<p>Moved>>>>To start with thank you all for taking the time out to read my post. I have just received my AA degree from Tallahassee community college this past spring and my cumulative GPA to date is 2.5. I started my college career as a student at FSU but because of many mistakes I made I was given the option to stay at FSU and build up my weak GPA (I was on academic Probation and it was a 1.9 at the time) or leaving and getting my AA (which was one semester of work; spring) and come back as a transfer with a brand new GPA and guaranteed readmission. I chose to leave and will be back at FSU this fall with my 2.5 cumulative and a 0.0 FSU GPA. Engineering is a fine profession and having a 2.5 GPA is alright job outlook wise, but being dismissed has shown me that I am definitely not using my full potential. To keep this short I want to go to medical school and I am smart enough to do it. If I keep an average of 3.8 for the rest of my college career I will have a 3.8 FSU GPA and a 3.2 cumulative GPA with my BA degree in biomedical ENGINEERING. I have read on line that engineering majors are given some slight leniency due to course difficulty so I would like to know straight up. What are my chances? I am smart enough to absolutely Ball out on the MCAT(36-39), I am smart enough to focus for the rest of my college career (no more fooling around). And I am absolutely driven to make up for my pass mistakes. I need to know this now because I am sitting on an AA degree which I see as a template to paint how i see fit whether i have an engineering focus, or a med school focus. I want to succeed and i hope that its not to late. BTW I have just finished my sophomore year and have completed 60 credits, 2.5 cum. GPA and I want to attend FSU College of Medicine (does this improve my chances?).</p>
<p>I generally don’t recommend engineering as a premed major as engineering has too many engineering classes and not enough bios and chem prerequisites and taking them on the side really slows you down. Also engineering is a GPA killer. Med schools really should use a formula that gives you a break if you take a really hard subject and get a lower GPA, but for the most part they don’t. </p>
<p>Biomed from what I understand is the engineering major with the worst job prospects. Mechanical, Chemical, or electrical would be much better.</p>
<p>But biomedical engineering covers all of the prerequisites minus one course, so it isn’t to much course overload. But what you’re saying is I don’t have a med school chance even if I’m in the higher percentile of mcat scoring, show a sharp improving trend in my grades, have a brand new GPA 3.8 plus, and a High science GPA (I have really good science GPA 3.6+)? I have no hope of attending FSU college of medicine? I really want to know because if not I will change my major to mechanical or aeronautical, and focus my graduate studies on improving my engineering credentials through co-ops internships and so on so forth. If not I will start my volunteer hours, try to shadow, begin studying for the MCAT etc.</p>
<p>A lot of people dream of med school. But realistically only a very small percentage ever make it there or even succeed in graduating from the program. It is extremely intensive not only on the mind, but the body as well. You will also have to literally take a “vow of poverty” for a decent amount of years before you see any sort of real profit(Malpractice insurance which costs alot, as well as student loans which can be 100k+). But why not just stick with a B.S. in something like MechE, AeroE, CivilE, etc. You don’t even need grad school with a B.S. in engineering, as its already a professional degree. But i you’re really insistent on a career that might not happen, then by all means go for it. After all, you only live life once, and you shouldn’t risk not taking a long shot.</p>
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<p>Chemical engineering is not short by much either, especially after some programs added a semester of biology to the program of study and rebranded themselves as “chemical and biomolecular engineering”. Chemical engineering typically has better job and career prospects at the bachelor’s degree level.</p>
<p>Now for a little dose of realism from a practicing physician who has been through the medical school admission process:
- While you might get a new GPA at FSU, when you apply to medical schools you have to do it through AMCAS and they will require that you submit transcripts from every post-secondary school you have ever attended. They will create your AMCAS transcript and calculate an AMCAS GPA which will include all of the grades you have ever received. They do not recognize any kind of grade forgiveness or academic renewal. As a result your AMCAS GPA which is what the medical schools consider is likely to be much lower than you are projecting.
- Even if you had a 3.2 GPA in Engineering on your AMCAS transcript that is still well below the minimum acceptable GPA for every medical school in the country unless you are a URM. You need at least a 3.4 to be even minimally competitive.
- An MCAT score of 36-39 is extremely difficult to get and is only achieved by maybe the top 2% to 3% of all test takers.
- Even if you did get a 39 on the MCAT it may not be enough to overcome your past academic record.
- I am not trying to be mean, I just want you to know what you are actually up against if you decide to become a premed major.</p>
<p>If you can get a 36-39 and a 3.2, getting accepted to a low-tier MD school or a DO school is not out of the question, but as Lemaitre1 said, the outlook isn’t pretty.
Your best option to get to med school (but more expensive) may be to go to grad school, attain a high GPA, do research et cetera, then apply to med schools.</p>
<p>The more you can prove you’re over the Ds and Fs, the better chance you’ll have, but you should realize this: getting to med school isn’t the end all be all. Not everyone gets there, and life still goes on. Don’t give up on it, but don’t neglect a plan B, either.</p>
<p>Don’t count too much on ADCOMs giving you that much leniency just because you chose a hard major. They generally don’t care what you major in as long as you do it WELL. </p>
<p>A 3.2 will probably screen you out of many MD schools, despite how stellar you may/may not do on the MCAT. </p>
<p>IMHO you have three choices: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Retake all your >= C classes and get an A. After that, apply to a DO school.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to Graduate school and try to raise your Cum GPA to ATLEAST a 3.5 </p></li>
<li><p>Try an SMP.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to a Caribbean school (This should be your LAST resort)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>From what I read I should switch my major to chemical engineering for a ‘better’ plan B, Retake Courses I did bad in, and still cross my fingers? I don’t see why some people say med schools take course difficulty into account, especially engineering, and others say my gpa is to low to begin with even if my major is hard i shouldn’t bother applying. I’m at FSU and have been there every semester except for one from my freshman to sophomore year including summers. I think running down to the college of medicine is my best bet, explain to them the my scenario and keep everything with them up to date on a if not monthly, semester to semester basis. If there is another engineer applying to FSU with a 3.4-4.0 GPA the same year as me, with SIMILAR MCAT scores, he deserves it, but like I said, the MCAT is gonna be my *****, and i’m determined to make it so, and if my scores are higher then his, i don’t see why that wouldn’t make me just as competitive if not more. I’m getting alot of great advice and I am still open to this discussion.</p>
<p>I am fascinated by your conviction that you are going to get a super high score on the MCAT and that is going to get you into medical school. I have no doubt that you are smart but just about everyone who takes the MCAT is smart but only the really smart ones, about the top 20% score 30 or above which is about the current minimum to be a serious competitor for a seat in a first year medical school class in the United States. Getting a 36 or better is extremely impressive but probably less than 5% of the people who take the MCAT score that high. An MCAT score of 39 is truly a remarkable achievement, but it probably is accomplished by less than 1% of the people who take the MCAT. </p>
<p>Have you ever taken a standardized test before such as the SAT? How did you do on it? Getting an SAT score of 2400 is probably easy compared to getting a 39 on the MCAT. Every year several hundred high school students get a perfect 2400 on the SAT. Not once in the history of the MCAT has anyone ever obtained a perfect score of 45. When I took the GRE I scored 1400/1600 but could only manage a 31/45 on the MCAT. A 31 was enough to get me into medical school but I also had a GPA of 3.6 and majored in Astrophysics as an undergraduate which is at least as difficult as Engineering.</p>
<p>i got a 2320 on my sat, i just slacked off in college man, fsu is a party school and I fell into that. I’m incrdibly smart and like i said, im gonna have a ‘new’ gpa at fsu, and im applying to fsu college of medicine, and im gonna murder the mcat. Will a top 1% score get me into med school?</p>
<p>You might get a new FSU GPA but you will not get a new GPA from AMCAS which calculates the GPAs of all medical school applicants and sends it to the medical schools you apply to. They will calculate your GPA using the grade you received from every course you have taken at a community college, college, university or any other post-secondary educational facility. They do not recognize any kind of academic renewal, forgiveness, cancellation or replacement. You have a 2.5 GPA after 60 credits, to get that up to a 3.7 in the next 60 credits which is all you have left is going to take a truly heroic effort.</p>
<p>You should not count on the FSU Medical School accepting you because you go to FSU as an undergraduate. Generally, medical schools do not give applicants who are undergraduates at the university they are part of any special consideration in admissions.</p>