Advise Needed for Prospective Podiatry Student

[Tarun_K]

Hello,

My situation is very intense. To begin with I am not a citizen nor permanent resident. I fall under the DACA student category. Due to this, I can only apply to 2 podiatry schools which are Western University of Health Sciences, College of Podiatric Medicine and Barry University, College of Podiatric Medicine, as they accept students under the DACA category.
I have 200+ volunteering hours but none are intense hours earned from shadowing a podiatrist.
I have gotten published for my cancer research which I did during my 4th year in college.
I graduated with my bachelors degree in cell and molecular biology with an overall GPA of 2.88 and science GPA of 2.35. My dad was a 5 year cancer patient and I lost him during my last year in college and I lost my competitive GPA in the last 2 years. I am not trying to use this as an excuse but, at that time my priority was my dad. But, yes due to certain family situations, I was not able to keep my 3.5 GPA.
I have applied for my masters in biomedical engineering, to learn about how engineering can help develop technology for the medical world, such as prosthetics.

Can someone help me/ guide me step by step in becoming a strong applicant for podiatry school as I already do not have many options of schools due to my legal status?
Would you recommend me to do a masters or take retake classes I did not do well in and apply?


Please do let me know.
Thank you,
TDK

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[tylerwayne]

You applied for your master's? So are you planning on doing that or are you planning on applying to pod school? Certainly do not think doing both are possible...

When are you planning on applying for pod?

-If you want to raise your GPA, obviously doing well in your master's program will help significantly. Or skip the master's and, like you said, retake classes. However, I don't know how your school system works but at my undergrad institution retaking sciences classes was nearly impossible. In fact it wasn't allowed due to how impacted we were (California State University system)
-Find a DPM, shadow them, This is easy.
-Obtain LOR from aforementioned DPM as well as 2 science professors or 1 heath advisory committee letter
-25+ MCAT to combat GPA.
-Explain your situation in your personal statement.
-Interview well.

 

[Tarun_K]

Thank you for replying.

I have quite a few reasons to apply to the masters program.
1. My mother is currently in school, so while she goes to school, i'm supporting the household. So she can get a good job to support herself and my brother when I leave for professional schooling (podiatry).
2. If her schooling takes longer than expected, I want to have a technical degree with which I can find a better job to support the household as well as stay connected to the sciences as much as possible and build myself as a stronger applicant for podiatry school.
3. Like you said, it's nearly impossible to retake classes after graduation, as you are given last priority. Unless you go for a double bachelors.

I am currently searching for DPM in my area to shadow.
As of right now, I have one advisory committee letter, and I did not do as well in my upper level science classes, so it can be said I will not be able to get good letters from the hard core science professors. Which is another reason I am going for masters to build a better academic record and get good LOR from science professors.

I heard starting next year MCAT is getting longer and tougher, as psychology, sociology, and biochemistry sections are being added. Do you have any tips on how to study well for the MCAT? And if so can you please provide them? If you have taken the exam before, how well did you do?

I just hope they understand where I am coming from in my personal statement.

Will practice for interviews.

Thank you so much for responding.

 

[PrePodDoc]

Thank you for replying.

I have quite a few reasons to apply to the masters program.
1. My mother is currently in school, so while she goes to school, i'm supporting the household. So she can get a good job to support herself and my brother when I leave for professional schooling (podiatry).
2. If her schooling takes longer than expected, I want to have a technical degree with which I can find a better job to support the household as well as stay connected to the sciences as much as possible and build myself as a stronger applicant for podiatry school.
3. Like you said, it's nearly impossible to retake classes after graduation, as you are given last priority. Unless you go for a double bachelors.

I am currently searching for DPM in my area to shadow.
As of right now, I have one advisory committee letter, and I did not do as well in my upper level science classes, so it can be said I will not be able to get good letters from the hard core science professors. Which is another reason I am going for masters to build a better academic record and get good LOR from science professors.

I heard starting next year MCAT is getting longer and tougher, as psychology, sociology, and biochemistry sections are being added. Do you have any tips on how to study well for the MCAT? And if so can you please provide them? If you have taken the exam before, how well did you do?

I just hope they understand where I am coming from in my personal statement.

Will practice for interviews.

Thank you so much for responding.

I went through a similar situation in where I was afraid of not getting into podiatry school, so I started to look into programs that would help me for the next cycle (luckily I got in and had to lose my deposit at my Post-Bac program). Since I'm from California, I can only advise you from my point-of-view. If you are in the California area, you can shadow podiatrists and podiatry students from the on-campus clinic at WesternU, but you can't get a letter of rec. WesternU has a master program where if you do well in it, you are pretty much guaranteed a spot in their podiatry program (look into that). There will be a lot of students applying for that program, but they are going into the other programs that WesternU offers like DO and Pharm. Another option is the post-bac program near WesternU called Keck Graduate Institute. It revolves around you getting a degree in the field of bio industries. With your high GPA from the program (hopefully, knock on wood) you will get into podiatry school. I would suggest you look into both of these if you feel that a post-graduate studies would help you get in and as a back-up if you don't.

With your sGPA that low, you will get auto-rejects from several schools for falling below the 2.75 range. I would advise to do a post-graduate study even though it would be an additional 20-30k loan. However, take my advice with a grain-of-salt.

Best of luck in your future goals. Message me if you have any questions.

 

[tylerwayne]

Well it seems you will being doing the masters program anyway so just do well in it.
Another option could be a junior college? I beileve if you told them your circumstances and why you had to resort to a jc they would understand.
You have a committee letter so you do not need science letters. It's either or. The committee letter holds a lot of weight.
Just simply open a phone book, find the nearest DPM, walk in and introduce yourself and ask to shadow one day. I've done this many times with various physicians of various specialties and have never been denied. They tend to enjoy showing off their work with an aspiring young student.
The MCAT is changing. There will be prep courses just as their is now. Kaplan, Princeton etc.
I did take the old one a month ago. I did horrible. I like you had a family crisis during my study time and couldn't study at all. I took it completely cold and hadn't taken the courses since my lower division days a few years ago. Still pulled an 18 and I got 5/8 interviews and I'm sitting on acceptances due to my high GPA, ECs, LORs and I believe my ability to explain my situation and disire for the profession in interviews helped.
You have a hole to dig out of so everything from this point on should be stellar

 

[rayovac]

Fyi i was looking over some residency program requirements and a lot require you to have citizenship or permanent residence. There are some that do not, but i wanted to throw this out there as it may limit you to certain programs after having completed school.

 

[hughesn2]

Wait, you applied to a graduate program in Biomedical Engineering WITHOUT an Engineering degree? When I was looking at a backup plan the Biomedical Engineering grad school was at the top of my list of what I would like, but then I contacted every Biomedical Engineering Master's programs in my home state and the few states surrounding and each of them gave me a list of their MANDATORY pre-reqs. Found out that each master's program required at least 15 credits of engineering courses and up to Calc 3. So I crossed that off because I was not in any engineering undergrad courses. I thought maybe a degree in Human Physiology would help but they told me no.

So I don't want to sound like a d*** but the truth is you have probably a better chance of getting into podiatry school than any chance at getting into a biomedical engineering master's program with a Microbiology degree and a GPA under 3.00. The Biomedical Engineering grad schools don't have that large of classes and that is an occupation that people are now realizing is one of the most booming occupations in America.

I remember back in undergrad, the only way you could retake a course was if you got a 1.5 grade or less. If you got a 2.0 in a class you couldn't retake it. We didn't have the C, C+, B-, B, etc. system but a 2.0 was a C, 3.0 was a B, so on and so on.

I would look into a pre-medical Post Baac program because based on all the emails I have sent to M.S. in Biomedical Engineering programs they aren't gonna be accepting someone with a below 3.00 GPA AND a non-engineering major.

Realistically, Western CA is gonna be out of your range. They accept 30 to 36 students per cycle and you are going to have to wow them in your personal statement to not even get an auto reject. I was going to mention what rayovac said so I don't know how exactly how an undocumented immigrants can become a legal citizen, but obviously you have looked into that yourself. You have two MASSIVE HURDLES in your way to become a doctor: VERY Low GPA and are an undocumented immigrant.

 

[Tarun_K]

I went through a similar situation in where I was afraid of not getting into podiatry school, so I started to look into programs that would help me for the next cycle (luckily I got in and had to lose my deposit at my Post-Bac program). Since I'm from California, I can only advise you from my point-of-view. If you are in the California area, you can shadow podiatrists and podiatry students from the on-campus clinic at WesternU, but you can't get a letter of rec. WesternU has a master program where if you do well in it, you are pretty much guaranteed a spot in their podiatry program (look into that). There will be a lot of students applying for that program, but they are going into the other programs that WesternU offers like DO and Pharm. Another option is the post-bac program near WesternU called Keck Graduate Institute. It revolves around you getting a degree in the field of bio industries. With your high GPA from the program (hopefully, knock on wood) you will get into podiatry school. I would suggest you look into both of these if you feel that a post-graduate studies would help you get in and as a back-up if you don't.

With your sGPA that low, you will get auto-rejects from several schools for falling below the 2.75 range. I would advise to do a post-graduate study even though it would be an additional 20-30k loan. However, take my advice with a grain-of-salt.

Best of luck in your future goals. Message me if you have any questions.

If you don't mind me asking what was your overall and science GPA?
how many hours of volunteering did you do?

I did look into post-bac programs and was still despite that you are given the last priority when given classes.
I will look into special masters programs and Keck's post bac program.

Yes, because of my low GPA and not having citizenship my chances are slim and I want to get as strong as I can for applying to my only two options.

Thank you, will surely message you if required, you have been a great help.

Thank you.

 

[Tarun_K]

Well it seems you will being doing the masters program anyway so just do well in it.
Another option could be a junior college? I beileve if you told them your circumstances and why you had to resort to a jc they would understand.
You have a committee letter so you do not need science letters. It's either or. The committee letter holds a lot of weight.
Just simply open a phone book, find the nearest DPM, walk in and introduce yourself and ask to shadow one day. I've done this many times with various physicians of various specialties and have never been denied. They tend to enjoy showing off their work with an aspiring young student.
The MCAT is changing. There will be prep courses just as their is now. Kaplan, Princeton etc.
I did take the old one a month ago. I did horrible. I like you had a family crisis during my study time and couldn't study at all. I took it completely cold and hadn't taken the courses since my lower division days a few years ago. Still pulled an 18 and I got 5/8 interviews and I'm sitting on acceptances due to my high GPA, ECs, LORs and I believe my ability to explain my situation and disire for the profession in interviews helped.
You have a hole to dig out of so everything from this point on should be stellar

Hello

Not exactly, I am interested in designing prostethics as well. But yes raising my GPA is very important to me at this point.
That is awesome.
How many schools did you get accepted to?
and how many times did you take the MCAT? How did you study for it?

Thank you so much for responding, this shows me hope.

 

[Tarun_K]

Fyi i was looking over some residency program requirements and a lot require you to have citizenship or permanent residence. There are some that do not, but i wanted to throw this out there as it may limit you to certain programs after having completed school.

Yes, you are right of the 8 podiatry schools only 2 accept students under the DACA category, which are my only two options for applying.

 

[Tarun_K]

Wait, you applied to a graduate program in Biomedical Engineering WITHOUT an Engineering degree? When I was looking at a backup plan the Biomedical Engineering grad school was at the top of my list of what I would like, but then I contacted every Biomedical Engineering Master's programs in my home state and the few states surrounding and each of them gave me a list of their MANDATORY pre-reqs. Found out that each master's program required at least 15 credits of engineering courses and up to Calc 3. So I crossed that off because I was not in any engineering undergrad courses. I thought maybe a degree in Human Physiology would help but they told me no.

So I don't want to sound like a d*** but the truth is you have probably a better chance of getting into podiatry school than any chance at getting into a biomedical engineering master's program with a Microbiology degree and a GPA under 3.00. The Biomedical Engineering grad schools don't have that large of classes and that is an occupation that people are now realizing is one of the most booming occupations in America.

I remember back in undergrad, the only way you could retake a course was if you got a 1.5 grade or less. If you got a 2.0 in a class you couldn't retake it. We didn't have the C, C+, B-, B, etc. system but a 2.0 was a C, 3.0 was a B, so on and so on.

I would look into a pre-medical Post Baac program because based on all the emails I have sent to M.S. in Biomedical Engineering programs they aren't gonna be accepting someone with a below 3.00 GPA AND a non-engineering major.

Realistically, Western CA is gonna be out of your range. They accept 30 to 36 students per cycle and you are going to have to wow them in your personal statement to not even get an auto reject. I was going to mention what rayovac said so I don't know how exactly how an undocumented immigrants can become a legal citizen, but obviously you have looked into that yourself. You have two MASSIVE HURDLES in your way to become a doctor: VERY Low GPA and are an undocumented immigrant.

I have already been accepted for biomedical engineering in a university near me. Its upto me to decide at this point if I want to go for the 2.5 years of masters or look for an alternative route, so right now I am exploring my options.
Yes, since I am not an engineering major I will have to take some foundation courses, so as this is a 2 year masters program it will take me 2.5 years.
You are right I need to WOW the schools for them to accept me that is why I want to become a strong applicant before I apply for the only 2 schools that accept undocumented legal residents for schooling.

As far as not accepting you for a masters program because of your bachelors degree is not an issue in my state as long as you complete the foundation courses.

Thank you for replying, this helps me alot.

 

[animal1mom]

I have already been accepted for biomedical engineering in a university near me. Its upto me to decide at this point if I want to go for the 2.5 years of masters or look for an alternative route, so right now I am exploring my options.
Yes, since I am not an engineering major I will have to take some foundation courses, so as this is a 2 year masters program it will take me 2.5 years.
You are right I need to WOW the schools for them to accept me that is why I want to become a strong applicant before I apply for the only 2 schools that accept undocumented legal residents for schooling.

As far as not accepting you for a masters program because of your bachelors degree is not an issue in my state as long as you complete the foundation courses.

Thank you for replying, this helps me alot.

 

[animal1mom]

Tarun,

All of these questions should be directed to the 2 schools you are interested in. You should compile your stats and educational history, and meet with or talk to a representative from these schools. Tell them that this is what you have done, you want to be a podiatrist, and what do you have to do to be accepted. Then you are not wasting time and effort needlessly. Once you have the information, you can make an intelligent decision as to what path you want to proceed on. Most school want diversity, and you bring that to the table. Let them direct you.

 

[PrePodDoc]

Tarun,

All of these questions should be directed to the 2 schools you are interested in. You should compile your stats and educational history, and meet with or talk to a representative from these schools. Tell them that this is what you have done, you want to be a podiatrist, and what do you have to do to be accepted. Then you are not wasting time and effort needlessly. Once you have the information, you can make an intelligent decision as to what path you want to proceed on. Most school want diversity, and you bring that to the table. Let them direct you.

I have to agree with animal1mom. My stats would not help since I got accepted to Scholl. You should definitely contact the administration at Barry and Western about your circumstances. Better to get info directly from them than from a 3rd party source on student doctor. No one on here will know for sure. Best of luck.

 

[hughesn2]

I would just continue down the biomedical engineering route since you got in. First off, I don't know how the he!! you got in when all the schools I spoke to did tell me that their school will barely look at your application if you haven't taken the basic pre-req courses. Congrats on that dude because that is a great profession to go down. Don't waste $80K on a graduate degree just to help your chances getting into a medical school.

Most engineering majors themselves would love to be accepted into a Masters of Biomedical Engineering program, so consider yourself lucky you already have that acceptance with a sGPA under 2.5. Yeah, you SHOULD go for your dreams, but sometimes you have to think about what is realistic. If Barry does tell you that after hearing your story and despite a very low GPA that you would still somehow make a competitive applicant then study for the MCAT and go down that route. BUT if I had that GPA and got accepted to an MS in Biomedical Engineering program I would not want to spend two to three years getting rejected by podiatry schools all while I could already have my degree in Biomedical Engineering.