<p>Hey guys I'm entering my third year of my undergrad and I'm a human biology major with a minor in philosophy and law. I have a gpa of 2.5 mainly because I messed up a some core science classes during my 1st and 2nd years but however have been doing significantly better in the few upper level science courses that I have just taken during the summer. I'm excepting my gpa to raise up significantly, but I am not sure I will be able to get to the 3.6-3.8 standard that people say you need to typically get into medical school. I'm afraid that those classes I did bad In will look horrible in applying to medical school. I havent taken the MCAT yet.</p>
<p>I am not really sure what to do on this front... I 100% want to become a doctor. Should I pursue a masters of some sort or should I try a post bacc? Will these programs offset a bad undergrad gpa or are there other ways I can help counter a bad gpa? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>You need distance between yourself and your poor grades. I think your best course of action would be to graduate, work for a year or two, enter a grade enhancing post-bacc program, then apply. You can then spin your route as “look at how much I’ve matured”.</p>
<p>If you GPA and sGPA end up close to 3.2 or so and you score well on your MCAT (26+), you can try for admission to a SMP.</p>
<p>How badly is did you mess up your core science classes? Cs? Ds? </p>
<p>BTW, a grad program (or a post bacc) will never completely compensate for poor undergrad grades. Grad programs have terrible grade inflation–and med schools know that.</p>
<p>I got C’s in them. Can you explain what a SMP program is/does? I’ve never heard of them. And also you said I should work for 2 years? What kind of job should I take??</p>
<p>C’s Ouch! If there’s more than 1, those are going to hurt you for a loooong time.</p>
<p>SMP= Special Master’s Program. Offered by some medical schools. You essentially take the first year of medical school classes with all the MS1s. If you do well, some med schools will automatically admit you to their program; others will require you to apply to their (and other) programs and go thru the application and interview process. If you don’t do well enough to get into med school (you’ll usually have to achieve a certain class standing–like top 50%), you get a consolation MS in physiology or anatomy or human science or something like that.</p>
<p>As for job–work at anything you can to pay your rent, insurance, food, etc. It doesn’t have to be a professional level job. Wait tables, work construction, sell shoes, if you have to. But you need to continue doing your community service and medical volunteering until you apply for your post-bacc.</p>