<p>Hi I am an undergraduate student at Boston College studying Biology and Environmental Studies. My overall GPA is 2.7 with my science GPA being 2.5. I know, the grades are poor. I was super involved on campus with jobs and other activities and did not focus as much as I should have on my classes. During my freshmen year I became an EMT. In my sophomore year I worked at Harvard Med School in a research lab and continued to work in a lab with the same PI at BC for the year after that. I now currently volunteer at the hospital and do a lot less on campus to try and focus on my schoolwork, but I am afraid it is too late.</p>
<p>I am very passionate with working in the medical field and hope to some day get into medical school. I have one more semester left and I just don't know what to do next. Do I retake my classes and work/volunteer? Do I go for my masters? I really do not know what to do next...?</p>
<p>You may search sdn, I don’t think there is anyone who has your stats got in either md or do schools. You cannot retake class and replace gpa with md schools, you may retake class with do schools. But either way, I think you should have a plan B.</p>
<p>1) a graduate degree will NOT compensate for a poor undergrad GPA. Undergrad and grad GPAs are reported separately. Most med schools screen applicants using only undergrad GPA.</p>
<p>While some grad degrees garner more respect than others, a sub 3.5 grad GPA from any grad program is an app killer. (There’s substantial grade inflation in grad school and adcomms know it.) </p>
<p>Be aware that master’s bio degrees are mostly unfunded–meaning you’ll be paying full price for the degree. </p>
<p>2) you already have a lot of credits (both science and non-science). This makes raising your undergrad GPA very difficult to do. If you are talking about applying only to MD programs, remediating your GPA may take years. Try using an online GPA calculator to figure how many additional As it will take to repair your GPA</p>
<p>3) if you will consider osteopathic med schools, retake every single class in which you earned a C, D, or F until your GPA/sGPA are both above 3.3. It’s critical that you get B+ or better in all your pre-reqs on your second try.</p>
<p>4) if you’re serious about med school, continue your clinical and non-clinical volunteering regardless of what path you decide to follow. Even if you are working full time and going to school full time. </p>
<p>5) learn better time management skills. Med school is very time intensive and it will eat you alive otherwise.</p>
<p>Thank you for your replies! Would you retake classes through SMPs or post-bacc programs? Would some of these programs only look at applicants with a GPA higher than 3.0? </p>
<p>You need to use a GPA calculator to find out what takes to raise cGPA and sGPA to a point that DO school will accept you. A 3.3 is a bare minimum that will be in the comfort zone. Also, you have to factor in the MCAT prep time and money…</p>
<p>All in all, I think you need at least two if not three years of remediation before you can apply a DO school, four or five years for MD school, if in fact you can make it. I don’t think it is worth the risk, time and money. A kid I know very well is doing exactly that, she is selling clothing and work with the post-bacc part time and its been three years. She did not get any where. Her friend is about to graduating from UCSF.</p>
<p>In addition, the bar of entry is rising, for MD school you need to be at 3.65 to get into any school, just punch in numbers at studentdoc.com, you will find out… Forget about the old lizzym spread sheet, it is way out dated. Of course, if you are fluent in Spanish to the point of Md school standards, you might be able to get by with Porto Rico 4, but not with 2.5 sgpa.</p>
<p>Another option is the carrib 3 or Poland, if you want.</p>
<p>A true SMP (one where you take classes side-by-side with real med students) has a minimum GPA and MCAT requirement. Your GPA is too low for consideration at those programs.</p>
<p>You will not be retaking classes in a grade-enhancing post-bacc. These programs are graduate degree programs. </p>
<p>You can retake classes (for osteopathic programs) at any college and you don’t need to take them thru a formal post bacc program.</p>
<p>There are some formal programs that offer retakes in a structured setting:</p>
<p>A master in Biostats or Computational Bio will give you a LOT of employment opportunities and you probably can complete in one year. While a specialized physician may take 10 years to complete. Your earnings may rival a specialist with 9 years of experience on the back.</p>
<p>^^ Actually, how is your math? One Plan B D2 looked at was a MS or MPH with an emphasis on biostatistics. It’s a high demand area right now. In fact, a friend of hers dropped out of her fully funded Bio PhD (after passing ehr qualifying exams!) to get a MPH/MS in biostats (which she was paying for herself) because the employment outlook was better than for a PhD researcher.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine that any decent masters program would accept someone with a 2.7 GPA…And a 2.5 science GPA. </p>
<p>I think his only hope is retaking classes and applying to DO schools. </p>
<br>
<br>
<p>This is troubling since what you wrote suggests that you’ve had an interest in med school for awhile, yet you didn’t use your thinking skills to realize that those “other activities” are of little or no importance to your future goals.</p>
<p>For PhD programs certainly, but MS Bio degrees are huge cash-cows for colleges since the students are full pay so admission standards tend to be lower. There are plenty of failed pre-meds who will pay for additional credentials in hopes of improving their marketability.</p>
My son is at the Georgetown SMP program…He went in with a 3.3 and 31 Mcat and is doing amazing in the program. I cant even believe this is the same student.