MD Nontrad. Low GPA from a bad year (health related). Sad and Confused. HELP

[vivre17]

OKAY. This is an incredibly sensitive topic for me, so to prevent myself from writing a 20-page essay, I'll do my best to keep this as fact-centric as possible.

Demographics: Female, Asian
Major: Nursing
Class: Junior
Test Scores: SAT 1960; thinking of taking GRE
High School: First Quartile. Went to CC for financial reasons.
Undergrad: Community College for nursing pre-reqs - Freshman/Sophomore; State University - Second Sophomore Attempt/Junior
Issue: 1.3 Sophomore GPA

• Fell into depression after a failed business venture, an ADHD diagnosis, a bad breakup, and cutting ties with psychologically abusive "friends". It wasn't a good year.
• My transcript lists multiple attempts of several classes
  • A result of me taking a class, doing well, but then giving up halfway due to some little trigger and not attending...then repeating the cycle (fall seven times, get up eight?); My school has a drop limit, so many of the classes ended up failed.

What Happened Next:

• Sent in my paperwork to transfer to university. They only looked at transferrable credits when determining my GPA, so I transferred with ~3.5 and got accepted.
• Spent 2 months in the Philippines shadowing at an ophthalmology surgicenter and its various locations across the country (which I got through family connections, not my GPA obviously lol). There was a big focus on helping the underserved.
  • This is where I first got inspired to go into med!
• Came back to the US for my first year at university
• Applied and got into nursing school (medium-high nursing specific prereq GPA, but high TEAS score)

Overall GPA by Class:

• Freshman - 3.72
• Sophomore lol - 1.30 (1.29)
• Sophomore, post-transfer - 3.52
• Junior (currently) - J1 nursing, doing well. Looking at a 3.67 projected GPA for the semester. Has potential to be a 4.0 if I really turn up the heat

Extracurriculars/Accolades:

• Honors College at CC
• Phi Theta Kappa - Vice President of Fellowship at CC
• Dean's List at CC
• Dean's List at Uni
• Golden Key International Honor Society at uni (top 15% of class)
• Student Nurses Association
• Student Rep for the Admissions, Progression, and Retention (APR) Committee at the nursing school
• Red Cross volunteer
• BLS Certified

SO NOW I'M JUST REALLY CONFUSED WITH WHAT TO DO NEXT.
If I ace every nursing class from now on, I'll still only have a 3.3 cumulative GPA, and my Science GPA is pretty much shot since science classes are no longer part of my curriculum. If I'm being realistic, I'll probably finish with a 3.2 cumulative. I have yet to take the majority of the pre-med courses.

I am planning on working as a nurse for a few years. Then, I was planning on applying to as many formal post-bacc programs as I could, but will that just be a waste of money if no one will even look at my app cause of my GPA? What schools could I even get into? I'm leaning towards formal because I've learned I work best in a structured environment, and I like the idea of MCAT prep being built into the curriculum. I most definitely will need a good MCAT prep!
My main concern is post-bacc admissions for now, and hopefully once I get there I can choose if I want to go MD or DO! But I can't do that if I don't get my pre-reqs out of the way

If you were me, how would you proceed? Do you think my life experiences will save my applications? Is my reasoning for a terrible GPA enough, and how can I convey that situation to admissions? Can you name some schools with decent post-bacc programs that aren't as competitive as the more well-known ones (Goucher, Bryn Mawr, Columbia, etc)? How do I become more competitive?

Any insight at all would be much appreciated!

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[peltier]

Get a Masters in Nursing then apply if you do well. It will help tremendously. I sat on ad. com. at UCSF for three years while a med student. Nail the MCAT and complete a Masters and your chance for success will be improved tremendously.

 

[gyngyn]

Get a Masters in Nursing then apply if you do well. It will help tremendously. I sat on ad. com. at UCSF for three years while a med student. Nail the MCAT and complete a Masters and your chance for success will be improved tremendously.

While nursing experience can give an application clinical depth, a Master's degree ( in anything , except an SMP) will not address a lackluster undergraduate performance. A sustained period of academic excellence in undergraduate courses and a strong MCAT will help, though. It doesn't have to be one of the pricey post bacs. DIY is perfectly fine.

 

[aaron5661]

You have plenty of time, you are still young. I graduated my undergrad with the same stats. I am just finishing a post bac program and planning to apply June 2016. Get some healthcare experience under your belt. If your experience reinforces your desire to apply to med school, apply to a SMP or a postbac and show that you can get great grades. If you can get the grades and a good MCAT score, you have a good chance as a nontraditional student.

 

[oopsaloo]

As a fellow premed, my words have less weight than the above posters'. However, if it were me here's what I'd do:

1) Finish up UG. Rock the remaining years here and try to graduate with a >3.0 gpa
2) After you get your BSN, I'm assuming you should be able to start working (part-time) as a nurse. Gain some clinical experience this way as one of the above posters mentioned
3) At the same time, complete your postbac. Could be a DIY one where you take required premed courses at a local college. This will help with grades
4) Shadow, and see if you can do some nonclinical volunteering
5) When you feel ready, apply DO. You still have an excellent shot if you get through a postbac successfully and repair your GPA. After all your prereqs, take the MCAT and aim for 505-510 for a good chance at DO.