I graduated from my undergrad with a 2.64 (DO calculation) GPA in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech. I really want to become a doctor, but as a family man, I had to do some things to earn that paycheck before I could consider my own desires. Therefore, I graduated having only the 1 year of physics and 1 semester of chemistry towards the pre-med requirements. I have not yet taken the MCAT, but I would like to take the rest of the pre-med requirements first so that I have a more solid background in Biology and Chemistry. I have been working full time for the past year as an Aerospace Engineer, but I want to go to DO school to become a doctor. I have read on here that people suggest a post-bacc program for low-GPA people. Since only formal post-bacc programs will offer financial aid (which is a must for me, since I would be out of work during it), I cannot do any informal post-bacc work. Can anyone suggest any formal post-bacc programs that I could get into (with my GPA) where I can take the rest of the required classes in preparation for DO school? I generally do well on standardized testing and I hope that I can get 30+ on the MCAT when the time comes. Thanks for the help!
Post-bacc Pre-DO School Programs for Low GPA
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I'm not sure where you heard that only "formal" post-bacc programs will give financial aid, but if by formal you meant a structured program geared specifically towards premed, there are plenty of other paths to get you where you need to go while still offering financial aid.
You don't have to sign up for a special program to take your prerequisites and raise your gpa. From what I've seen, those programs can cost a hell of a lot more than by just taking the courses at a state university, though some of them do offer linkages and other perks. I know people doing the post-bacc premed program at USC and from what I can remember, I believe they were paying well over 10gs a year, OOP, no aid.
I came out of college years back with similar stats as yourself, and now I'm at a state university doing post-bacc on my own with grants and loans and the whole shabang. Everything is pretty much covered. Don't limit yourself to those expensive formal programs.
Also don't forget, I believe financial aid is based off your previous year's tax return, so if you are still working and making decent change as an Aerospace Engineer and plan on starting post-bacc soon, you might want to make sure you'll actually be getting the aid you're expecting...as opposed to nothing.
You don't have to sign up for a special program to take your prerequisites and raise your gpa. From what I've seen, those programs can cost a hell of a lot more than by just taking the courses at a state university, though some of them do offer linkages and other perks. I know people doing the post-bacc premed program at USC and from what I can remember, I believe they were paying well over 10gs a year, OOP, no aid.
I came out of college years back with similar stats as yourself, and now I'm at a state university doing post-bacc on my own with grants and loans and the whole shabang. Everything is pretty much covered. Don't limit yourself to those expensive formal programs.
Also don't forget, I believe financial aid is based off your previous year's tax return, so if you are still working and making decent change as an Aerospace Engineer and plan on starting post-bacc soon, you might want to make sure you'll actually be getting the aid you're expecting...as opposed to nothing.
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Numerous schools have post-bac programs. I can think of VCOM and PCOM off the top of my head. I believe you have to have all of your required courses BEFORE you begin post-bac at these schools though (i know for sure that this is the case @ VCOM).
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If you go to the CIB, you can find what schools have a post-bacc. Personally, I think it would be best to at least take a semester at community college and get straight A's before you apply. You want to show them that you won't be failing out of post-bacc. Another way to do it is to do your pre-reqs informally and go through an SMP with linkage.
There is no DO specific pre-med post-bacc program that I know of and I'm pretty sure there are none that exist. Most pre-med formal post-bacc programs cater to medical or dental school in general (allo/osteopathic/dental).
Like TriagePreMed said, another method is to do the pre-reqs informally and apply to a DO school's SMP program, ie. (PCOM MBS, LECOM, VCOM, TCOM's GSBS, KCOM MBS, etc). Your GPA should roughly be as close to a 3.0 as possible and a 23-24 MCAT to be competitive for enterance.
Another thing to note is that since you've taken physics and a semester of gchem, if you really wanted to go the formal pre-med post-bacc route, most reputed programs will not take you (I'm not counting in the other major hurdle which your GPA presents toward admission currently). The only programs that I know of that cater to your status (having taken a a small amount of pre-reqs) are UVA, UT Dallas, Wash U and SFSU.
Like TriagePreMed said, another method is to do the pre-reqs informally and apply to a DO school's SMP program, ie. (PCOM MBS, LECOM, VCOM, TCOM's GSBS, KCOM MBS, etc). Your GPA should roughly be as close to a 3.0 as possible and a 23-24 MCAT to be competitive for enterance.
Another thing to note is that since you've taken physics and a semester of gchem, if you really wanted to go the formal pre-med post-bacc route, most reputed programs will not take you (I'm not counting in the other major hurdle which your GPA presents toward admission currently). The only programs that I know of that cater to your status (having taken a a small amount of pre-reqs) are UVA, UT Dallas, Wash U and SFSU.
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CCOM also has a masters program.
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LECOM has both a post bacc and an SMP.
