GPA post interview - shall I take more classes to boost GPA?

[WaitingTooLong]

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[frenchpress]

What are you doing with the rest of your time? Realistically how many classes could you take and how much of a GPA boost might you get? In the context of at least 90 credits an additional 1-2 courses will likely make a fraction of a percent difference unless you’re managing 95+ scores. To really make a difference you’d need to take many courses and do very well in them, and that doesn't leave time for much else.

My personal take is that once you have a decently competitive GPA (which you do, especially if you’re IP) doing things other than school (getting a real job, volunteering, spending time on hobbies, etc) is at least if not more valuable for your application. I suspect that one of the reasons mature applicants anecdotally seem to get in with fewer tries is that their life experience, career experience, etc. all helps with the interviews, which likely make up a big section of the post-interview scoring. School is not a great way to build maturity. And if and when you get into medicine, and you’re looking at another 4 years of toiling away at school, you may be happy that you took the opportunity to do other things with your life when you had the chance.

Edited December 29, 2020 by frenchpress