Should I obtain a second bachelors degree?

Applying to College
1

Hi to all & thanks to anyone who reads and replies.

 I am going to give my best effort to ensure this post is short & sweet because I know no college student wants to read a 10 page post (especially not during summer break). 

 To sum up my academic history - I went to a CC straight out of HS where I performed exceptionally well - 3.9 GPA, inducted into two honor societies, member of the honors program, & graduated in the top 10% of my class. I then attended Stony Brook University (my dream school because I had originally wanted to become an MD) & this is where things began on their downward spiral. I got really sick & remained this way for years, which in turn caused me to suffer academically as well. I'm actually a really, really strong & dedicated student. I wanted to go to Columbia after SBU but with my GPA now that's seriously impossible. All my grades weren't bad & actually I flourished in my most difficult classes, including a graduate Psych class that I was accepted to take as an undergrad.

I was often discouraged to become an MD because math is far from my strong suit. However, oddly enough, I’m a strong science student which usually goes hand-in-hand with mathematics - such is not with me! I won’t sit here & make up excuses as to why I never went pre-med but it didn’t happen & im here today with a BA in Sociology. (Btw, the most pointless degree in my opinion, unless you want to do strict research or casework).

I want to re-do my bachelors to correct my failures & actually perform as the student I KNOW that I am. I know what an investment this is - financially, mentally, time-wise, etc. but I am determined to succeed in the ways I set for myself back when I was at CC.
My grades there were out of this world exceptional, my grades in the last few years were not. I am ashamed of myself.

Has anyone pursued a second bachelors? If so, what is your experience & recommendations? I want to attend SBU again to obtain my second bachelors. I’m not 100% sure what career I want but I know I want for it to be medically focused. I wanted to get my bachelors in Psychology because this could serve as the platform into either a social science career or natural science, as both are in my interests.

I’m not willing to have (what I consider) a glorified secretary “career.” I always wanted to help others & save someone’s life, literally or figuratively. I honestly don’t know what career I want but I have ideas and I think this would be my best bet to get there. No program I am interested in would accept someone with a GPA as low as my 2.4 something. Unfortunately, I had serious medical issues out of my control and probably should have taken a leave of absence, but I didn’t & you can’t undo what’s already been done & is in the past.

Thanks in advance. Please do let me know if I’ve failed to include any necessary information & I’ll be glad to include.

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Your first step is to have a specific career goal so that you know whether you even need a second BA. What you might be looking at instead is collecting the right classes to be able to apply to a specific grad program that you need for the career that you want. I finished college with something like a 2.7 in one field of study, but a year and a half of undergrad and grad-level coursework with a much higher GPA in a different field got me into a good grad program in that new field.

Pay a visit to the career center at SBU, and have a nice long chat with the folks there who are in charge of helping their alums. They should be able to give youuseful ideas.

Wishing you all the best!

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@happymomof1 Thanks for your feedback. I hadn’t thought much of going to the career center at SBU. That might be a good place to start.

How did you improve your GPA through one year of coursework that you said was comprised of both undergrad and grad studies? Most schools won’t even grant you permission to take grad-level courses for credit if your GPA is low. At least not at my institution we can’t.

I assume you took those classes as a non-matric if you were already graduated? I can’t do this, or, it would be pointless & a waste of my time & money because those grades won’t count toward a GPA you already have.

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I’m hopeful someone else can add to my question by offering their input?

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& as far as the uncertainty toward a career goes I am not completely clueless. My main interests surround Psychology and Medicine… just trying to pick the “right” career to bridge the narrow gap between the two.

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Talk to the career center and also to a college advisor to see if you would be able to instead enter a master’sdegree program rather than get a second bachelors.

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I agree, masters in a less competitive school where your grades may get you acceptance, is better than
another bachelors. That said, really tough to say without career goals being clarified. Work in a job where you can observe those whom you’d like to follow and if still appealing, easy to get advice how to move forward.

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I don’t think a second bachelor’s degree will get you any further ahead. I would go for the Masters. If you still want to pursue med school, I 'd choose a school that also has a med school. Lots of people in my med school class at Tufts came from the masters program at same school. It was a known feeder.

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@preppedparent Thanks for this valuable feedback. That’s very interesting. Is what you’re saying to obtain a masters in ANY field and then apply to med? I worry that might be a long shot. Luckily my alma mater & the school I want to obtain my masters at ideally is predominantly a med school… hospital is basically right across a parking lot. IF I went straight to grad school with my low GPA i’d probably see myself doing the social work program, as it is less competitive to enter and be accepted to. I know social work is in the field of behavioral sciences, so i’m hoping it wouldn’t be too far fetched from any med program. If I don’t end up becoming an MD I maintain extensive interest in its sub fields such as PA school, Anesthesiology assistant, radiation therapist, genetic counselor are a few of my interests outside of anything remotely related to psychology.

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^^@ugrad2016 that sounds like a reasonable plan. I like your idea that there are many different ways of helping people and all the above are great careers that do just that. Yes, btw, the masters in particular that a lot of folks did was Physiology.

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Just a reminder that if you pursue a 2nd bachelor’s, all the grades from your first bachelor’s will still be included in your GPA on your med school application. Might be better off doing a 2 year special master’s program than a 2nd 4 year bachelor’s.

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I would not. Get a job and figure out what you want to do. Then you can take classes to get you there in the evenings. When you go back to school without a plan, you tend to flounder and it can get expensive!

Many folks do well at CC and have trouble upon transfer, so that is understandable even without the illness. But at this point, being an MD seems not possible.

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Step 1 is deciding where you want to get to. That will help you decide whether as second BA or a Masters is the best route to achieve that goal. I’ll give you a for instance. My older niece graduated from a small liberal arts college with a degree in creative writing. I know, right? After a series of dead-end jobs, she landed a go-fer job at a non-profit that administers grants and fund for the local schools. Intelligent and responsible kid, she became the equivalent of the administrative assistant to the head of the organization and then started assisted on the accounting side as people left and has been working on a second BA in accounting at a [reputable] on-line university to get the proper credentials. That’s the right approach for her. For you, it sounds as though a Masters degree might be a better choice.

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The only people I know who did a second bachelors did an accelerated second bachelors in a very career focused program (ex. did a second bachelors in nursing). I would not bother with a second bachelors in psychology which is not a field with guaranteed employment. I’d agree that if you do something you should look at some less competitive masters programs.

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@HRSMom Makes complete sense, however, I do actually have a full-time job right now & I know what jobs I can obtain with my degree & quite frankly, I don’t want them. Back to what I said about my opinion on being a glorified secretary (not to undermine anyone’s job, but it’s not for me) - I’m not about to have spent the last six years of my life in a really good school just to work in an office as someone’s slave. All jobs are important don’t get me wrong, but I did go to school to obtain a REAL career with more prestige. That’s my real issue here.

I know being an MD is serious stretch… Some might even dare to say impossible, unobtainable as you just so kindly reminded me, but I choose to believe anything is possible if you want it. I’m also not hellbent on being an MD, which is why I had listed other areas of interest in reply to a previous comment.

Thanks for your feedback though - I completely welcome constrcutvie criticism with open arms. People seem to forget this is oftentimes more important than praise.

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@happy1 Thanks for the response.

I know careers are hard to come by with a bachelors in Psychology because although it’s a hot field, too many people are majoring in the subject right now. However, I wouldn’t be looking for my career straight after obtaining the bachelors because I really want the most terminal degree I can obtain in my field, so I’m obviously not finished after a bachelors. Unfortunately admission into masters of Psych programs tend to be competitive & only have limited seating. Stony Brook U is still my dream school outside of Columbia, which is unattainable unless I obtain a second bachelors, and SB’s Masters in Psychology program has a 10% acceptance rate. Real slim & my grades just aren’t going to cut it there. I’m 24 years old & can’t uproot myself at this stage in my life to travel states away just so I can get into a “safe” school… Plus, I really don’t feel like sharing a dorm room with a 19 year old at this rate. Can you blame me there? This is why I thought of getting a second bachelors.

Otherwise, my second option would be to suspend my graduation (my diploma hasn’t come yet) & take more courses to improve my GPA because they only count as a matriculated student at my institution. I don’t know how long it would take to repair this kind of damage… We’re talking 2.4 GPA here, mind you.

My third option would be to apply to the masters of social work at SBU where I have a good chance at getting in because their GPA requirement is lower than most grad schools & I could potentially get in.

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@AboutTheSame Thank you for sharing your personal story with me, I always really appreciate this because it puts things into a different perspective.

I do have a few career ideas that I shared above in another reply, but I’ll restate them here. If not my dream job, which is an MD, I’d be comfortably happy with: genetic counseling, PA (Physician Assistant) school, radiation therapist, anesthesiology assistant, clinical psychologist in a hospital setting… to name a few. They all have heavy scientific emphasis and while most of my course load comes from behavioral sciences, I have seriously no natural sciences on my transcript because of college credits I took during HS that fulfilled my requirements for either a Psych or Soc degree.

So, either I have to take all these courses to add to my outstanding GPA or I have to redo the bachelors in another route.

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If you dont HAVE to graduate now, another 2 or 3 semesters for a dual major is not a bad idea @ugrad2016

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@HRSMom That’s something I hadn’t considered before. Would this improve my overall GPA?

I just don’t know how many semesters it would take to repair my 2.4 GPA.

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One thing many medical related programs have in common is they explicitly require patient care experience (volunteer or paid) prior to entry. You can look at nursing or PA or physical therapist programs to see this, and for an MD it is an unwritten requirement. So I’ll agree with earlier posts. One step at a time, and the first is to get a clear career goal.

If you can not graduate that on the one hand buys you some time to work with the career center to explore careers, to do volunteer work to see what may be right for you , etc. The downside is it is another year gone by, but perhaps that is better than just jumping at something you’ll later find is no more of a fit than what you’re doing now. Nobody ever gets certainty, but if you spend a few months in a healthcare setting you’ll get a real feel for whether its right for you or not.