From flunking out of college to MD?

[innercellmass]

Ah, first post! I'm 28, and I flunked out of college pretty spectacularly 6 years ago in the midst of a very tumultuous personal situation and mental health issues. I've been working in healthcare ever since, and just can't shake the desire to try again with med school in mind--and trust me, I've tried to come up with something else I could be happy doing, but I keep coming back to medicine as (at the risk of sounding unbearably cliche) my calling. So I took the MCAT, partially to see if I was actually up to the task of studying for it, then ignored the issue for a few months, and am now trying to kick myself into taking some real action... but am worried it's hopeless.

I have a 33 on the MCAT, several years work experience in medical settings, volunteer work, presentations at national conferences in my field, and MDs I work with who have offered to write me recommendations. But my undergrad transcript is so lousy (under 2.0), I'm at a loss for how to even begin making up for it.

In order to even get a 4 year college to consider me, it seems like I need to start at a community college... but should I start retaking prereqs there, or take something else to get my feet wet, and save the prereqs for when I land at a 4 year school?

Part of me wants to retake the MCAT in January (I was sick when I took it, and scored several points below my practice test average), since while a 33 is fine, I don't think it does what I need it to... but then part of me thinks I should be throwing myself into coursework ASAP, in which case an MCAT retake would be a distraction.

Mostly, I'm just wondering if anyone has been in this situation and had it work out in the end, or known someone who has. Given that I have a significantly terrible undergrad record weighing me down, and even if I manage all As from now on I'm probably not going to be able to pull my GPA above a 2.75, is there any way I have a chance? What's my best move from here?

Thanks in advance!

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[IslandStyle808]

For the love of god do NOT retake that MCAT, because it will do what you need it to do. It will be very difficult uphill battle for you. The main thing here is GPA repair. There are two options for you at this point.
1) If you are gung ho about MD, then you need to take upper level science classes and get A's until you hit a 3.0 in you science GPA and cumulative. Then you will need to do a special masters program (SMP). This will show the medical schools you are able to handle the rigors of medical school courses.
2) If you are fine with DO, then I suggest you retake your classes you did badly in and get your GPA as high as you can. DO schools have a grade replacement policy and you can replace those lower grades with higher one, but the most recent grade counts.

I repeat this, do not retake the MCAT unless it has been more than three years. I have seen people retake it with a 30+ and screw up royally. Just do the GPA repair. Good luck to you!

 

[BlastedHeath]

I'm coming from a similar position as you. I flunked out of school with a 1.65 after four years of trying off and on. I took a year or so off and I went to a community college, did 66 units, transferred back to a four year and now I am a semester away from my bachelors. My cumulative GPA is up to 2.85, and I will do additional postbac work to raise it further before applying. You can check out the "Below 3.0 GPA" thread for more similar stories.

It is a long, hard road, but it is not impossible if you keep at it. If you are dead set on MD, you may have a problem, but if you are willing to go DO, which you should be in my opinion, then you can take advantage of their grade replacement policy. This replaces your previous grade if you retake it and get a higher one. The only thing you can really do at this point is to take whatever classes you can, and get As in them. If that is community college and then moving on to a four year, do it, you aren't really in the position to be picky.

Don't even think about the MCAT right now, you are not close to applying and you will probably end up having to retake it down the line because the scores do expire. A high MCAT is a good sign, but it will not make up for grades that low. A 33 is great, don't retake it until you have to and are closer to applying.

 

[Apollo1]

Kudos on the 33. You've already identified the first hurdle, which is your cgpa. If your speculation regarding its max. value after straight-A's is correct, it seems that at the very least you'd have to: 1) finish coursework for your degree, and 2) complete a DIY/formal post-bacc. An SMP might also be included, depending on whether you're considering MD only. I don't know if they 3-year validity rule is still applicable for the 2015 MCAT, but I suspect that your score might expire by the time you're ready for application season.

 

[tawnymarie]

I agree with most here that DO is your best bet since the grade replacement policy is so nice and you can take those classes for pennies at a local community college compared to the price of a post-bacc program. However if you're dead set on MD...a post-bacc program with amazing grades is probably in order.

 

[innercellmass]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I'm not 100% dead set on MD as opposed to DO, but hoping I don't need to count MD out quite yet. Though it's entirely possible that down the road DO will seem like a much better option than pouring more time into taking my chances with an SMP.

 

[GunnarBronson]

Kudos on the 33. Definitely don't retake unless it is going to expire before your application. In that case, the coursework you'll have done between now and then will hopefully help boost that score. Good luck!