Next Steps?

[boopboop]

My current situation:
I am currently working in a pretty large corporate Health IT company and am in a two year managerial rotational program. Needless, to say, I have always wanted to go into medicine, but also thought the business side of healthcare would be interesting, unfortunately it's been extremely unfulfilling and I am still hoping to become a physician due to the personal relationships that can be built and the role physicians play in our society.

In the meantime, I am trying to improve up my application for the cycle in 2017. I majored (undergrad) in business at UMich Ross, so I did not have a formal science major/minor, but was able to complete my pre-med requisites.

So... the stats:
sGPA: 3.36
cGPA: 3.21

I realize I do not have very competitive stats, so what would be the best route for me, given my timeline?

What I am currently doing:
I am currently utilizing open courseware to learn biochem (to see how I can manage working 40-60 hours/wk and class), I am pretty much on track, but am wondering if taking more upper level courses at a local CC (up the sGPA) OR going through the biochem class (through Harvard for free) and then MCAT prepping would be more beneficial (or any other suggestions!)?

I also just moved to Nashville and have already started volunteering (health screener), but have yet to find any ins for clinical shadowing. Any thoughts here?

Thanks in advance and any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

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[GreenDuck12]

Welcome to the forums and the long march towards medical school and becoming a doctor. Getting into medical school is a long road, and become a doctor is even longer. Before getting to far into it, you should make sure that this really is what you want to do (start shadowing and volunteering beforehand). Medical school admissions are extremely competitive. Between 50% and 60% of applicants do not matriculate to any medical school in any given year. You have to respect your competition.

As of now, you are not a competitive applicant for an allopathic (MD) or osteopathic (DO) medical school. It is difficult to raise your GPA significantly for allopathic schools as these schools count every class you take. With allopathic schools, you would have to take an additional credit hour for every hour you earned, while earning a 4.0, to raise your GPA from a 3.2 to a 3.6 (the average GPA of a matriculated student). (Example: 120 credits at 3.2 + 120 credits at 4.0 / 240 credits completed = 240 credits with a 3.6 gpa)

However, with osteopathic schools, there is a shortcut that many students use. Osteopathic schools allow students to replace low grades with higher ones if they retake the course (allopathic averages the two grades together). For example, if you received an F in calculus (GPA of 0.0) and retook the class and earned an A (GPA of 4.0) the osteopathic schools would replace the F and show the A, which would raise your GPA for that class from a 0.0 to a 4.0. An allopathic school would average the two, which would work out to a C (GPA of 2.0). The advice I give to all applicants with a below average GPA is to explore the osteopathic grade replacement option and retake all F/D/C-/C coursework as this will enable you to raise your GPA more quickly.

Regardless of if you choose to pursue grade replacement or not, you are only going to become a competitive medical school applicant with sustained high academic achievement with a science heavy course load. You have you demonstrate you can handle the rigors of medical school. Additionally, you are going to need a strong MCAT score, but that is for another time.

For now, focus on finding out if becoming a doctor is right for you. Notice i said find out and not think about as these are two different things. The only way you can find out is through volunteering and shadowing for many hours. Once you've done that, follow the advice above and check out other cases that are similar to yours on the forums. Best of luck!