<p>Hi everyone, so I'm currently an undergraduate at UCLA. My major is Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology with a double major in Anthropology. My goal is attend a top medical school (in particular UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine), however, I would like to know how I can increase my chances to be accepted to medical school even though my G.P.A is very low (2.88). I'm currently a 3rd year and have experience many struggles during my college career. For example, for the past three years I have been commuting from my home to UCLA, which takes 3 hrs. on the bus back and forth. I also have worked various odd jobs to help pay my tuition: cleaning homes, gardening, office work, tutoring, etc. I not only help support myself but also my family. How I also manage to pay my tuition is with private sponsors, whom I'm very thankful for. Due to money issues I have been force to be a part-time student, take time off from school-- which have all prevented me from completing my degree on time and am considered to be behind. I consider myself a hard worker and have been very sad to have gotten C's in many of my prerequisite classes at UCLA. I consider myself non-traditional and I get discourage a lot comparing myself to other students and how well they do and how they have a better chance getting into medical school than me. I guess while they are doing research and volunteering in local hospitals, I am working odd jobs and doing everything I can to afford college. I guess aside from my circumstances, what can I do that will increase my chances to get into med school? I have plenty of time to increase my grades and I will, but what about research experience and volunteering? Are there any med school students that can relate to my undegrad experience? I would like to talk to them and see how they did it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thx for listening.</p>
<p>Unless you cure cancer, you’re not going to get into a mid-tier med school with that GPA without doing post-bac work.</p>
<p>“well-rounded” hmm… i guess you should eat more high calorific valued food. lol.</p>
<p>Check out this program at UCLA: <a href=“http://www.medstudent.ucla.edu/offices/aeo/prep.cfm[/url]”>http://www.medstudent.ucla.edu/offices/aeo/prep.cfm</a></p>
<p>and this one:</p>
<p>[Pre</a> Health Career Services](<a href=“http://career.ucla.edu/Students/GradProfSchCounseling/PreHealthCareerServices]Pre”>http://career.ucla.edu/Students/GradProfSchCounseling/PreHealthCareerServices)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>If you want truth, you yourself answered your own question: GPA is low for Med. School. I do not know any other truthful answer. Every pre-med is haevily involved in almost insame number of EC’s and some of them are not even doing it for Med. School, just do it because of who they are, reflection of their personalities. If you are URM, you need to investigate the stats for URM, as they are lower.
What is your definition of hard worker? Did you work 30hrs for each test in classes that are harder for you? Every person has some classes that are harder for them than other classes. If they are hard workers, they do whatever they need to slave over to get that 'A". Are you done that? If so and no results, then consider that in Med. School, everything is much harder and requires much more time than in UG. You still need to participate in EC’s and have some life, sleep at night, might get sick, visit friends/family…I am not talking about top Med. School, I am talking about ANY American Med. School, including the lowest ranked.</p>
<p>The expectations are somewhat different for non-trads, but it’s not that you’ve been a part-time student or your lack of ECs that is going to hold you back. It’s your GPA–which is very low for allopathic medical schools.</p>
<p>D1 attends a state med school where 1/2 or more of the students are non-trads and come from a variety of backgrounds–including many who come from very economically disadvantaged situations. </p>
<p>Most of these individuals do not have the same ECs that an advantaged, straight out of college middle class kid does, but they all have excellent grades. It’s the one thing they have in common. </p>
<p>(Her current lab partner is 32, arrived in the US 10 years ago on a work visa, spoke no English and had never finished high school in his home country. He took 8 years to complete his undergrad degree while working full time [often more than 40hr/week] to support his wife and 2 kids. He’s not an unusual case–there are a number of other students who come from similarly disadvantaged backgrounds in her med school class.)</p>
<p>If medicine is your passion, then you may need to find another way to make it happen. Stop whining about what other people have and stop making excuses.</p>
<p>Finish your degree, take some time off and find work that pays the rent. Volunteer in your free time. After 2-3 years, if the passion for medicine still burns in your heart, find a GPA-enhancing post-bacc program and attend it, putting 100% of your energies into doing well academically.</p>