"Repeating" a postbacc

[infidel10]

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[infidel10]

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[xBODOMx]

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[infidel10]

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[Goro]

100% agree. Op has yet to convince me that s/he'd survived medical school. In our experience, poor performance in post-back mirrors poor performance in med school.

OP, time for Plan B.

Three MCATs 25/27/30. And a roller coaster GPA. MD is out of reach.

You could do DO with the retakes, but with your current history, what makes you think you'll get straight 4.0?

 

[Goro]

100% agree. Op has yet to convince me that s/he'd survived medical school. In our experience, poor performance in post-bac mirrors poor performance in med school.

OP, time for Plan B.

Three MCATs 25/27/30. And a roller coaster GPA. MD is out of reach.

You could do DO with the retakes, but with your current history, what makes you think you'll get straight 4.0?

 

[GrapesofRath]

Well, I think that to a certain extent you internally know how well you can perform based on facts that happened to you. I agree that sometimes people are delusional or overly hopeful, but this last semester I missed a 3.8 by literally 5 questions total over 2 classes worth 8 credits... fell to a 3.3, I just wish this was my case first semester. I can not make any excuses, but I can say that next time I would be more than adequately prepared for any graduate level class just based on sheer first hand experience in 20+ credits. I understand med schools can't take chances on "experience" of classes, but it has to be worth something if I can get a 4.0 for a year right? I mean essentially if I just got it right the first time, they would have thought I turned my life around; can I not turn my life around post, post-bacc?

You say I'm making no excuses but start your post off with-----I was only five questions away from a 3.8?

One SEMESTER of poor showing in post-bacc is often a kiss of death. TWO semesters and you will never convince a med school you can handle the rigor of medical school, especially when your senior year of college you got a 3.0 by taking extra classes. These past 2 years have been do or die time, not let me learn from my mistakes and apply them to a 4th or 5th chance. I should say I don't blame you for any of this. I believe you worked hard, I believe you looked at it as a do or die. It's just not everybody is capable of being able to handle medical school; that's what makes it the field it is. A 2.6/3.0 combination the past 2 years will make med schools believe you fall in that category, fair or not.

There are plenty of other excellent options in the field of science and medicine. When @Goro says plan B that is not meant to be off putting or condescending, rather you aren't going to be able to turn things around for medical school.

 

[Goro]

1000% this.

This reminds me of the people who failed Boards and claim "it was by only three points".

Whether it's by three points, or 300, you didn't live up to the expectations of you. Post-bacs are auditions for med school.

You say I'm making no excuses but start your post off with-----I was only five questions away from a 3.8?

 

[infidel10]

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[samac]

I'm sorry to break it to you I don't think DO will take you with your rocky performance either. Time for a change.

 

[Ellie Arroway]

Yes, well it is the truth in this case; was not using it as an excuse, more of a perspective as to why I am choosing to stick it out. I understand the mentality you are pointing out. Medical school, unfortunately, does not take personal/psych issues dealt with in such high regard. And it seems like despite fixing these issues, I can not pursue my dream. Almost regret having the idea of wanting to go to medical school so early and maybe I could've done a Postbacc for non science bachelor holders if I was turned on to it afterwards. The flashes of what it takes are there, just not consistent.

Like I said, this is what I want to do. I will still take another year of classes and try for DO at least. People do change, and sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. Will update in a year hopefully. Thank you for all the input!

Med school actually does care about people who have had to deal with a lot of personal challenges, but they want people who know how to prioritize in a challenging situation.

My mom was ill and died during my MS2 year. I knew it would be a rough year, so I wound down participation in 100% of my extracurriculars and focused on just passing my classes and being there for family, and I was able to do both of those things - but NOTHING else. Now think if I had tried to keep doing lots of extracurriculars because I just "internally knew" that I could do ALL OF THE THINGS during the hardest year of my life - and then failed half my classes because I overestimated my ability to balance everything.

Those are two very different ways of dealing with getting dealt a bad hand. If you were not in a good space to handle a post-bac program, it would have been wise to delay it. You are in very a hard spot now because your effort to improve your stats dug you in deeper. If nothing has changed in your life in a major way, you should think hard about why you think another go at it will have a different result. You mentioned that it's 'better to be lucky than good' - but your recent grades history implies that you are not lucky, and medical school (& patients) need you to be good. You NEED to assess whether you have made major changes to how you approach school since your postbac.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

I'm sorry to say OP, but I don't see your application having much traction. If I were to be in the committee (even as a student), I'd vote against your candidacy. Hoping that 2-3 retakes will change people's mind is naive. You have an erratic trend and the MCAT is more of a reflection of how many times you took it than anything else. You can try applying to some of the newer programs to satisfy your curiosity, but I'd strongly advice into looking for another route.