Medical Education Discussion Forums

Hello everyone! I want to start off by thanking you for looking at my post and possibly helping me. I graduated from UCLA as a Chinese major, but I didn't take undergrad seriously at all (plus a lack of interest in this major) and by the time I realized I needed to get my situation together my GPA couldn't be saved. Overall, I ended up getting a 2.6. After some soul searching, I've come to realize that I would like to go to medical school or possibly become a physician assistant. I have a couple of questions:



1) I need to take pre-med courses, so would it be okay to take these courses at a Community College, or is it possible/better to enroll to take pre-med courses at a Cal State? (UCs are probably out of the question for pre-med courses b/c the cost is a little too high -- unless this is a huge plus)

2) Would my non-science undergrad degree GPA affect getting into a medical school?



Thank you!! I would love to absorb any type of information you guys may have. All answers are greatly appreciated!

jt1989,

You would want to take your pre-med courses at a 4 year college.

Your non-science undergrad GPA does affect your changes of getting into medical school. I think the best indicators of getting accepted are your overall GPA and your MCAT scores. Schools may also look to see if your science GPA is significantly below your overall GPA, but I think that is because most people find the science courses tougher than the non-science, and some people may find a way to pad their overall GPA by taking a lot of easy courses (that are rarely science courses).