Options for Low Stats Applicants

[mergtergler]

Hi there, I have an acceptance to a caribbean top 4 but am still interested in pursuing a post bacc to go the US route.

My stats : Biochemistry major - 2.68 cumulative GPA, 2.48 science. 23 MCAT taken while working full time.

Would I need to retake the MCAT to get a shot at any SMPs/Post Baccs with linkages? I know there are several MD schools that value reinvention and I want to go this way.

I'm willing to retake and perform on the MCAT as long as I have a shot at a decent program with a good track record (I will have to anyway to go the US route)

The most well known programs (Georgetown, Tufts, etc.) seem out of reach.

Do you guys have any advice? Thanks

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[benjaminl1nus]

with a gpa that low, i would do a second bachelor's. then, take a year to study for the MCAT and bring it sky high. and only then i would apply for an SMP. I doubt any SMP will look at you with a GPA below 3.0. EVMS says their minimum is a 2.75, but realistically no medical school is gonna want you if you are below 3.0. it just doesn't happen enough for you to have hope.

 

[mergtergler]

with a gpa that low, i would do a second bachelor's. then, take a year to study for the MCAT and bring it sky high. and only then i would apply for an SMP. I doubt any SMP will look at you with a GPA below 3.0. EVMS says their minimum is a 2.75, but realistically no medical school is gonna want you if you are below 3.0. it just doesn't happen enough for you to have hope.

There are several schools that value reinvention and holistic approaches when evaluating applications. Adcoms at these schools really take into account your post bacc work when evaluating your academic capability.

 

[DrMidlife]

Sounds like you've got it all figured out then. Holistic redemption all the way.

(that is sarcasm.)

For your situation, "holistic redemption" means a 2nd bachelors, a 30+ MCAT and an SMP. And there's no guarantee it'll work out.

Adcoms take everything into account. To boil this down as far as I can for you, you are 4 years of 2.68/2.48 and a 24. The adcom will never disregard this. To get an adcom to think about "holistic redemption", in other words to get an adcom to be willing to fight for you, you need at least 3 years of additional full time academic effort showing that you should be chosen instead of the 10-20 well-qualified likeable impressive applicants they will reject to get you.

Here's my stock advice for starting from way-below-3.0: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/the-low-gpa-what-do-i-do-thread.827879/#post-11083370

You need to spend about 10 hours reading threads in this forum and in the reapplicant forum before you start asking questions. Your job is to be the grownup in charge of your fate.

Be sure you want it, and then either go for it or don't. Kiss your youth and your financial well-being goodbye.

Best of luck to you.

 

[DrMidlife]

And about the Caribbean. You are a Caribbean med school's wet dream: they can take your money for 2-3 years and then kick you out for academic underperformance, and then they don't have to find you rotation sites or insure you or take responsibility for licensing you. You are free money to a Carib school.

LCME accreditation, for US MD schools, cracks down on lax admissions. To a lesser extent, COCA does the same for DO schools. Dropout rates at US MD schools are well under 5%, DO schools 5-10%. Carib schools, even the "big 4", drop 25% to 75% of their admitted students. If your parents can't pay off that student debt for you, yikes, and even if they can pay it off, have fun at all those family dinners the rest of your life.

I've been spending long hours with a lot of US-IMGs on my IM rotation. When I ask "how many students got cut from your class before graduation?" their eyes get wide and they start telling horror stories. 50% gone before graduation does not strike them as an exaggeration at all.