3.3 Cumulative GPA/3.3 SGPA

[TBMDH]

So like many of the people that I see posting, my first two years of school I messed up. I was a teen mom and delivered my first child during finals week meaning I missed finals. Adjusting to being a mom, working, and going to school during my first two year and w/42 credits I got a GPA of 1.96. I dropped out. Going to school, working, and taking care of a newborn was not working for me.

I took a year off and just worked. I've worked on getting used to having a baby around and thought about what it was I really wanted in life.

After that year I returned to school, and two months into my returning semester, my daughter was diagnosed w/ALL Leukemia. I missed a lot of school but still maintained a good GPA.

First two years: 1.96 GPA (42 credits)
Break----------1 year
Third Year: 3.62 (32 Credits)-year my daughter was diagnosed w/leukemia
Fourth Year: 3.91 (35 Credits)
Final Year: 4.0 (21 Credits)

Cumulative GPA 3.29
Science GPA 3.30

Experience:
1 year Certified Nursing Assistant in Nursing Home (at least 20hrs/week)
3 year Resident Assistant in Assisted living (at least 8hrs/week)
1 year Ambulatory Surgery Health unit clerk/patient escort at hospital (full time)
2.5 years taking care of my child w/leukemia (lab work 2x/month & clinic visit at least 1/month...observed 10+ lumbar puncture/sedations)
6 months research on breast cancer

LOR:
Faculty Pre-Medical Advisor
Research supervisor/professor
Physics professor
Nurse supervisor
Nurse co-worker

MCAT:
still need to take..what do I need to get w/my situation to even consider applying?

Degree: HUMAN BIOLOGY

I might be considered disadvantage not sure? maybe a minority, i'm asian but not part of the big groups that are over-represented like chinese, japanese, or korean. family income of less than 22,000/year in family of four.

Should I wait till after Grad school to apply? What can I do to better my application? What do I need to score on MCAT to be considered for med school? Any advice would be greatly appreciated?

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[JustMeditate]

Accidentally posted before my post was done....uno secundo.

 

[JustMeditate]

1). A 3.3 GPA definitely isn't a "good" GPA for MD schools. The average is around a 3.6 and a 3.7-4.0 is considered competitive. However, there are some med schools who won't weigh the first and second years of college as heavily as your last two, simply because they know that people make mistakes. Top tier schools probably won't be forgiving, but others may. Furthermore, you show an upward grade trend, and a consistent one at that! Considering how awesome it was, the fact that it spanned across 3 years, and your finale of a 4.0, you would definitely be preferred over other applicants with a 3.3 and no upward trend. Taking all this into account, applying to med school right now might not be a bad idea. You may consider calling up some admissions offices and asking how they'd view a 3.3 with an upward grade trend as phenomenal as yours. Just apply BROADLY and EARLY (NO LATER THAN MID-JUNE!!!!!!). Also, your GPA isn't too bad for DO schools. They generally require lower GPA and MCAT scores, compared to MD schools. They also have a grade forgiveness policy. Taking that into account, it is quite possible that your GPA for DO schools will be higher than your GPA for MD schools.

2). In general, anything below a 30 MCAT is considered a sub par score. Anything around or below a 22 won't even be considered by a med school. Obviously, aim for the highest MCAT score you can and DON'T take the MCAT until you are consistently getting the score you want on practice exams. The best ones for predicting your actual score are the AAMC tests, which are around $30 a piece. The higher your MCAT score, the better. Your upward grade trend and persistence give adcoms a reason not to throw your app in the trash over a 3.3 GPA. A high MCAT score will give them even more reason not to toss your app over the low GPA.

3). You are pretty solid as far as clinical experience and research go, but you do lack a few important EC's. Where is your NONclinical volunteer work (Was the resident assistant thing unpaid? If so, that will probably count.) What about leadership? Any teaching/tutoring would also be helpful, though not necessary. You also need 50 hours of shadowing around 2-3 doctors. Again, you want to present the strongest EC's possible, to convince adcoms that your low GPA doesn't define you.

4). You probably shouldn't list watching your child go through leukemia as an extracurricular activity. My guess is that doing so wouldn't go well, and would make you appear rather apathetic. Of course, you could include the experience in your personal statement, to explain one of the reasons why you are interested in medicine (if that is the case), but don't list your child's lumbar punctures as "shadowing." It isn't. It is "parenting." Get some shadowing outside of your child's treatment.

5). Don't tell adcoms that you did poorly in school because you were a teen parent. That term just oozes irresponsibility. I would say that, "I thought I could handle a child, school, and work at the same time. However, it was very hard to juggle all three at once, and so I needed a year off to learn how to do so. Then I went back to school and kicked a**."

6). Going to grad school won't help you out, application wise, unless you did an SMP and got nothing less than a 3.8 in the program. But SMPs are a last resort, because if you don't do well, that is all the evidence med schools need to convince themselves that you are not med school material.

7). Are you taking care of this child yourself? I don't want to get personal or anything, but med school is very time consuming, and very few people are able to do well and work at the same time. Most people take out loans for living expenses, the work load is so intense, on top of their med school loans. If you are supporting this child yourself, your living expense loans will be close to twice as much as everyone else's. I am sure there are government programs that could help support you if this is the case. Look into those.

 

[supersaiyan]

Study really hard for the MCATs and try to get over a 30, you are definitely doing better year by year, so your showing them very good progress.

 

[TBMDH]

Thank you so much for the answers...it's mainly my gpa i'm worried about, I can improve everything else but i can't go back and change my grades.