Bachelors and Two masters degrees already

[trippleengineer]

So I am a non traditional applicant, previously being a phd student. My bachelors and masters were in electrical engineering, followed by a switch and a second masters in biomedical engineering. For anyone who may be concerned, med school is not a "plan B" here, it has been the ultimate goal since 2010).

I have managed to do well on my MCATs, (35) but I'm concerned with my gpa: I have around a 3.35, for undergrad, first masters and second masters. I have decent extraciriculars and leadership experience (including president of my graduate student body for a year) and over 500 hours of non-clinical volunteering plus an assortment of clinical experience (not great but not awful, and i'm actively buffing that up) and 4 years of research experience totaling several thousand hours.

But my concern is my GPA(s). I know they're not competitive for MD schools, even for engineering programs. I've sent out applications to SMP's but due to one of my letter writers taking 3 months to write my LOR (he was a major supervisor for several aspects of my career but unfortunately has recently inherited the premed department from a retiring professor) only this week managed to complete them. But the more I think about it the more conflicted I am about whether or not an SMP will be helpful or viable financially (I already have around 75K in loans, 50K of which is unsubsudized). I am in this for the long haul, regardless of how many cycles I have to go through, if I have to retake my MCAT (I took it last summer but I am actively re-studying for the new one just in case) or what else may be necessary.

Can anyone offer any advice on whether or not a third masters (SMP) would be useful/wise?

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[MrLogan13]

You don't need to retake with that MCAT score. I think it'd be more affordable and convenient for you to do a DIY post-bacc either as a non-degree seeking student at a university or, to save money, at a CC.

 

[trippleengineer]

I'm not in need of any pre-requisite courses. I managed to squeeze them in during my masters degrees. The question is of academic enhancement due to the sub-par GPA.

 

[MrLogan13]

Yes, hence the DIY post-bacc. If you're concerned about cost, which you said you were, that would be the more affordable option. I personally know a handful of people who have done DIY post-bacc courses at either a CC or at a university as a non-degree seeking student who have gone on to have very successful cycles.

 

[DrMidlife]

I'm not in need of any pre-requisite courses. I managed to squeeze them in during my masters degrees. The question is of academic enhancement due to the sub-par GPA.

Undergrad & grad GPAs aren't averaged together.

Grad GPA doesn't carry much weight because med schools won't take the time to evaluate various grad programs. Undergrad is the basis of comparison, with MCAT.

A GPA reported on a transcript is entirely ignored. Start an AMCAS or AACOMAS or TMDSAS app to see what you're in for, in listing your classes one by one. The app instructions for each service will explain how to categorize your classes, to see what your overall, science and non-science undergrad GPAs are. Edit: BUT the services don't do the actual GPA calcs until you actually pay money & actually apply.

A lot of us here in nontrad land have to spreadsheet out our long academic records to make sense of things.

When you know your undergrad cGPA and sGPA, then you can make plans for redemption. See the reapplicant forum for mistakes to avoid, and the postbac forum for low GPA options.

Best of luck to you.