need some encouragement/advise!!!

you can do informal post-bacs to get your grades up if you need to.

good luck on the MCAT.

willen101383 said:

Hey guys,

At this point i am 2 years out of undergrad trying to rebound from a horrible undergrad GPA (2.5) I took the mcat in may and got a 27m while in the throes of a horrible case of mono. I am planning on retaking it in august without much worry as I was well into the 30s on all my kaplan practice tests. Anyways...I applied to 4 post bacc programs to try to overcome that GPA and was rejected everywhere (NYMC,Drexel,PCOM,VCU). I just found out about the last one today so I am quite discouraged and upset obviously. I had posted a few times in the "low gpa thread" but I think that one is pretty much dead now. Anybody know of any east coast post baccs that have a jan starting semester and will accept crappy GPAs? Right now I am working in the field (med technologist) but I feel like my life is in limbo!!! Thanks for the help an encouragement!!

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Why in the world are you taking the MCAT when your GPA is still so bad? You have years of grade rehabilitation to go before you are application worthy and by then an MCAT will have expired, even if it were good. It's not like a high MCAT is going to make anyplace overlook a 2.5. You have to fix that 2.5 and then take the MCAT again. You can get to your goal if you are willing to put in the time, but it is going to take YEARS. You will likely have to do an open enrollment or "informal" postbac since you didn't get into the established programs. Find someplace where you can take science classes, take a couple of years of courses for "mostly A's" and then try the MCAT again. Pick up some additional ECs along the way. If things go well, you will have a shot. Good luck.

Most 4-year colleges have bio, math, and maybe chemistry courses you can take through extensions, correspondence, etc. These courses show up as if you had taken them in the normal program on many applications. If you cannot get into those programs, then start with community college courses to prove your academic ability. Take these courses and get your GPA up. Once you have proven yourself with numerous courses like this your GPA will hopefully be close enough to range to get admitted to med school. Also, at some point you might also get admitted to a post-bacc program as they will see you have proven yourself with your new grades, which would be a good thing. I woudn't even think about taking the MCAT as this process is going to take maybe 4-5 years and your MCAT score needs to be recent for your application. On the plus side, such a rehabilitation would indicate that you really wanted to go to medical school. On the negative side, you'll always have a huge red mark on your record and many schools will never forgive you for this. On the balance, we are going to need more physicians over time, so standards might go down, especially if physician pay plummets under some kind of national health plan and fewer students decide to go into medicine.

OncoCaP said:

so standards might go down, especially if physician pay plummets under some kind of national health plan and fewer students decide to go into medicine.

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LOL - I'm sure he's crossing his fingers for such good fortune.