GPA & MCAT Scores for Medical School | UAG School of Medicine

MEDICAL SCHOOL GPA REQUIREMENTS

JUNE 30, 2021

If you are applying to medical school, you’ll need to submit your undergraduate transcripts as part of your application. These transcripts will include your GPA, which can be used to filter out your application before the evaluation process ever begins.

To ensure your application doesn’t end up in the “do not review” pile, you should compare your GPA to the average med school GPA at your target schools. This can give you a solid indicator of which schools would view you as a competitive candidate. Understanding how schools evaluate GPAs can also give you a helpful leg up on your competition.

How Important is GPA for Medical School?

For most medical schools, GPA and MCAT scores are the top two considerations when evaluating applicants. For the 2021 application cycle, many schools have announced MCAT scores as an optional part of the application package, making GPA an even larger factor in admissions decisions.

Admissions officers view your GPA as an indicator of how seriously you take your studies. Since medical school is even more rigorous than undergraduate programs, low undergrad GPAs on a student’s transcript can raise red flags during the applicant evaluation process. While a low GPA won’t necessarily eliminate you from consideration, it’s important to understand how you rank compared to other applicants and how admissions teams will view your undergraduate work.

Which GPAs are Med Schools Given?

When you apply for medical school, admissions officers are actually given multiple versions of your GPA. When viewing your application, they will see:

Your overall GPA – This is typically the GPA listed on your undergraduate transcripts; it is an aggregate of all classes you took during undergrad without any additional weighting.
Your non-science GPA – This is the GPA for all non-science courses you took during your undergrad program, such as humanities and social science classes.
Your science GPA – Also referred to as your BPCM GPA, this calculation accounts for all your science and math classes. BPCM stands for Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Math, and most admissions counselors view it as a good representation of how you would perform in similar classes in medical school.

So which GPA calculation is most important? The answer is “it depends”. Each medical school has its own algorithm for evaluating med school applications, and schools assign different weights to the different GPAs. Which GPA is most important for you will depend on which schools you’re applying to and what other assets you have to include in the rest of your application package.

However, there’s a strong argument for assigning the most importance to your overall GPA. In many cases, schools will use this as a filtering mechanism before the first human admissions officer ever looks at your application. If your overall GPA doesn’t make the cutoff, chances are your application will never be reviewed. For that reason, a high overall GPA is important when you’re applying to medical school.

What is a Good GPA for Medical School?

GPAs can vary significantly across different medical schools, so it pays to do your research before applying. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported an average GPA for medical school of 3.60 across all applicants for the 2020-2021 application cycle. For the same year, applicants had an average science GPA of 3.49 and an average non-science GPA of 3.74.

Applying to schools where your GPA or MCAT scores are well below the median can put you at a significant disadvantage compared to other applicants. Likewise, applying to schools where your GPA is above the median is a solid indicator that you would make a competitive candidate for the program.

What Should I Do If My GPA is Low?

If your GPA is lower than your target school’s median, that doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t apply. You can take the following steps to position yourself as a more competitive candidate, even with a lower GPA:

Retake classes to improve your grades. If you have one or two courses that are weighing down your GPA, consider retaking them. The higher grade will replace the lower one in your GPA, giving you healthy boost to your application.
Add an addendum to your med school application package. If your GPA is lower due to an isolated semester, share your story as an addendum to your AMCAS application. Your addendum shouldn’t come across as making excuses; instead it’s your opportunity to explain a personal struggle that you were dealing with for a limited time and demonstrate what you learned from it and how you’ve improved as a result.
Focus on your MCAT score. While you may not be able to significantly improve your GPA in just a few months, you can improve your MCAT score with a few months of focused preparation.
Shift your target schools. While many medical schools place the largest weight on GPA, not all of them do. Your determination in finding the right fit will be noticed and appreciated by some med school admissions teams. At AUA, for example, we believe in a holistic approach to candidate evaluation that sees you as more than just your GPA or MCAT score.

Comprehensive List of Median GPA and MCAT Scores for Medical Schools

School	State	Median MCAT Scores	Median GPA
University of Alabama School of Medicine	Alabama	510	3.86
University of South Alabama	Alabama	511	3.91
Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine	Arizona	520	3.94
University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tuscon	Arizona	510	3.79
The University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix	Arizona	515	3.84
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences	Arkansas	508	3.85
California Northstate University College of Medicine	California	513	3.72
California University of Science and Medicine	California	512	3.68
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science	California	N/A	N/A
Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine	California	516	3.87
Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California	California	517	3.76
Loma Linda University School of Medicine	California	510	3.86
Stanford University School of Medicine	California	519	3.89
University of California – Davis School of Medicine	California	512	3.69
University of California – Irvine School of Medicine	California	516	3.85
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA	California	516	3.84
University of California – Riverside School of Medicine	California	508	3.59
University of California – San Diego School of Medicine	California	517	3.83
UCSF School of Medicine	California	518	3.86
University of Colorado School of Medicine	Colorado	514	3.83
Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University	Connecticut	514	3.71
University of Connecticut School of Medicine	Connecticut	513	3.82
Yale School of Medicine	Connecticut	521	3.93
George Washington University Medical School	District of Columbia	513	3.78
Georgetown University School of Medicine	District of Columbia	513	3.79
Howard University College of Medicine	District of Columbia	505	3.53
Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine	Florida	513	3.8
Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine	Florida	511	3.79
Florida State University College of Medicine	Florida	508	3.76
Nova Southeastern University Dr Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine	Florida	512	3.72
University of Central Florida College of Medicine	Florida	514	3.88
University of Florida College of Medicine	Florida	515	3.9
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine	Florida	514	3.78
University of South Florida College of Medicine	Florida	517	3.83
Emory University School of Medicine	Georgia	517	3.8
Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University	Georgia	513	3.82
Mercer University School of Medicine	Georgia	504	3.73
Morehouse School of Medicine	Georgia	504	3.63
University of Hawaii at Manoa John A. Burns School of Medicine	Hawaii	513	3.84
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Carle Illinois College of Medicine	Illinois	513	3.76
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine	Illinois	512	3.76
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine	Illinois	520	3.91
Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science	Illinois	513	3.74
Rush Medical College	Illinois	511	3.67
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine	Illinois	506	3.81
University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine	Illinois	521	3.93
University of Illinois College of Medicine	Illinois	513	3.76
Indiana University School of Medicine	Indiana	512	3.84
University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine	Iowa	515	3.86
University of Kansas School of Medicine	Kansas	512	3.88
University of Kentucky College of Medicine	Kentucky	508	3.81
University of Louisville School of Medicine	Kentucky	509	3.77
Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans	Louisiana	509	3.82
Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport	Louisiana	506	3.77
Tulane University School of Medicine	Louisiana	511	3.63
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine	Maryland	521	3.95
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine	Maryland	510	3.76
University of Maryland School of Medicine	Maryland	514	3.83
Boston University School of Medicine	Massachusetts	518	3.86
Harvard Medical School	Massachusetts	520	3.94
Tufts University School of Medicine	Massachusetts	515	3.78
University of Massachusetts Medical School	Massachusetts	516	3.82
Central Michigan University College of Medicine	Michigan	508	3.69
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine	Michigan	509	3.76
University of Michigan Medical School	Michigan	518	3.87
Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine	Michigan	510	3.85
Wayne State University School of Medicine	Michigan	513	3.86
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine	Michigan	516	3.79
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine	Minnesota	520	3.94
University of Minnesota Medical School	Minnesota	513	3.81
University of Mississippi School of Medicine	Mississippi	505	3.86
Saint Louis University School of Medicine	Missouri	514	3.91
University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine	Missouri	509	3.86
University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Medicine	Missouri	509	3.89
Washington University School of Medicine	Missouri	521	3.94
Creighton University School of Medicine	Nebraska	513	3.84
University of Nebraska College of Medicine	Nebraska	513	3.9
University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Medicine	Nevada	512	3.76
University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine	Nevada	509	3.82
Dartmouth College Geisel School of Medicine	New Hampshire	516	3.77
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University	New Jersey	512	3.79
Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University	New Jersey	513	3.71
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School	New Jersey	515	3.82
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School	New Jersey	514	3.75
University of New Mexico School of Medicine	New Mexico	505	3.8
Albany Medical College	New York	511	3.74
Albert Einstein College of Medicine	New York	515	3.81
Columbia University Roy and Diana Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons	New York	522	3.92
CUNY School of Medicine	New York	N/A	N/A
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell	New York	518	3.84
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	New York	519	3.87
New York Medical College	New York	513	3.72
New York University Grossman School of Medicine	New York	522	3.95
New York University Long Island School of Medicine	New York	515	3.81
Stony Brook University School of Medicine	New York	516	3.86
State University of New York Upstate Medical University	New York	513	3.77
State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine	New York	514	3.74
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo	New York	512	3.75
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry	New York	518	3.84
Weill Cornell Medical College	New York	519	3.91
The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University	North Carolina	509	3.71
Duke University School of Medicine	North Carolina	519	3.89
University of North Carolina School of Medicine	North Carolina	515	3.78
Wake Forest School of Medicine	North Carolina	513	3.76
University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences	North Dakota	507	3.8
Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University	Ohio	508	3.73
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine	Ohio	519	3.86
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine	Ohio	N/A	N/A
Northeast Ohio Medical University College of Medicine	Ohio	507	3.76
The Ohio State University College of Medicine	Ohio	517	3.92
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine	Ohio	517	3.84
University of Toledo College of Medicine	Ohio	510	3.76
University of Oklahoma College of Medicine	Oklahoma	511	3.85
Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine	Oregon	512	3.77
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine	Pennsylvania	512	3.76
Drexel University College of Medicine	Pennsylvania	512	3.75
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine	Pennsylvania	512	3.81
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania	522	3.94
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University	Pennsylvania	514	3.8
Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University	Pennsylvania	513	3.77
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine	Pennsylvania	518	3.86
Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine	Puerto Rico	499	3.73
Ponce School of Medicine	Puerto Rico	499	3.64
San Juan Bautista School of Medicine	Puerto Rico	498	3.71
University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine	Puerto Rico	505	3.82
Alpert Medical School at Brown University	Rhode Island	517	3.83
Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine	South Carolina	510	3.83
University of South Carolina School of Medicine	South Carolina	508	3.79
University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville	South Carolina	509	3.81
Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota	South Dakota	508	3.87
East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine	Tennessee	508	3.81
Meharry Medical College School of Medicine	Tennessee	503	3.52
University of Tennessee College of Medicine	Tennessee	513	3.82
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine	Tennessee	521	3.94
Baylor College of Medicine	Texas	518	3.93
Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine	Texas	513	3.84
TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine	Texas	510	3.71
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine	Texas	512	3.89
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine	Texas	510	3.87
University of Houston	Texas	505	3.66
University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine	Texas	511	3.88
UTHealth John P. and Katherine G. McGovern Medical School	Texas	513	3.88
UT Health San Antonio Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine	Texas	517	3.88
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine	Texas	510	3.72
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas	Texas	518	3.9
Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin	Texas	515	3.92
University of Utah School of Medicine	Utah	513	3.82
University of Vermont College of Medicine	Vermont	512	3.7
Eastern Virginia Medical School	Virginia	513	3.71
University of Virginia School of Medicine	Virginia	520	3.93
VCU School of Medicine, Medical College of Virginia Health Sciences Division	Virginia	513	3.82
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute	Virginia	512	3.57
University of Washington School of Medicine	Washington	512	3.74
Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine	Washington	510	3.67
Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University	West Virginia	502	3.7
West Virginia University School of Medicine	West Virginia	509	3.88
Medical College of Wisconsin	Wisconsin	511	3.73
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health	Wisconsin	513	3.8

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