Thread: Will SGU properly look at my application? My school is being a jerk

My situation is the following : I had an accident last year where I broke my leg, and this prevented me from finishing the classes that semester. I have only 8 hours of class this semester, and will be able to graduate this December.

My current GPA is really a 3.4, BUT my Organic teacher gave me an F when I didn't show up for the final. It isn't an F - I have an incomplete, and the teacher will change my grade to what I earn in the class. The school refuses to allow him to change the grade to an incomplete. I can have him write a letter attesting to this and send it. I can't get it changed early because the professor won't allow me to take the final exam I am missing until the normal time it is given - December 8.

I more than likely have a score over 35 on the MCAT

SO...On October 15, I'll be applying to St. Georges with an MCAT score over 35, and a REAL GPA of 3.4. That GPA, by the way, is only 3.4 when including my first semester, which I failed - I have a 3.8 without my first semester. I'm a good enough student that I SHOULD be accepted to a USA school, but probably will not be because I lost the numbers game.

But my transcript will say my GPA is about 3.15. I've heard that SGU office will not consider anything below 3.2. How do I get the office to realize that the GPA I'll have when I matriculate in January will 0.3 higher?

Sigh. I really hope to get in for this January. Yes, with a 3.4 after the grades come out in December, and a 35 or higher (if I didn't get that this MCAT I'll take it again) I should be basically automatically accepted for the Fall. But...January in med school sounds SOO sweet.



P.S. : I am an Army medic in the national guard, and have spent time as an EMT. So I have the third leg of the well rounded package : actual experience.

I'd say ask your professor to write that letter. Also, contact your admissions counselor for further help. This whole story seems a bit odd...

You can't know for certain what your MCAT score is if you haven't received it. You might think you rocked and in fact you might have not. That's a bit pretentious at this point!

As far as SGU not considering GPAs below that that isn't true. The average GPA of the students accepted to SGU is between a 3.3/3.4 which by definition implies that there are people both above and below this range. Furthermore, if you indeed received a 35 or more I'm sure the 3.1 won't matter...

Best of luck!

Yes, the story is true.

Well, I think SGU would be far less likely than an American school to ignore your application because your numbers fall below some imaginary cutoff. SGU probably doesn't have a cutoff, I'm not sure where you heard the 3.2 thing.

MCAT score doesn't always correlate well with your GPA, and a 35 is not something to be expected (it's about the 95th percentile); many smart people with good GPA's get 25's or less, and an idiot like me with an awful GPA was able to break 30.

I ended up with a 36Q. I feel vindicated.