2.5 cGPA, sGPA ?, 38 Credits, Basically a Sophmore Please Help with Advice

[TeeDoubleYou]

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Guys I done ****ed up now.

Hello I'm new here. I've ventured on SDN and reddit for a while now while on the search for hope with my painstaking low gpa. I've seen a lot of people give each other support and I just wanted to join in and let some people know your not alone and possibly (preferably) get some advice on what to do and basically correct my plan if I'm wrong.

In case your wondering how the hell I got my gpa so low, I suffered from major, suicidal depression for a lot of years in my life until i reached last year in college. With depression you honestly don't see a bigger picture in life. It's all clouded with gloom, negativity and self doubt. Thus concluding to me not really giving a **** with my direction in life. I finally got help and know that being a primary care sports physician is really really really something I wanna do with my life. I love everything about exercise and I want to help people get fit or heal so they can live healthy and functioning lives. Not just a personal trainer or physical therapist to get people in shape or rehab. I want to know everything about sports medicine. Be the elite. Not a part of it.

So with my stats I know I DEF am looking at some years of post-bacc or possibly a SMP? (Heard that's pretty much strictly for MD schools I'm thinking D.O) Im thinking raise my gpa to AT LEAST a 3.0 before even thinking MCAT and make sure my EC's are phenomenal. Anybody have a rough estimate on how many years this will take for the damage I've done? I take full responsiblity for my actions. I was a complete idiot and completely ignorant to how much dedication, willpower and heart it takes to even get considered for med school. I will never be the person I once was and am dedicated 110% to doing whatever is necessary to get into D.O schools even if I'm not the greatest at sciences lol. Also please don't hit me with the "Consider another career" nonsense. If this is what you truly want to do with your life you never give up it. Period. I'm willing to put the time in. However long.

PS: I only took three sciences so far. General Biology, Intro to Chem, and Gen Chem so i really dont know what the sGPA could be.

Grades
General Bio- C
Intro to Chem- B
General Chem- Withdrew once, Probably going to get a D this semester because again I was ignorant and dumb. I'm a changed man Plan on taking it next semester and rocking it.

Pls Help

 

[DrRedstone]

So, as many people will tell you, this is going to be a really long road for you. The good news is schools like to see an upward trend when it comes to GPA. If you can rock As for the rest of your classes, you could end up with around a 3.5 cGPA (math available upon request). AACOMAS (the DO application service) does not do grade substitutions anymore, so all of your grades will be shown on your transcript whether or not you retake them and get better scores. I'm glad you understand that you have to give you all from here on out, because there is no denying that. If for some reason you don't make it with all As (or almost all As with an occasional B) you can do an SMP at several DO schools. KCU (my school) has one that seems to have a pretty good placement rate at our institution.

Based on your previous experience of Major Depressive Disorder, I also want to note that you should be seeing a psychologist or therapist regularly. Depression is cyclical (as I'm sure you already know) so you are likely to have more episodes. Psychiatric care via meds is great, but you also want something like cognitive behavioral therapy to give you coping skills. Learning coping strategies now is extremely important because in medical school you will be under a lot of stress which can make your lows even worse. (source: MS Psychology, clinical emphasis)

Sports medicine is a somewhat competitive field, so you will have to be on your A game when you are in medical school. Luckily for you, however, PM&R residencies will also give you entry into sports med and it is a DO heavy specialty (OMT is basically made for it).

If for some reason things don't work out for medical school, I would encourage you to look into PT. It is a good field and PTs are invaluable in sports med. It might be a hard pill to swallow, but sometimes medical school is out of reach for some people. Don't give up on the medical field just because you can't be a physician. You can still be happy in another facet of care.

Long story short, I believe that you can make it. It will be very hard and take a lot of effort on your part, but medical school is not beyond you. If you can't keep pace, consider PT.

Good luck

 

[holdthemayo]

PS: I only took three sciences so far. General Biology, Intro to Chem, and Gen Chem so i really dont know what the sGPA could be.

Grades
General Bio- C
Intro to Chem- B
General Chem- Withdrew once, Probably going to get a D this semester because again I was ignorant and dumb. I'm a changed man Plan on taking it next semester and rocking it.

Pls Help

This is the part that is concerning to me. Everything prior to this suggests that you have already addressed the issues that were keeping you from succeeding, but you still haven't figured out how to get A's. It is easy to say that you are going to get all A's from here on out, but all of that talk is meaningless until you actually do it (for at least one semester). Keep working with your therapist to figure out what is keeping you from getting the grades you need.

Now for the good news. You only have 38 credits. You don't need to worry about expensive SMP's or a postbac at this point. Your GPA can get much higher and become competitive for any DO and some MD schools if you can start consistently getting A's. I had a sub-1.0 GPA after my first year of college, for many of the sames reasons you have described here. I am now finishing up my MS 1 year at an MD school. It can be done, but the path becomes harder, longer, and less likely after each semester of sub-par performance.

Some helpful threads as you move forward:

Low GPA success stories (my favorite thing on SDN): LOW GPA/MCAT Success Stories (Posts by Nontrads Already Accepted to Med School)

DrMidlife's post on this thread was my GPA repair bible: The Low Gpa--What Do I Do Thread

Low GPA support group: Below 3.0 gpa Support Group/Thread

 

[bears1992]

I had a 2.44 GPA when I got my AA with 74 credits. My last two years I averaged a 3.5 and I did 29 credits of postbac at 3.95. I start DO school in July so no, you are not dead by any means.

 

[TeeDoubleYou]

So, as many people will tell you, this is going to be a really long road for you. The good news is schools like to see an upward trend when it comes to GPA. If you can rock As for the rest of your classes, you could end up with around a 3.5 cGPA (math available upon request). AACOMAS (the DO application service) does not do grade substitutions anymore, so all of your grades will be shown on your transcript whether or not you retake them and get better scores. I'm glad you understand that you have to give you all from here on out, because there is no denying that. If for some reason you don't make it with all As (or almost all As with an occasional B) you can do an SMP at several DO schools. KCU (my school) has one that seems to have a pretty good placement rate at our institution.

Based on your previous experience of Major Depressive Disorder, I also want to note that you should be seeing a psychologist or therapist regularly. Depression is cyclical (as I'm sure you already know) so you are likely to have more episodes. Psychiatric care via meds is great, but you also want something like cognitive behavioral therapy to give you coping skills. Learning coping strategies now is extremely important because in medical school you will be under a lot of stress which can make your lows even worse. (source: MS Psychology, clinical emphasis)

Sports medicine is a somewhat competitive field, so you will have to be on your A game when you are in medical school. Luckily for you, however, PM&R residencies will also give you entry into sports med and it is a DO heavy specialty (OMT is basically made for it).

If for some reason things don't work out for medical school, I would encourage you to look into PT. It is a good field and PTs are invaluable in sports med. It might be a hard pill to swallow, but sometimes medical school is out of reach for some people. Don't give up on the medical field just because you can't be a physician. You can still be happy in another facet of care.

Long story short, I believe that you can make it. It will be very hard and take a lot of effort on your part, but medical school is not beyond you. If you can't keep pace, consider PT.

Good luck

Thanks Dr. Redstone. I am aware of there no longer being grade replacement unfortunately but fortunately D.O schools are still SLIGHTLY easier to get into. Grade replacement would have helped significantly but what's done is done. I also appreciate the advice on depression, I had no idea it was cyclical. I should def be going in more than every 3 weeks lol. I was thinking of going the family med residency route and I've heard those are one of the easiest residencies to get into but if you believe PM&R is the best route, I could also accept that path as well. The PT route I feel is a spirial towards a career of debt in which you cannot overcome. 80k with a 120k fat ol debt. I am sure you can understand in why that would allow someone to reconsider lol.

 

[TeeDoubleYou]

This is the part that is concerning to me. Everything prior to this suggests that you have already addressed the issues that were keeping you from succeeding, but you still haven't figured out how to get A's. It is easy to say that you are going to get all A's from here on out, but all of that talk is meaningless until you actually do it (for at least one semester). Keep working with your therapist to figure out what is keeping you from getting the grades you need.

Now for the good news. You only have 38 credits. You don't need to worry about expensive SMP's or a postbac at this point. Your GPA can get much higher and become competitive for any DO and some MD schools if you can start consistently getting A's. I had a sub-1.0 GPA after my first year of college, for many of the sames reasons you have described here. I am now finishing up my MS 1 year at an MD school. It can be done, but the path becomes harder, longer, and less likely after each semester of sub-par performance.

Some helpful threads as you move forward:

Low GPA success stories (my favorite thing on SDN): LOW GPA/MCAT Success Stories (Posts by Nontrads Already Accepted to Med School)

DrMidlife's post on this thread was my GPA repair bible: The Low Gpa--What Do I Do Thread

Low GPA support group: Below 3.0 gpa Support Group/Thread

 

[TeeDoubleYou]

Thank you and I understand your concern Holdthemayo. I am on quest (All A's) in which I've never done before. It concerns me as well lol. With an honest assertion of myself, I know I was NOT studying as hard as I could have been, making sacrifices to get A's and doing whatever I could to get them. I wasn't even aiming for it. Now I realize, I really have no choice in the matter but TO strive for them because without that I can't accomplish my life's goal. I accepted the possibility of never going to a party, hanging out, or doing anything that can even remotely cause me to get less than a A. Im the type of student that needs to really really pay attention and understand everything that's going on and if that means everyday all day studying, so be it. I'll accept my intellectual ability and move forward lol. I think with enough work, a 3.5 is possible. I've heard for D.O schools the cutoff is 3.0 so once I accomplish a 3.1, I think I'll apply.

 

[TeeDoubleYou]

I had a 2.44 GPA when I got my AA with 74 credits. My last two years I averaged a 3.5 and I did 29 credits of postbac at 3.95. I start DO school in July so no, you are not dead by any means.

Thank you for helping me realize there's hope after all 😀 Also do you suggest I achieve at least a 3.1 before applying or a 3.0?

 

[bears1992]

Thank you for helping me realize there's hope after all 😀 Also do you suggest I achieve at least a 3.1 before applying or a 3.0?

3.0 with an upward trend and above average MCAT is good enough for DO as long as you apply to 20+ schools. I’d get your GPA up to a 3.4 for MD.

 

[Magus5454]

Focus on one semester at a time. Fix your study habits because what you are doing is not working. Utilize every resource..office hours.. school tutoring .. learning center.. etc.