NonTrad Nurse to Physician MCAT Prep

[USMC2Doctor]

Quick Intro: Was a Marine 4yrs; Defense contractor @Iraq and Afghanistan for 4yrs; Now a nurse.

Did all of my premed classes while in nursing school with exception of Bio1 and Bio2 since all the schools I plan on applying would take my other bio classes (i.e., human anatomy, physiology, microbiology) as a replacement. *don't want to take more classes than I needed.

I will graduate with my BSN May 2015. Since I only have 3-4 classes left till my BSN, I was thinking of applying for this cycle. I know I'll be late on applications since my MCAT test date is not till Oct. 25.

So, Far my GPA (without the 3-4 classes I have to take Spring 2015) are:
CGPA: 3.47, SGPA 3.07. Strong EC, and LOR.

I'm currently in a Kaplan prep course and I feel lost. There are Juniors in the class who have recently taken all the pre-med courses who blurts out answers and corrects the instructor with every wrong move. Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations to add to my study collection (anything other than Kaplan)? Also, what are your thoughts about my current gpa's and my plans on applying this cycle?

Thanks!

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[FutureDrB]

@USMC2Doctor Welcome and thanks for your service.

I'm not an expert on MD applications, since I live in DO land, but your current sGPA is too low even for DO.

If you want to go MD badly enough, you're going to have to pull that sGPA way up. That means additional classes, maybe you can do it with the ones lined up for Spring 2015.

If DO is an option for you, you need to retake the science classes you didn't rock and get that sGPA up to at least a 3.2/3.3.

Your cGPA is okay for DO, but a little on the low side for MD.

You need to figure out your MCAT issues before you take your test. If you are still feel lost near October, you should certainly wait to take the test. No use wasting time and money and getting a low score. You need to score above a 30 for MD and ideally above a 26 for DO.

So yes, applying this cycle is out. But you can likely be good to go next cycle.

 

[USMC2Doctor]

Thanks for the reply FutureDrB! I forgot to mention that I am applying for DO schools. I am currently shadowing two DO at the moment on the days I do not have the test prep.

I am getting the feeling that I should have reviewed my materials before this Kaplan course because it seems to be mostly geared at premeds who are either fresh or are taking science courses recently. Hopefully, I'll keep on with this studying and take the Mcat by Oct.25.

 

[wholeheartedly]

That's pretty late in the cycle to apply. You want to do everything right that you can when you apply to avoid being a reapplicant. I'd also recommend taking bio1 and 2 anyway for the GPA boost. This isn't a process you can rush.

 

[USMC2Doctor]

Thank you wholeheartedly! I am actually looking at bio classes for this upcoming fall and spring semesters, but I'm concentrating on doing well on the mcat first.

 

[NontradCA]

You are going to be late in the cycle, that's for sure. Did you apply DO as well? You'd more or less be competitive for DO if you scored average on the MCAT, even with your sGPA as is. DO schools love nontrads, veterans, urms etc.

 

[USMC2Doctor]

Thanks for the reply NontradCA! I am hoping to turn in my primary by mid August depending on how I feel about my MCAT prep. So far, I definitely need to go through the content again. I am only applying to DO schools. I shadow two DO physicians now and they are awesome!