You should wait to make decisions until you hear from some of the ADCOMs on here. Do you prefer MD to DO? If DO will make you happy, go for grade replacement by repeating the classes you did poorly in at any state school. It's easier than adding an entire graduate degree. Go full time if you can - part time if you want to work while in school. You'll need to get some medical exposure though. A scribe job at a local Emergency Department is great if you have one available. Volunteering in the medical field would also work. But as another poster said, make it clinical, and make it with a physician or two who can write you stellar letters of recommendation.
Thanks!
Honestly, to me, both DO and MD are about the same. Yeah, MD has the prestige of everyone knowing you're a "doctor", but most people know about DOs.
I may do what you said. Maybe I can do the "second bachelors" option so I can secure a loan and re-take everything I needed plus a couple upper levels. If it takes a year or so, that would be ok. The biggest problem I have where I am right now, is having to apply over an hour away and pick up and move there. There really are no schools or research-type hospitals nearby.
Depending on your age, given that you are away from school for a few years, and that you may have to do pre-reqs, take MCAT, etc. it seems like a longggg road. You would also have to spruce up extracurriculars, etc. Might be a difficult road. I would consider other less stringent medical pathways - NP/PA type. Much easier and in the right setting you can do well.
Thanks for the tip! I am certainly considering all the options.
It depends on what state you're in or want to be in - Harvard, UCB, UTx, UCD, UCLA, UCD, and I'm sure most high quality state schools do...its a decent way to increase building utilization and find work for professors/grad students you don't have a class for. If none of those work its really not a big deal to take the courses at a CC...its a non issue for many mid and low tiered school.
Do not under any circumstances consider UNE or other online platforms, despite the fact that it is extremely tempting to do so...
I'm PA resident right now, so I am trying to avoid crossing state lines if I can. I'm looking at possibly doing the "second bachelors" at Pittsburgh, because living in Philly is
incredibly costly.
I looked at UNE when I first started looking at online post-bac work (I re-took a couple classes this spring). Thanks very much for that! I don't mind online post-bac for while I was working FT, but if I had a choice, I think I much prefer traditional classes. I can ask questions of the professor better, gauge some of the "unspoken" things better than a recording, ask peers questions, and, because I'm on campus, get an idea of how difficult a prof is...Some professors are terrible at anything technological. Awful. I had a bad experience before...and I will have to retake that bad experience. This time, it will be elsewhere, and a hopefully with a professor who knows how to use the program they will be using to teach.
Retake classes you got C's or lower in and apply to DO school. Definitely don't settle short like 49ers is recommending if thats what you really want. Whats your cgpa and sgpa at right now? Do this part time and also get a medical related job so you get clinical exposure and some money. SMP's are risky due to the fact that if you do not ace them 3.6+ you have no chance at MD or DO schools and on top of this even doing well in one does not guarantee you a spot.
Thanks!
My uGPA is 3.20, with a sGPA of 2.93. I was plagued with migraines due to an allergy I didn't know I had when doing undergrad, but once I figured out that I can't eat Ramen and Chef Boyardee (soy allergy), my grades did an upward trend. I took a couple courses this spring (ColoradoSU biochemistry) and re-took Chem 101 both with As. Those did bring my grade up a bit. I have a lot of credits, though, so DO school may end up being the ticket.
Yeah, I was looking at SMPs and the more I looked at them, the more I started to get nervous. It looks like an "eggs in one basket" type of thing. Yes, I probably can take upper level courses, but being as rusty as I am at the basics, well, that's a definite gamble.