How to Get Into Med School With a Low GPA 

Discussing a Low GPA in a Med School Application

Discussing poor academic performance can be daunting. Let’s first discuss when you should bring up your low GPA.

Addressing low GPA in application essays: The secondary application can be an excellent place for you to discuss academic performance. Many secondaries will have prompts with questions regarding weaknesses, areas for improvement, a time when you struggled or had a poor outcome, and/or anticipated challenges in medical school. These prompts offer an excellent opportunity for you to discuss your academic performance and what you learned in a candid yet concise manner.

Interviews – how to justify a low GPA to the Admissions Committee: First, a general comment about interviews: if you are invited to interview with a school, chances are, the school 1. Already likes you based on your application, and 2. Believes your application is strong enough to consider you for a spot in their incoming class. Therefore, the interview is really an opportunity for the admissions committee to assess whether or not they think you will be a good fit at their institution. For this reason, there is no need to highlight shortcomings or poor academic performance unprompted. If the interviewer wants more information, trust me, they will ask you about it.

So, what happens when an interviewer asks you to explain your low GPA?

1. Be prepared! Preparation is key for interviews, especially for tough questions like this one. Before your interview day, you should have a prepared—not scripted—candid explanation that incorporates taking responsibility and highlighting what you learned.
2. Be calm. Nobody can explain your lived experiences better than you. The interviewer is simply providing you with an opportunity to give more context on what was going on and highlight your ability to self-reflect.
3. Remember to focus on what you learned rather than dwelling on mistakes.

A note about writing about a low GPA in your personal statement… 

The personal statement is an opportunity for you to discuss your passions, inspirations, journey, and what has prepared you to not only be a successful medical student but also a successful provider for future patients. It is an opportunity for the admissions committee to learn more about who you are as a person and what experiences have formed your person and your passions. With that being said…there is a character limit. Therefore, I would advise you to use your characters wisely and make every character count. Because you have limited space, I encourage you to focus more on the personal aspect of the personal statement rather than using up characters attempting to defend poor academic performance. For some, academic performance may tie into a theme or life event that they will write about in their personal statement – that is completely okay, especially if it is important to your story. However, if you are going to include information about academic performance in your personal statement, I would advise you to try not to lose the personal aspect or spend too many characters explaining, especially since there are other opportunities in the application process for you to discuss academics.

At the end of the day, you do not want the reader to walk away from your personal statement solely thinking: “Okay, this explains why their GPA is low.” You want the reader to walk away with an understanding of why you are pursuing a career as a physician and the impact you hope to make through this career. You are more than a score or a grade. The personal statement is a time for you to talk about your passions, not your shortcomings.

Preparing an Explanation

The first step in preparing an explanation when asked about poor academic performance is to reflect. Taking time to reflect is a key step in preparing your explanation because it allows you to better understand not only what led to the outcome of a lower GPA but also what steps can be taken in the future that will prepare you to perform well in the academic setting. During your reflection, ask yourself: What was going on while I was taking this course? What would have helped me to be successful? Many aspects can contribute to difficulty with performing well on coursework, some of which include: 

• Adjusting to the college curriculum
• Adjusting to a new subject area/ new content
• Physical/ mental illness
• Family circumstances
• Over-involvement in school activities
• Fear of asking for help
• Not recognizing you were struggling until it was too late

It is okay to be vulnerable when discussing what contributed to your poor performance. This will not only help the admissions committee better understand what happened, but it will also show your humanity and perseverance despite obstacles.

Once you have reflected on what contributed to the outcome, you can begin synthesizing your explanation. There are three key themes to keep in mind when explaining poor academic performance:

Be honest: People make mistakes, and the admissions committee is well aware of this fact – they do not expect any applicant to be perfect. Therefore, it is crucial that you are honest when discussing what led to your low GPA.

Take responsibility: One of the worst things you can do when explaining a low GPA is place blame on someone else. Mistakes happen in medicine, but as a physician, it will be your ethical responsibility to take accountability for mistakes when they happen. This accountability directly plays into the trust among the medical team, as well as the trust between the patient and their provider. Thus, if an applicant is unable to accept responsibility for something in their pre-medical journey, it can be a huge red flag to the admissions team.

Therefore, it is okay to admit that you made a mistake: “I was struggling to make the transition from the high school curriculum to the college curriculum and my grades suffered as a result.” “I was afraid to ask for help because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it on my own.” “I was involved in way too many extracurricular activities and my coursework took a backseat to all of my non-academic pursuits.” Whatever the reason may be, ensure that you:

• Take responsibility for what happened and what could have been avoided.
• Explain factors that contributed to the outcome.
• Explain factors that maybe could not have been avoided (if applicable).

Highlight what you learned: One of the most important things to highlight in your explanation is what you learned. What did you learn from not performing well on those tests? From not asking for help? From dealing with the familial or personal stressors that may have contributed to your situation? This is your opportunity to explain to the admissions committee that you are able to self-reflect and grow. If you have an upward trend in your academic performance, this is also an excellent opportunity for you to explain how applying what you learned directly led to better performance.

In summary: Be honest, Take Responsibility, and Highlight What You Learned.

See below for examples of statements to avoid and suggestions for how to rephrase them.

Statement to avoid: The class was too challenging.

Suggestion for rephrasing: I quickly found the class to be more rigorous than classes I had taken before, and thus, I found myself struggling with learning and applying the content. Unfortunately, this led to my poor performance in the course. However, this situation taught me the importance of admitting when I need help.

Statement to avoid: The professor gave way too much homework / really difficult exams.

Suggestion for rephrasing: I was struggling with my time management and felt overwhelmed with my coursework as a result. This situation taught me the importance of time management. As such, I have learned how to be more efficient with my time while studying and I learned how to create a realistic study schedule that fits my needs. I was able to apply both of these techniques in X course, which led to me earning an A in the course.

Statement to avoid: The exams were graded unfairly.

Suggestion for rephrasing: Even though I felt that I was putting in the necessary amount of work to be successful on exams, my performance was not reflective. Therefore, I had to recognize that I needed to adapt my study habits in the hopes of performing better on coursework and exams.

Impact of Low GPA on Medical School Admissions

So, your GPA is not as high as you had hoped. Does this mean medical school is completely off the table? The short answer: absolutely not.

I want to emphasize that you are SO MUCH MORE than a grade or a score. Fortunately for you, medical school admissions committees also recognize this. This is why they take a holistic approach when reviewing applications and evaluate applicants not only on their GPA or standardized test score(s) but also on their extracurricular involvement, research, clinical experiences, and letters of recommendation, among other criteria.

So, how can you increase your chances of admission to medical school if you are applying with a low GPA? Control what you can control:

What you can control: 

• Your Medical School List: Do your research when creating your schools list. If you are applying with a lower GPA, consider including more schools that accept applicants with lower GPAs. I recommend reviewing the Average GPA and MCAT score for every medical school to get a better understanding of where your GPA fits in relation to applicants who have been accepted in previous years. The Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) Guide is also a great tool for applicants that allows you to compare information (including GPA and test scores) across U.S. and Canadian medical schools. Pay special attention to schools that have explicit GPA or MCAT score cutoffs/ requirements that determine whether or not applicants will receive a secondary application. If your GPA/score does not meet the cutoff, then it does not make sense to spend time and money submitting a primary application at that institution as you will most likely not be invited to complete a secondary application. If a school has specific score requirements, applicants can usually find them on the medical school’s website.

 A special note about the MSAR: The MSAR is a tool to guide your school selection process. It is NOT the end all be all. Therefore, you may be below the average GPA listed for few, many, or most schools. That does NOT necessarily mean that you will not get accepted into their medical school. I encourage you to use the MSAR as a guide, not as a deciding factor for whether or not you should apply to medical school. 

• Letters of Recommendation: Find people to write your letters of recommendation who know you and who can speak to your journey and your story. When requesting a letter, be sure to ask the writer if they would be willing to write you a strong letter of recommendation and request it well in advance of when the primary medical school application opens for submission.

• Personal Statement: Writing a strong and compelling personal statement can have a very positive impact on your application. Take your time when writing and have people you trust review it.

• Secondaries: Writing strong secondaries can also be extremely advantageous to your application. It is a great way to demonstrate your growth, strengths, and alignment with the mission(s) of the school(s) to which you are applying.

• Apply Early: I cannot emphasize this enough. Applying early is the best way to set yourself up for success in the medical school application process. Visit this link for more information on recommended application timelines.

In summary, it is not about the number. It is about what you learned and how you have grown. Focus on controlling the things you can control and making your application as strong as possible. Your GPA does not define you or your ability to become an amazing and impactful physician. Best of luck in your journey – you’ve got this!