Rocky premed start..trying to recover

[nycgal123]

i'm trying to raise my sGPA to 3.0 from 2.5, i have lots of C's on transcript and am taking mcat in jan 2015. depending on the score, could determine a lot of things but i'm not a great test taker but im aiming for a 29/30 on the new mcat, obviously aiming for higher? im still a junior in college but do you think i will have an okayish shot with 3.0 sGPA and 25/26? I heard they calculate DO schools science gpa differently. and count some classes as science, even though amcas might not? anyway, what is your opinion on this? do they look at trends, and improvement? i'm taking upper level sciences to raise my science gpa..and it is working from a 2.4 to a 3.1 sgpa hopefully by the end of senior year.

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[nycgal123]

i wanted to clarify that i can probably get my sGPA to a 3.1 by the end of senior year but they'll still see 6 C's on my transcript from the pre-reqs, but they will see MAJOR improvement in my upperlevel sciences which are more relevant anyway. do you think this matters? Anyway, im focusing on my gpa only and holding off on the mcat in april at the end of spring semester because im graduating a semester early because i dont like my school and want to go home.. what do you think?

 

[joe_schmoe_64]

Hi nycgal,
You are correct that DO schools consider many classes as part of the sGPA that allo's do not (most PSYC, SOC, KINES, etc). As a kinesiology major, most of my major went to the DO sGPA, almost none to the MD sGPA, raised my sGPA for DO's almost 0.5 GPA!
Going into the application season I had two C's on my txscript: Calculus II, and Organic Chemistry II. As long as I could explain what I learned from those particularly difficult stretches in my education without the words "they were too hard", they didn't seem to hurt, and in fact having learned from those experiences provided some "academic maturity" a straight-A student may not have gained through said hard-knocks.
That said, Des Moines University (as an example) is a prominent fixture in the DO community, and if you can pass the screening with a GPA above 2.8 and MCAT around 28, you need to REALLY knock it out of the park with extracurriculars, but I wouldn't bet against you. What types of EC's have you been involved with?

 

[nycgal123]

Hi nycgal,
You are correct that DO schools consider many classes as part of the sGPA that allo's do not (most PSYC, SOC, KINES, etc). As a kinesiology major, most of my major went to the DO sGPA, almost none to the MD sGPA, raised my sGPA for DO's almost 0.5 GPA!
Going into the application season I had two C's on my txscript: Calculus II, and Organic Chemistry II. As long as I could explain what I learned from those particularly difficult stretches in my education without the words "they were too hard", they didn't seem to hurt, and in fact having learned from those experiences provided some "academic maturity" a straight-A student may not have gained through said hard-knocks.
That said, Des Moines University (as an example) is a prominent fixture in the DO community, and if you can pass the screening with a GPA above 2.8 and MCAT around 28, you need to REALLY knock it out of the park with extracurriculars, but I wouldn't bet against you. What types of EC's have you been involved with?

Hi joe,

thanks for your response. so i actually have a TON of extracurriculars/ volunteering experience. clinical research, EMT, lab research, job shadowing and volunteering. I'm planning on shadowing a DO at somepoint. yea if the psych and soc classes definitely count for DO then my science gpa is much higher i believe. but im taking a gap year to apply and take mcat/retake but im just worried about those classes I got a C in, which have hurt my science gpa.

my resume isnt the problem, and i dont think letters of recc will be a problem its just my science gpa, because my cumulative is fine (or will be by graduation). but i dont even think they look at cumulative that much anymore, mostly science gpa and mcat...

 

[chasm-e-baddoor]

I might be out of touch with the whole medical school application game, so i might have outdated ideas, but here is what i think-

If what youre doing is aiming for a 26-30 on the MCAT, i think youre going about it the wrong way. Your goal should be to blow the MCAT out of the water. Even if people do get in with 25 MCAT (that sounds very low but like I said I've been out of the game), nothing is guaranteed based on past results and you'd be a fool not to maximize your chances of getting accepted somewhere. I dont think 25 MCAT is generally good for DO schools either, especially since your GPA is low. Also, you shouldnt give up on MD schools unless one of your main priorities is learning OMT.

I'd say give the MCAT your best shot, because I'd wager that youre going to need a lot to make up for the C's in prerequisites. I'd also think that the pre-requisites are more important than the upper level courses (might be wrong). In any case it never hurts to blow the MCAT out of the water, or give all your effort trying to.

The MCAT is the single most important factor in application - it is the great equalizer test. Dont aim for 29-30 if you want get into medical school, unless youre a risk-taker. If youre taking practice tests and are getting 29-30's, then see what you can do to improve.

 

[referee3]

You will most likely need a post bacc to get your GPA up. You likely did poorly in the med school pre reqs which does not look good. Even at a 3.1 you will still get screened out by many schools. Retake all pre reqs you did poorly on. Also consider other health professions as well. It's always good to have a backup plan in case your test taking skills prevent you from doing well on the MCAT.