Was my advisors right?

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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bjt223

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So i went to my prehealth advisor today and ask my potential to be in medical school for either MD or DO. Unfortunately, that meeting turn out to be a waste of time as my advisor keep telling me that I should give up that dream and seek other job occupations. The reason why he said that because I accumulate bunch of units during my community college (over 250 units) and scored a very low GPA (2.4). Even if I do very well on my upper division, I will not pass the prescreening because my very low GPA. As of right now, I got a 4.0 GPA on my upper division courses after one quarter. He told me that it will take me forever to repair that GPA, but I am willing to do that.

My prehealth advisor tell me it would be impossible to get in either MD and DO even with straight A's on upper division. I refuse to believe that because I always know there will be a chance. Let me ask you this, is he right?
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It's not realistic for you to be applying to MD.

You can apply for DO if you retake all the courses you've done badly on as they replace retaken courses in the GPA calculation.
 
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What is your current GPA? If it's above a 3.0, then you're fine as long as they don't screen pre-secondary.

If you retake the D's and F's from CC and ace them, then grade replacement for DO school will help you out tremendously.
 
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100% agree. One quarter of straight As proves nothing. Try two years of straight As for MD schools.

Your fastest route to being a doctor will be as Holmwood and Onco suggest.

If you're boning for the MD, then aceing an SMP is necessary, and ditto for the MCAT.

I take it you're ESL? If so, be extremely careful with the MCAT VR section. But don't even think about the MCAT until you fix your GPA.

And no, there is NOT always a chance. This isn't the Lotto.



Holmwood said:
It's not realistic for you to be applying to MD.

You can apply for DO if you retake all the courses you've done badly on as they replace retaken courses in the GPA calculation.
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I had an advisor tell me to find a new goal, too. Don't let him crush your dreams. He is right, though, that currently you do not have a chance of gaining admission. You need a couple years of hard work, good results, grade replacement, strong MCAT, good ECs, etc.
 
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Goro said:
100% agree. One quarter of straight As proves nothing. Try two years of straight As for MD schools.

Your fastest route to being a doctor will be as Holmwood and Onco suggest.

If you're boning for the MD, then aceing an SMP is necessary, and ditto for the MCAT.

I take it you're ESL? If so, be extremely careful with the MCAT VR section. But don't even think about the MCAT until you fix your GPA.

And no, there is NOT always a chance. This isn't the Lotto.
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Yes, I do need to work on my verbal. I am very worry about that. What you mean, there is NOT always a chance?
 
bjt223 said:
Yes, I do need to work on my verbal. I am very worry about that. What you mean, there is NOT always a chance?
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He means that, even with a strong GPA, MCAT, and EC's, people still get rejected. Once the app is in the hands of the admissions commitee, it's all up to them. They can reject you or you can get an interview invite.
 
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bjt223 said:
Yes, I do need to work on my verbal. I am very worry about that. What you mean, there is NOT always a chance?
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He means that the chance to get accepted will not last forever. Right now, your chances are still alive if you can significantly improve. However, failure to improve your application (which could occur by not getting straight A's if you retake classes at community college, or by scoring poorly on the MCAT) can and likely would permanently kill your chances of ever being accepted to medical school. You still have a chance, but the improvement has to start now or else your chance will be gone.
 
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Why is it that if someone tells you something you don't like hearing it's a "waste of time"? Why are stubborn people with low stats always the ones to use that exact phrase?

Your premed adviser didn't waste your time. She gave you the best advice that she could based on her experience.

My advice to you would be to retake classes in which you got less than a B- in and get all A's. Get your GPA to at least 3.2, then ace the MCAT (Top 15% at least) and apply DO.

MD is still theoretically possible, but the effort required vs reward is way skewed towards going the DO route.
 
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This is what I mean. There are stats that are simply "autoreject" at med schools, and you're in that position right now.

Right now, your chances are still alive if you can significantly improve. However, failure to improve your application (which could occur by not getting straight A's if you retake classes at community college, or by scoring poorly on the MCAT) can and likely would permanently kill your chances of ever being accepted to medical school.
 
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LuluLovesMe said:
Why is it that if someone tells you something you don't like hearing it's a "waste of time"? Why are stubborn people with low stats always the ones to use that exact phrase?

Your premed adviser didn't waste your time. She gave you the best advice that she could based on her experience.

My advice to you would be to retake classes in which you got less than a B- in and get all A's. Get your GPA to at least 3.2, then ace the MCAT (Top 15% at least) and apply DO.

MD is still theoretically possible, but the effort required vs reward is way skewed towards going the DO route.
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When I meant waste my time, I hear that same advices over and over again. I understand my advisor meant well, but I told him/her straight up that I am asking for help and to guide me there. Not going opposite direction and say "no". Maybe I am stubborn or maybe I am very passionate on being a MD. It's easy for people like you with high stat to think that way and not look at the other end of the spectrum.
 
Sometimes the messages we don't want to hear are indeed the best advice.



bjt223 said:
When I meant waste my time, I hear that same advices over and over again. I understand my advisor meant well, but I told him/her straight up that I am asking for help and to guide me there. Not going opposite direction and say "no". Maybe I am stubborn or maybe I am very passionate on being a MD. It's easy for people like you with high stat to think that way and not look at the other end of the spectrum.
Click to expand...
 
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Important question: If you get straight A's until the day you graduate from undergrad, what will your GPA be? It is clear that you got a 2.4 at community college, but it is entirely unclear how many units that is, and how many units you have left.

If you spent a full two years at community college, then just two years of A's will only bring you to a 3.2.
 
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Did anyone notice the the OP earned 250 units with a GPA of 2.4? That's almost equivalent to 8 years of full-time college study. Grade replacement might improve the GPA but the sheer number of courses... the mind boggles.

What are your chances? Someone with your GPA who does about average on the MCAT for someone with your GPA (24-26), your chances of getting into medical school are about 4%. That means of 25 applicants, only one will get into medical school.

I could be very passionate about wanting a career for which I'm not well suited (professional golfer, concert pianist, Pope) but it would be charitable to tell me that there is no roadmap to getting to the pinacle of those industries and I'd be wise to find something else.
 
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LizzyM said:
Did anyone notice the the OP earned 250 units with a GPA of 2.4? That's almost equivalent to 8 years of full-time college study. Grade replacement might improve the GPA but the sheer number of courses... the mind boggles.

What are your chances? Someone with your GPA who does about average on the MCAT for someone with your GPA (24-26), your chances of getting into medical school are about 4%. That means of 25 applicants, only one will get into medical school.

I could be very passionate about wanting a career for which I'm not well suited (professional golfer, concert pianist, Pope) but it would be charitable to tell me that there is no roadmap to getting to the pinacle of those industries and I'd be wise to find something else.
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You have a point and yes, it is mind boggling. Either way, I am still going to try to repair my GPA to the best of my abilities. Doesn't hurt to try and if I fail, so be it.
 
bjt223 said:
You have a point and yes, it is mind boggling. Either way, I am still going to try to repair my GPA to the best of my abilities. Doesn't hurt to try and if I fail, so be it.
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This is the equivalent of trying to break a wall by repeatedly bashing your head against it until you have a brain hemorrhage or concussion whichever comes first.
 
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as said before, grade replacement is the best choice but keep in mind that you will be in school for quite some number of years as you do your retakes. I can't even imagine an estimate as to how many classes you'd have to retake, both science and non-science. If you decide you must do this, settle your finances. see how you will fund your classes. even if the proposed free cc plan comes to reality, i doubt you'd qualify as such plans would be for degree-seeking students. maybe you can work in a hospital setting as a cna or something, while taking your classes. might make the super long route even longer but hey, it's your life. i also recommend having a solid plan B because as much as we like to plan things out, life happens and it may throw things out of balance, or you may simply get tired and change your mind. good luck to you
 
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At this point, with that many credits, you'd be earning another degree's worth of time and money. Ace the MCAT (500+) and shoot for a state SMP that makes you take classes with med students. If you get greater than a 3.7 GPA, then you have a shot. Anything below that, then you will need to rethink a career in medicine.
 
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I really appreciate of everyone's honest opinions. Don't worry, I do have plan B, just in case my life in medicine don't work out as I hope.
 
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LizzyM said:
Did anyone notice the the OP earned 250 units with a GPA of 2.4? That's almost equivalent to 8 years of full-time college study. Grade replacement might improve the GPA but the sheer number of courses... the mind boggles.

What are your chances? Someone with your GPA who does about average on the MCAT for someone with your GPA (24-26), your chances of getting into medical school are about 4%. That means of 25 applicants, only one will get into medical school.

I could be very passionate about wanting a career for which I'm not well suited (professional golfer, concert pianist, Pope) but it would be charitable to tell me that there is no roadmap to getting to the pinacle of those industries and I'd be wise to find something else.
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"Units" are not the same as credit-hours. I googled it, but it appears to vary by university. MIT does a 3-1 conversion, which would give him around 80 credit-hours. Who knows if that's even in the right ballpark, though. I suspect he has 2-3 years worth of credits.
 
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bjt223 said:
So i went to my prehealth advisor today and ask my potential to be in medical school for either MD or DO. Unfortunately, that meeting turn out to be a waste of time as my advisor keep telling me that I should give up that dream and seek other job occupations. The reason why he said that because I accumulate bunch of units during my community college (over 250 units) and scored a very low GPA (2.4). Even if I do very well on my upper division, I will not pass the prescreening because my very low GPA. As of right now, I got a 4.0 GPA on my upper division courses after one quarter. He told me that it will take me forever to repair that GPA, but I am willing to do that.

My prehealth advisor tell me it would be impossible to get in either MD and DO even with straight A's on upper division. I refuse to believe that because I always know there will be a chance. Let me ask you this, is he right?
Click to expand...

I would also advise you to pursue another career option. It's technically possible for you to recover with a great MCAT score and DO grade replacement, but extremely unlikely given your past performance at a community college. Dude, if you're bombing at a community college, how on earth do you expect to pass medical school? Even if you do get in somewhere, 25% of all DO students fail to match, leaving them with $300,000 or so in debt and no job. Do something else with your life.
 
beachside said:
Even if you do get in somewhere, 25% of all DO students fail to match, leaving them with $300,000 or so in debt and no job. Do something else with your life.
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Actually no. The match statistics published by the NRMP do not include the DO's that matched into DO residencies.
When combined almost all of them matched, just like MD students.
 
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beachside said:
Ah, alright. My mistake. Do you have any evidence you can link to?
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Right now in the middle of the night!?
If you add the NRMP stats and the DO match stats you can estimate the match rate. Even that will not include successful Post DO match positions.
Last time I looked at the overall numbers that got 1st year positions it was better that 95%.
 
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You can apply for DO if you retake all the courses you've done badly on as they replace retaken courses in the GPA calculation.
1e1.jpg
 
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Question, do anyone where I can calculate GPA based on medical school admissions?
 
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