I have no chance at Medical School now. What should I do?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>My overall GPA is a 3.1 after 3 semesters and 2 summer semester. </p>

<p>In my first Summer I had come in with 31 credits and took two clases to get a 3.75 GPA.</p>

<p>Fall 2011: I got a 2.55 with a withdrawl in Calculus II (I was taking too many classes), C in Gen Chem 1 with a B in the lab, and a C- in Middle Eastern Civilization. </p>

<p>Spring 2012: C- in Biology 1 and a B in the lab, C+ in Gen Chem II with an A in the lab, B in Gen Psych, and a D in Calculus II (which isn't required but I was forced into it by an advisor saying it was)</p>

<p>Summer 2012: 5 liberal arts classes to fullfil credit hour requirements for a scholarship got 4 As and an A-.</p>

<p>Fall 2013: A in Biology II, B- in Organic Chemistry 1, B in Microecon, B+ in Oceanography, and a A in Intro to Stats.</p>

<p>This semester I am taking Orgo II, Bio II Lab, Genetics, and Bio Statistics which I plan on doing very well in (As, most likely a B or C in Orgo II).</p>

<p>I understand my grades are terrible, and I have little chance at this point seeing as I have a D in Calculus and a C- in Biology I (which my school won't let me retake). What are my options? I pretty much have committed to med school since high school doing hundreds of hours of volunteer work in hospitals, medical skills competitions (qualifying for nationals), certifications in a lot of things, and have committed two years of college to Pre-Med. I am not to interested in much else. I'm just looking for some guidance since I can't seem to get any elsewhere.</p>

2

<p>start thinking about DOs or NP/PA? I’d advise all of those over a caribbean MD.</p>

<p>If your school won’t let you retake, your only options are either to dilute with more classes or to do a post-bacc where you could retake. The retake would replace your grades for DO admission, not MD which is why I said to start looking there.</p>

<p>FWIW, a 31 alone doesn’t tank your application. If your MCAT is killer you still have a decent shot at A med school: <a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/2012factstable25-4.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/2012factstable25-4.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>although I don’t think med schools accept C- or D for the pre-reqs so you’ll have to make sure you have advanced coursework with better grades to ensure you fulfill the requirements or potentially retake during the summer at a similar caliber institution?</p>

3

<p>Thank you for the info. I am planning to retake Calc since I have a D, they will let me. However if medical schools don’t take a C- and it is a class required for medical school, I am not sure what I can do, assuming I try straight for med school.</p>

4

<p>Med schools want 2 semesters of biology–it doesn’t have to be Intro to biology 1 & 2. You can take a higher level bio class to fulfill the biology requirement for medical schools since your school won’t allow you to retake the C-.</p>

<p>What’s your sGPA (only your bio, chem, math and physics classes)? It sounds like your sGPA might be <3.0. That will be a serious problem since medical schools expect a 3.6+ sGPA.</p>

<p>If you’re willing to invest more time and money retaking coursework to improve your GPA/sGPA, you might be able to qualify for DO school.</p>

<p>Otherwise you might want to start considering alternative medical careers.</p>

5

<p>Right now its <3.0 with not too many BCPM classes and I am taking 4 right now and 1 over the summer which should boost it to well above 3.0 based on my calculations. I am only in my 4th semester of college with 15+ more BCPM classes to take. D.O. is definitely within reach.</p>

6

<p>Why are you taking summer classes? This is one big thing that absolutely killing you. Summer is for R&R so that you can plunge and get all As. You are not getting any rest, not a good idea at all. I hope that you are not taking any pre-reqs over the summer.<br>
Other than that, just get all As from now on.<br>
My plan would be 2 steps: no summer classes and straight As.</p>

7

<p>NY-- are you keeping you with your medical activities? Because activities done in high school will not be included on your med school application. You need current activities.</p>

<p>You also appear to be lacking research experience, community service and leadership ECs. Research is often done in the summer, as is community service. You should avoid any more summer classes and concentrate this summer on expanding your ECs.</p>

<p>I am concerned that your core science & math pre-req grades are weak. Consider that you may not have an aptitude for science. You may find your talents are in other non-science fields. There’s no shame in that. </p>

<p>If you OChem 2 is low B or C, it’s will probably be time to do a deep re-assessment. Just because you’ve focussed on the medical area so far, doesn’t mean there are no other careers out there. I suggest visiting the career office at your college and taking some aptitude tests to determine where your true strengths lie.</p>

<p>If you like the immediate hands-on viceral experience of applying medical skills, you might want to consider a EMT-P (paramedic) program.</p>

8

<p>Summer classes here are the same classes offered in Fall/Spring and are a full semester. They have exams and finals. I didn’t take pre-reqs though. I’m considering building up my research/volunteer work even more as well as trying to get some type of leadership role. I don’t believe I have a low aptitude for science, since I understand the material more than not, evidenced by my Fall 2012 Semester. From this point on I’m just going to stick with it and if I do well on the MCAT I’ll try, if I can’t get my GPA up to M.D. range, I am going to go D.O. I believe its way too late to switch now as I am in my fourth semester, but early enough to recover. Assuming I keep the As in all my classes I’m in now and a B in Orgo 2, I will retake calc and be in the 3.4 range as I have not to many credits taken as well as an almost 3.5 BCPM GPA</p>

9

<p>It’s one thing to think you can improve (although you better have a concrete plan about what you will start doing differently in your courses, not just - I’ll start getting As because it doesn’t work that way), but it’s definitely not too late to switch away from pre-med. Don’t just keep plowing through if that’s the reason.</p>

10

<p>*I am concerned that your core science & math pre-req grades are weak. Consider that you may not have an aptitude for science. You may find your talents are in other non-science fields. There’s no shame in that. *</p>

<p>This may be the case. Just “wanting to become a doctor” won’t change your natural ability to fully understand and process the math and science concepts. </p>

<p>You need to discover what your strengths are. Since you have an interest in the medical world, maybe working in hospital administration or similar would fill the bill. </p>

<p>What were your Math and CR scores on the SAT?</p>

11

<p>Yeah, if I felt I was just pushing through this just to go to medical school because that’s where I am and I didn’t want to start over, I’d consider switching. However, I’ve pretty much committed myself to improving and either becoming an M.D. or D.O. if there is a possibility there. The other option I may consider, but won’t know until I try it, is biological research which I will have to do some time soon before I start making up my applications. This summer I am going back home, and I plan on retaking Calculus, working, and trying to get my old volunteer jon back at the hospital. Would shadowing a doctor also be a good idea since I will be home and can’t do research at school?</p>

12

<p>A lot of extreme negativity here. Listen OP, I understand what the other posters are saying but I think they are completely wrong.</p>

<p>You’re in your sophomore year, correct? That means you still have three semesters (counting this one) to bring up your GPA. That’s a lot of time. Do well in upper-level science classes all three semesters and your overall grade could go up to 3.4 or even more, making you a decent candidate. Your science GPA should also hopefully increase a lot in the process. But you need to be committed to studying hard for these classes and owning them.</p>

<p>Take your MCAT during the late spring of Junior year and if you get a 30+ on it, I say go ahead and start applying to med schools that summer. You have good extracurriculars it looks like, so use those to your advantage. Applying to med school for people with low grades requires three things</p>

<p>a) Being a great salesman. You have to show them that you have a strong upward trend in GPA and your extracurriculars shows how passionate you are</p>

<p>b) Careful selection of schools. Do you live in a state with a public school that gives heavy preference to in-state applicants? Focus on that! Do you have strong ties to another state whose public school accepts applicants that have a connection to that state? Apply there! Don’t just blindly select 25 “low-end” private schools with the hope that one of them will take you in. Be smart about it. Of course, select a lot of lower-end private schools but don’t forget about public schools too.</p>

<p>c) Some luck. Nothing you can do about that. Just hope that the admissions officer happens to be in the right mood when reading your application.</p>

<p>But before any of this, you need to raise that GPA. So pull it up by spring of Junior year and if you’re still feeling good, take the MCAT and see what you think then.</p>

<p>Source: I’m at a 3.2 and 30 MCAT right now, in the middle of my first application cycle. I got one interview to a school that’s part of a state which I have strong ties in. I’m optimistic, and even if I don’t get in this cycle, I know I’ll have a fighting chance next cycle.</p>

13

<p>NY–you’re wrong about thinking “I’ll do DO if I can’t get my GPA up into MD range”</p>

<p>DO programs have become increasingly competitive. For the 2011-12 application cycle, the mean sGPA for DO matriculants 3.39 a and GPA 3.55. Mean MCAT was a 27 (28 for males)</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.aacom.org/data/applicantsmatriculants/Documents/2012-Applicants.pdf[/url]”>http://www.aacom.org/data/applicantsmatriculants/Documents/2012-Applicants.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

14

<p>Lots of people work in medicine without an MD after their name. And they weren’t 30-34 years old when they finished training and started their career, the way most doctors are. Surely in those hundreds of hours of volunteer work you mention you have seen people happily pursuing other careers under the medical umbrella. Perhaps you should expand your horizons beyond single-minded pursuit of a MD.</p>

15

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<p>The reality is that (on average) practicing physicians know little about math and science. And use them superficially, if at all. The challenge is really just getting good grades in science/math courses to gain admission to medical school. </p>

<p>So having an aptitude in the math and sciences to be a physician is a myth.</p>

<p>Not to be a downer, but the brightest people (in math, science) tend to go into the sciences or engineering fields because they are more challenging in terms of critical thinking required.</p>

16

<p>Another thing is, I know for grad school, you had the option for them to include your overall GPA or just from the last 60 credits.</p>

<p>Plus, switch to an easier major. I have heard advisors say (the ones that give you guidance on how to get in) specifically, that if you want to do premed, pick a major that you can get good grades in. Medical schools do not care if you majored in music or biochem. Thing is, biochem majors only have a 40% acceptance rate basically, because it is so hard to keep the GPA you need. But, music majors usually can keep good grades.So try changing your major. Retake the classes you need for medical school (the bio, chem, etc).</p>

<p>And, maybe there is a different career path waiting for you. Good luck!</p>

17

<p>“what should you do”</p>

<p>STOP all ECs until you can earn A’s in the premed prereqs, unless you are the reincarnation of Mother Theresa or you are on track to win the Heisman. (Until you can earn mostly A’s, all EC’s won’t matter).</p>

<p>STOP taking summer courses, particularly science courses. (Use the summer to work on ECs instead.)</p>

<p>Don’t even think about taking the mcat until after you graduate. (Do the math and what an extra year of coursework can do to your GPA.)</p>

18

<p>btw:</p>

<p>is your Withdrawal just a W, or a WF (as in Withdrawal, failing). If the latter, it goes into AMCAS as an F for the purposes of calculating your med school GPA.</p>

<p>Did you take some other courses in Fall '12? (Otherwise, I don’t see how you calculated a 2.55 GPA.)</p>

19

<p>lmk–the last 60h option might be true for grad schools, but is not true for med schools. All med schools (which use AMCAS) require that any class you ever took (including original versions of classes you retook, even if they don’t appear on your transcript or don’t appear with a grade on your transcript) must be reported, and all are calculated into your GPA. </p>

<p>I agree with bluebayou. There’s no reason you can’t improve a 3.1 with a sub-3.0 BCMP GPA, but it will probably be challenging to do over this semester and next year. I like the idea of a glide/gap/whatever you wanna call 1 year off for you for a few reasons:</p>

<p>1) More time to improve your GPA and put some distance between you and your bad freshman year grades.</p>

<p>2) More time to get involved with ECs, research, leadership, employment, etc etc etc, which will certainly help once you get past the MCAT/GPA screen (I agree that you should just focus on school right now, and pick up ECs this summer or next year).</p>

<p>3) More time to develop some sort of “hook.” If I had a hook, it was my extensive involvement with health literacy and health policy, and getting involved with both of those fields was, by some token, just serendipity (meeting the right people at the right time etc). More time, more chances.</p>

<p>4) Opportunity to take MCAT at the best time, in my opinion. If you’re a sophomore now and graduating in 2015, I think you should take the MCAT in Aug-Sep 2014 or in Jan 2015. All of these times will give you plenty of time to prepare and plenty of time to retake should you need to. If you wait to take it until Apr-May of the year you want to apply, then you don’t really have time for a retake because it’s important to have your scores, letters, application, etc done and ready to go by mid-June. (I don’t think you should take the MCAT at the end of this summer or in Jan 14 because at this point, you’re still unsure if you’ll have the GPA to get into med school, and you still haven’t taken some of the important classes.)</p>

<p>5) Higher likelihood of only applying once. And I think this one really is key. Sure, you probably could work your tail off and get everything done so you can apply during 14 and potentially matriculate during 15. However, if you rush it, and end up not getting in on your first try, you’re at a disadvantage for a few reasons: a) reapplicants typically aren’t treated very nicely and b) you’ll be exhausted (mentally, at least) from spending a year unsuccessfully applying to med school. You will also have probably spent a lot of money on the process. You need to do everything you can to just apply once–and I think a glide year is just the ticket for you.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

20

<p>RE: #4 Above. If the OP needs to retake the MCAT, s/he will be will be taking the new 2015 MCAT–which will include biochem plus the new human behavior section. The last administration date for the old MCAT is Jan 2015.</p>

<p>The old version MCAT will not be accepted for admission purposes after the 2015-16 admission cycle.</p>