Advice on how to proceed?

[Ag1531]

I am currently halfway through my fourth year in college. For reasons I won't get into (long story) my undergrad will take about 5.5-6 full time years, I was thinking 6 to raise GPA.

I started off at CC after moving back to the US (I moved back home to central america for family reasons and finished high school there) and did horribly. I never really had college prep in high school (schools in my country don't really prepare students for college there much less here) but in the end it comes down to my own effort. I struggled through first two years and had ~2.3 gpa with just under 60 Credits. I managed to turn my academics around completely and my third year I earned a 4.0 both semesters (32 total credits). Last semester (first semester of 4th year) I earned a 3.9 so now I'm sitting on a 3.1ish CGPA and 2.5 sGPA. As far as pre-reqs go I have taken Gen Bio 1/2 with a C/C+ during my CC years. Also took and failed Anatomy, retook for an A. I have finished Gen (or Inorganic) chem 1/2 both with A's (class and lab), as well as Calculus with an A. I still have Org Chem and Biochem but I feel I set up a good platform to succeed in these from my performance in Inorganic chem and math.

I still have 2.5 years to go and if I keep up my performance for the past year and a half I can realistically end up with a 3.3 cgpa and 3.2 sgpa for DO (they dont count 2 D's I had in mat) or 3.1 for MD. Anything higher would require near 4.0 every semester which I am accomplishing so far. I plan to take the rest of pre-reqs and upper division bio courses to compensate for low grades in gen bio. Once I got the hang of college I gained a lot of self confidence and started working as hard as I could towards my dream but last semester hearing that DO schools stopped grade replacment was a hit to my confidence, as I was putting my hopes on that to raise my gpa more. I can't imagine how it affected people who had years of gpa repair and were ready to apply.

Now, I know these are low stats even for DO. I graduate in 2021 and who knows how competitive it will be then. Assuming an above average MCAT score (easier said than done, I know), what can i do to at least maximize my future chances?

As far as EC's I am a Medical Assistant (should have near 2k hours at graduation time), Spanish interpreter at a free clinic and university hospital, I also volunteer a lot with underserved communities and tutor hispanic youth. My dream is to work in primary care one day. I am hispanic although from central america so not sure if that is URM. Soon I will also volunteer as a health advocate for teens and young adults in hispanic communities through a hispanic organization that is well know in the state. I am also a member of LIA (Latinos in Action)

I'm working my a** off to keep my huge upward trend all the way to graduation but I want to be realistic as well. I know NP is another route to primary care. As far as PA I've been told by my pre-med advisors to "settle" for that (you can tell they're stupid to put it bluntly, PA is not a back up, many people work hard to get there and it is also just as competitve as med schools). I am thinking long and hard about it because I do ultimately want to do primary care I also want to make sure I have a decent chance before getting into more debt to extend undergrad to prepare for medical school. I need to make good decisions because while I qualify for federal aid it still doesn't cover everything so i have loans and also save up whatever small amount of money I can salvage from my part time MA job. I can't really afford to ask my parents for much help as I already have to live at home and they're trying to put me and my brother through college as well as having my grandmother live with them on my father's ~24k salary. I am also CNA certified but haven't worked in that yet besides as a Volunteer.

I'm not sure if this is the correct section for this thread so I apologize if it isn't. I would appreciate any and all advice, thank you in advance!

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[Peach Newport]

I am currently halfway through my fourth year in college. For reasons I won't get into (long story) my undergrad will take about 5.5-6 full time years, I was thinking 6 to raise GPA.

I started off at CC after moving back to the US (I moved back home to central america for family reasons and finished high school there) and did horribly. I never really had college prep in high school (schools in my country don't really prepare students for college there much less here) but in the end it comes down to my own effort. I struggled through first two years and had ~2.3 gpa with just under 60 Credits. I managed to turn my academics around completely and my third year I earned a 4.0 both semesters (32 total credits). Last semester (first semester of 4th year) I earned a 3.9 so now I'm sitting on a 3.1ish CGPA and 2.5 sGPA. As far as pre-reqs go I have taken Gen Bio 1/2 with a C/C+ during my CC years. Also took and failed Anatomy, retook for an A. I have finished Gen (or Inorganic) chem 1/2 both with A's (class and lab), as well as Calculus with an A. I still have Org Chem and Biochem but I feel I set up a good platform to succeed in these from my performance in Inorganic chem and math.

I still have 2.5 years to go and if I keep up my performance for the past year and a half I can realistically end up with a 3.3 cgpa and 3.2 sgpa for DO (they dont count 2 D's I had in mat) or 3.1 for MD. Anything higher would require near 4.0 every semester which I am accomplishing so far. I plan to take the rest of pre-reqs and upper division bio courses to compensate for low grades in gen bio. Once I got the hang of college I gained a lot of self confidence and started working as hard as I could towards my dream but last semester hearing that DO schools stopped grade replacment was a hit to my confidence, as I was putting my hopes on that to raise my gpa more. I can't imagine how it affected people who had years of gpa repair and were ready to apply.

Now, I know these are low stats even for DO. I graduate in 2021 and who knows how competitive it will be then. Assuming an above average MCAT score (easier said than done, I know), what can i do to at least maximize my future chances?

As far as EC's I am a Medical Assistant (should have near 2k hours at graduation time), Spanish interpreter at a free clinic and university hospital, I also volunteer a lot with underserved communities and tutor hispanic youth. My dream is to work in primary care one day. I am hispanic although from central america so not sure if that is URM. Soon I will also volunteer as a health advocate for teens and young adults in hispanic communities through a hispanic organization that is well know in the state. I am also a member of LIA (Latinos in Action)

I'm working my a** off to keep my huge upward trend all the way to graduation but I want to be realistic as well. I know NP is another route to primary care. As far as PA I've been told by my pre-med advisors to "settle" for that (you can tell they're stupid to put it bluntly, PA is not a back up, many people work hard to get there and it is also just as competitve as med schools). I am thinking long and hard about it because I do ultimately want to do primary care I also want to make sure I have a decent chance before getting into more debt to extend undergrad to prepare for medical school. I need to make good decisions because while I qualify for federal aid it still doesn't cover everything so i have loans and also save up whatever small amount of money I can salvage from my part time MA job. I can't really afford to ask my parents for much help as I already have to live at home and they're trying to put me and my brother through college as well as having my grandmother live with them on my father's ~24k salary. I am also CNA certified but haven't worked in that yet besides as a Volunteer.

I'm not sure if this is the correct section for this thread so I apologize if it isn't. I would appreciate any and all advice, thank you in advance!

You're actually fine for DO. You are absolutely URM, and you have a strong upward trend. These 2 factors alone put the smart money on "accepted at DO somewhere."

Thing is, if you play your cards right, you could easily go MD. Ditch the 6th year of undergrad unless you need the pre-requisites, and do a Masters with upper-leve bio instead, like a Masters of Biomedical Science. If you get a 3.7-3.8 or so in that, and you get above a 507 or so on the MCAT, I'd bet good money on an MD acceptance.

 

[Ag1531]

You're actually fine for DO. You are absolutely URM, and you have a strong upward trend. These 2 factors alone put the smart money on "accepted at DO somewhere."

Thing is, if you play your cards right, you could easily go MD. Ditch the 6th year of undergrad unless you need the pre-requisites, and do a Masters with upper-leve bio instead, like a Masters of Biomedical Science. If you get a 3.7-3.8 or so in that, and you get above a 507 or so on the MCAT, I'd bet good money on an MD acceptance.

Thank you for your reply! I also looked into SMP for MD but honestly I want primary care so it isn't the best idea to put myself in even more debt on top of what i'd have in med school as PCP salaries aren't too high. I should be able to have pre req's completed in another year and a half but I planned on a 6th year to take upper-div Bio and raise my GPA. Without the 6th year I'm probably looking at a 3.2 cgpa and 2.95-3.0 gpa which I feel may be low for DO still so I assumed it would be very much worth it to raise my sgpa to a 3.1/3.2. Currently sitting on a 3.1 cgpa with 2.5 sgpa with a year and a half of pre-reqs to go so if 3.3 cgpa and 3.1-3.2 ugpa would be okay for DO as a URM then I would do the 6th year because I've been told it with a decent MCAT it would put me in a better position than ending undergrad at 5th year with a 3.2/3.0. 6th year would also mean a whole bachelor's worth of credits with a high GPA excluding my first two years at CC (1.57, 1.85, 2.1 then 3.2 gpa's) so I thought maybe that would help in regards to adcoms not worrying too much about those first 3 semesters (the 4th wasn't bad but not excellent either)

Edit: re-read your reply and yes I suppose SMP would be worth it instead of 6th year for MD since by 5th year I'd hopefully be at above 3.0 in both gpa's which is what most people doing SMP have, but not sure if 6th year would be equally beneficial as it would allow me to hit 3.3c/3.1-3.2s for DO. I have shadowed a lot and I'm pretty much dead set on primary care so DO would be fine so not really sure if an SMP would be worth it as I'd be perfectly fine going DO. SMP may be more a last ditch thing if I don't get acceptances. I'm willing to put in the work, take a gap year etc so i'm in it for the long haul but this is all assuming I keep up my grades all the way to graduation in 2021.

 

[Peach Newport]

Thank you for your reply! I also looked into SMP for MD but honestly I want primary care so it isn't the best idea to put myself in even more debt on top of what i'd have in med school as PCP salaries aren't too high. I should be able to have pre req's completed in another year and a half but I planned on a 6th year to take upper-div Bio and raise my GPA. Without the 6th year I'm probably looking at a 3.2 cgpa and 2.95-3.0 gpa which I feel may be low for DO still so I assumed it would be very much worth it to raise my sgpa to a 3.1/3.2. Currently sitting on a 3.1 cgpa with 2.5 sgpa with a year and a half of pre-reqs to go so if 3.3 cgpa and 3.1-3.2 ugpa would be okay for DO as a URM then I would do the 6th year because I've been told it with a decent MCAT it would put me in a better position than ending undergrad at 5th year with a 3.2/3.0. 6th year would also mean a whole bachelor's worth of credits with a high GPA excluding my first two years at CC (1.57, 1.85, 2.1 then 3.2 gpa's) so I thought maybe that would help in regards to adcoms not worrying too much about those first 3 semesters (the 4th wasn't bad but not excellent either)

Keep in mind that most of your debt will come from medical school, not from your masters/UG. DO schools are almost all more expensive than MD schools, and with a good application (and especially) as a URM, a state MD admission is totally possible. It may be worth it to spend $20-30k on a good masters, if it means being able to save $30k/year in medical school tuition.

 

[Ag1531]

Keep in mind that most of your debt will come from medical school, not from your masters/UG. DO schools are almost all more expensive than MD schools, and with a good application (and especially) as a URM, a state MD admission is totally possible. It may be worth it to spend $20-30k on a good masters, if it means being able to save $30k/year in medical school tuition.

True, didn't think of it that way, I have noticed DO tends to be more expensive. I've kept up a 3.9-4.0 for the past 3 semestees but I've been doubting my future chances a lot because my numbers still wouldn't be good even if i keep working hard and keep that trend until graduation

 

[Peach Newport]

True, didn't think of it that way, I have noticed DO tends to be more expensive. I've kept up a 3.9-4.0 for the past 3 semestees but I've been doubting my future chances a lot because my numbers still wouldn't be good even if i keep working hard and keep that trend until graduation

Being URM gives you an ace in the hole for med school admissions. Often, adcoms will put way more stock into evidence you can succeed in medical school, than what your actual numbers are. Successful URMs who practice locally, in underserved areas, make them look good. They WANT you. I personally think a solid grad GPA and a halfway decent MCAT will put you in a very, very strong position.

However, It would help to know your state/region. This is inportant, because if you're in a state like cali or Texas (huge Hispanic population + many prestigious schools) your strategy may need an adjustment.

 

[Ag1531]

Being URM gives you an ace in the hole for med school admissions. Often, adcoms will put way more stock into evidence you can succeed in medical school, than what your actual numbers are. Successful URMs who practice locally, in underserved areas, make them look good. They WANT you. I personally think a solid grad GPA and a halfway decent MCAT will put you in a very, very strong position.

However, It would help to know your state/region. This is inportant, because if you're in a state like cali or Texas (huge Hispanic population + many prestigious schools) your strategy may need an adjustment.

Okay, thank you so much for your responses I appreciate it. It just gets a little hard continuing to push forward when I put myself in a position bad enough that even perfect 4.0's until graduation in 6th year would still put me at low stats (3.4c/3.3s). My state of residence is Utah (we have 1 MD that has 3.2 minimum for all GPAs and 1 new DO that is RVU I think).
I was aware that URMs often get in with lower stats, I'm giving it my best and I've had success these 3 semesters and I've put that horrible year and a half behind me, and if being a URM helps then great. I wasn't totally sure if I was URM because I tend to see Mexican/Cuban-Americans being classified URM as far as hispanics go and I've seen little to no info on central amercian applicants which I'm sure is pretty low amounts anyways. Once again, Thank you very very much for your advice, I will keep it in my mind and keep working hard until I graduate