Feel like I am off the path

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

MisterDuck27

New Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2012
Messages
8
Reaction score
1
I am a transfer student at UCSB and my grades have not been that great. I came in with a 3.4. I want to go to med school so bad, but I feel as if my GPA wont be good enough. I currently have a 3.02 with one year still to go. I was thinking about maybe pursuing a Masters in medical science then applying to med school. The other thing is I don't have have research experience nor do I know any of my professors. I am scared I am not doing what I should be doing to achieve my dream. I feel lost and am very frustrated. I hope I am not alone.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Have you thought of maybe staying an extra year and working on a minor? WIll give you more chances to bring up the gpa.
 
Also, your school might have a course retake policy, where you can retake some courses and replace the grads.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Step 1: Stay an extra year and retake Medical School PreReqs. While retaking these courses, go to a lot of office hours so that your professors can get to know you and thus, write a good letter of rec for you (assuming you do well in the class this time around). My rule of thumb is that you should have at least 2 LoR from an academic faculty member

Step 2: start emailing professors at your school that are doing research. Eventually one will ask to meet with you and potentially get you started on his/her research team. this usually leads to a Letter of Rec as well! Hooray for killing 2 birds with 1 stone

Step 3: Call clinics around your area with a DO and start shadowing. This should give you a decent amount of exposure to the field of medicine while also satisfying the DO LoR requirement of many DO schools

If you are committed, this can all easily be done in a year. GL!
 
I don't know it is at UCSB, but at my UC they were REALLY strict about students not being able to stay an extra year. I think it's because of California's budget disaster, but they essentially force everyone to graduate in 4 years, and if you can't (no matter what your reason), then you're forced to take summer school the next year to finish. Even if you wanted to pick up a minor or double major, you could only do so if you could prove that you would finish everything in 4 years max. I tried to pick up a Spanish minor so that I could stay an extra year and take pre-med pre-reqs, and was flat out rejected because of this 4-year-max rule. The school made it almost impossible to add a major or minor if you didn't do so before a certain time.

I also know for transfer students at my UC, they were required to finish their degree within 3 years of transferring. You might want to look into this further for your school.

If worse comes to worse, you can always apply for a post-bac. An academic-enhancer post-bac (or those geared towards URM/disadvantaged, if you are such) will allow you take undergraduate-level courses, which I think would help you more than a master's would at this point. A master's program won't let you to take/re-take undergrad courses, even though they do have other benefits.
 
Tal to your school's advisory people. You do have advisors, don't you? Talk to your peers in any of the pre-med or pre-professional clubs too.

It also sounds like talking to a counselor would help.

I am a transfer student at UCSB and my grades have not been that great. I came in with a 3.4. I want to go to med school so bad, but I feel as if my GPA wont be good enough. I currently have a 3.02 with one year still to go. I was thinking about maybe pursuing a Masters in medical science then applying to med school. The other thing is I don't have have research experience nor do I know any of my professors. I am scared I am not doing what I should be doing to achieve my dream. I feel lost and am very frustrated. I hope I am not alone.
 
I agree with michow87! I think maybe doing a year of research or clinical work and getting good letters is a good idea with the possibility of bringing up your science gpa. I traveled before med school, maybe you could look into a study abroad that is medically related. It will give you plenty to talk about on your personal statement and secondaries. Just ideas.
 
Top