Non-traditional prospective student here, just trying to figure out if I even have a chance at getting into medical school. I am currently in my senior year at a UC studying financial mathematics and statistics. I have always wanted to be a doctor but my parents discouraged me from it so I thought that I could pursue business. I realized during my college career that I had no passion in this and performed horribly in my classes. Right now I am sitting at a GPA of 3.04 and am trying to finish up my senior year. I really took the time during this quarantine to figure out what I want and I want nothing more than to be a doctor, but I’m not sure I can get into medical school.
I am already a bit late in the game, I have no clinical experience, no science gpa, and no volunteering experience but I am eager to start. I am considering doing a career changer post bacc to get all my prerequisites and build my science GPA. Another thing about me was I struggled with undiagnosed ADHD for my whole life and that has only changed recently but it has made huge change in my studying habits and motivation and I believe that I am ready to take on multiple more years of schooling now that I know where my passion lies, I just don’t know if I will get into medical school because of my low undergraduate gpa. I know I can do my best and get a high gpa in my post bacc and I am planning on being an EMT before I apply to my post bacc. I am also going to do a clinical internship over summer at a heart center.
I don’t want to enroll in a post bacc, enter into the year long cycles of applications and then realize I had no chance to begin with because of my undergrad GPA, any advice would be greatly appreciated on if I still have a chance, what I can do to increase my chances, like literally anything. I’m basically starting from ground zero and I am completely okay with that, the only thing I have to show for myself right now is my undergraduate GPA which is really bad so I just want to know if that will hold me back no matter what else I do.
Quick Summary:
⁃3.04 GPA in Math and Statistics, currently a senior at a UC, decided I want to do premed
⁃No clinical or volunteer experience in college
⁃Have not taken any science courses past high school so I have no science GPA
⁃Have a clinical internship at a heart center lined up after I graduate
⁃Planning on becoming an EMT after I graduate and to start applying to post baccs
⁃Want to know if my low undergraduate gpa will automatically disqualify me from medical school or if I still have a chance.
First of all you do have a sGPA–all your math classes are included in sGPA calculations. (At least for MD programs. Osteopathic schools have different rules.)
Your undergrad GPA can be overcome. All by itself, it’s not a dealbreaker. But… you are going to have to display excellence in your science/post-bacc coursework to demonstrate you’re capable of the very high level of achievement required for success in med school.
I suggest that you start looking around right now for clinically-related jobs or volunteer opportunities–home healthcare worker, CNA, medical assistant, as well as EMT. (EMT is great, but it only offers you a very limited view of one type of medicine. You’ll need broader exposure to more healthcare situations.)
Not everyone is cut out for medicine. Not only is it a very demanding job, but it also requires a special type of personality to be able to deal with the sick, the injured, the chronically ill, the mentally ill, the disabled, the demented elderly, the dying and their families on a daily basis.
The other suggestion to start right now is to start doing non-medical community service with disadvantaged populations. This is an expected EC for all med school hopefuls.
One last suggestion–since it’s been a while since your last science class, you may want to review some of the material on your own to help refresh some of the basic concepts you’ll be expected to know when you start your bio & chem classes.
Thank you so much for your advice. I ended up testing out of many math classes before coming into college like calculus and geometry so I started out with linear algebra and it only got harder from there (higher level mathematics), I shouldn’t have picked this major because I was not passionate about it at all. I needed your advice, I’ve already started looking into EC’s, it’s just been a bit harder because of the pandemic and there are limited opportunities. But I will still keep trying, I’m expected to take the next 3-4 years doing my post bacc and boosting my resume. I have also been looking into possibly becoming a nurse anesthetist as an alternative opportunity if I cannot get into medical school.
There are dozens (if not hundreds) of health care professions that do not involve medical school. Before you go down this path I’d encourage you to look at things like epidemiology, public health, hospital administration, biostatistics (you are likely qualified for those kinds of jobs with maybe one or two more courses), etc. You could have a Master’s in Public Health and be working as a health care professional by the time you are prepping to apply to med school.
It’s not Doctor or bust. You’ve got so many options- and it sounds as though you haven’t explored most of them yet. Nurse anesthetist is a wonderful career- but there are roles that you’re close to be qualified for just based on your math skills.
How does Pfizer or Moderna know that their clinical trials which show a high degree of success are going to be replicable in the general population with their new vaccines? They’ve got math folks in a wide variety of functions who designed the clinical trial, math folks who create models to account for population variances in different parts of the country, math folks who work with the doctors figuring out safe dosage limits to account for the fact that every person in the country is not a 6 foot tall 180 lb. Caucasian male, etc.
If you love medicine- and are good at math- there are lots of ways to leverage that! And a much faster career path than post-bacc. And much cheaper.
Both of my daughters (both now doctors) were math majors in undergrad. One came into college with credits all the through linear algebra.
Here’s a very useful website about all sorts of medicine adjacent careers: [Explore Health Careers](https://explorehealthcareers.org)
It has a searchable database of careers --many of which you’ve probably never even heard of.
Nurse anesthetist requires a a BSRN + 1 year acute care experience + 2-3 years for CRNA training. It’s not a short path either. ( Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant-CAA- is an identical job, but doesn’t require a nursing degree.)
There is nothing about you that is a non-traditional med school applicant. A non-traditional med school applicant is someone who had graduated from an academic university for more than 5 years. graduate study included. To med schools, you are just a recent graduate that is a non-biological major, which is very common from their pool of applicants.
You are not immune from all the med school regular applicant requirements, GPA, Mcat, and ECs. If your GPA cannot make the cut in MD schools, you may try DO schools. Otherwise, you have the following choices:
Other medical professions, NP, PA, OD and others.
Take a post bacc to repair your shortcomings.
Take an SMP and hopefully, you can make the cut.
Find a job and work for more than 5 years and remediate your shortcomings, then return as a non-traditional applicant for med schools.
And there is nothing at all wrong with looking at osteopathic medical schools. At graduation, you would be called “doctor” just like graduates from MD school. Residencies would be open to you, and the DO training and tests sequences is identical.
I agree…you need a Plan B…but every student with interest in medical school needs a Plan B.