35 yo non-trad in need of sound advice

[JazzyCA]

Background:

I'm 35 (just had my birthday last week!) and work as a lobbyist/government affairs director for a state-wide association. I've always worked in health care policy and have had the opportunity to work in a hospital, albeit in a non-clinical setting, so I have seen some of what the health industry has to offer. My father is a family practice physician, rather non-trad himself since he graduated med school at 35, and I have two cousins who are nurses, both NPs. I finally admitted to myself last year that I really want to be providing health care directly. I'm fascinated by surgery (have observed a few up close), but also really enjoyed spending time in the ER and dermatology units at the hospital.

The Catch:

I graduated college in 2002 (omg, 13 years ago) with a degree in religion, cumulative GPA of 2.7 - not sure my science grade is even worth mentioning. Frankly, the reason behind this is not a new story - I was a super high achiever who had no social life going into an Ivy League university and I didn't know how to ask for help, couldn't handle the work load, and definitely didn't know how to handle the social freedom. I had a good GPA in my major (3.5) but my early failures in physics and chemistry dragged me down. I'm aware that I would probably have to do an undergrad degree all over again just to get to a post-bacc program since my math and science classes are all over 15 years old.

I've been somewhat discouraged by early responses to my inquiries about post-bacc programs but I'm going to introductory sessions starting this January to get a sense of what kinds of classes would be acceptable to those programs in my area. Any advice on how to get over the hump of that early GPA? Or do I really need to pretty much repeat undergrad?

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Quik]

You don't need to do a complete repeat of your undergrad, nor do you necessarily need to do an approved post-bacc program. The DO admissions process allows grade replacement, so you could retake any of the courses you did poorly in and improve your GPA quickly. You can repeat these at a CC or a 4-year university; while the CC route holds a certain stigma for a perceived lack of rigor, starting there and moving back to a 4-year is a very viable option.

If you're stuck on going the MD route, which i would try to dissuade you from if you are (given your circumstances), then you have a whole lot more work to do. Raising your GPA .3 points to a 3.0, which still isn't competitive, will require about 45 semester units which is a year and a half of normal full time... You could raise your DO GPA by leaps and bounds in the same time.

Now, the better your MCAT score, and the better you do in your post-bacc will weigh heavily on your chances, but remember this, to every admissions committee application is presented to, you have to make the case why, despite your poor undergrad GPA, you are academically capable of the very rigorous med school curriculum. Making this case doesn't allow for B's in your post-bacc or sub-30 performances on the MCAT, those will only go to prove (to them) what they might already suspect.

 

[JazzyCA]

Thanks for the recommendation: I was thinking more along the lines of a PA rather than DO or MD, but the grade replacement at DO may make that a possibility.

 

[JazzyCA]

And I found this... Thanks!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/the-low-gpa-what-do-i-do-thread.827879/#post-11083370

 

[Darth Doc]

Thanks for the recommendation: I was thinking more along the lines of a PA rather than DO or MD, but the grade replacement at DO may make that a possibility.

If you want to be a doc, go that direction. If you want to be a midlevel, go that direction. PA school requires high GPA also, but it's been a while for me and I don't know the current stats of the incoming schools. (I'm a PA and am in my late 30's going to med school.)