2 degrees. 1st = 1.9 cGPA 2nd = 3.84 cGPA. Chance?

[fasting]

Hi guys,

Becoming a doctor has been a dream of mine, and I really want to pursue medicine, but due to my somewhat unique situation, I'm not sure if I should even bother applying to medical school.

During my first degree, due to unforeseen very difficult life circumstances, my cGPA ended up around 1.9/4.0 cGPA (Graduated with a bachelor of science degree).
I ended up doing a second degree in nursing and received
3.9 GPA in 1st year of nursing
3.8 GPA in 2nd year of nursing
3.76 GPA in 3rd year of nursing
3.9 GPA in 4th year of nursing
with nursing degree cGPA of 3.84

Everyday when I work (in the emergency department), I get inspired and motivated by the doctors to become a physician someday.

Due to my extremely poor first degree grades, do I even have a chance at a med school in US?
Or is it time that I raise the white flag and give up?

Thanks in advanced.

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[Thego2guy]

I think you do. What was your BCPM the first time, and the second time? You are going to have a tough time conveying why you are going from nursing into becoming a doctor - two completely different ideologies and professions. Nursing is tough, so if you managed to keep up such high grades, then you definitely prove that you are capable of studying advanced medical science. Grades are always one part of the picture, MCAT is the other, and obviously your personal story is probably going to be the deciding factor in the sense that you will have a lot of explaining to do; why from nursing to doctor, why such horrible grades during your first 4 years of undergrad, why medicine now? etc..

Verdict: Totally feasible. You stuck out 4 years of medical training, and you excelled at it. Good job!

 

[sector9]

Moved to "What are my chances?"

 

[phltz]

I think it's possible, but it'll be an uphill battle. You will likely need to do further coursework, and maintain an excellent GPA. You will need to kick some butt on the MCAT. You will need to paint a very compelling picture that you've turned things around, and that you misspent youth was not representative of what you're capable of now.

You don't by any chance live in Texas, do you? If your original bad grades are 10 years old, in Texas you'd have the option of doing the fresh-start thing, where those aren't considered.

 

[Donald Juan]

What is your overall gpa? I'm a nontrad who had a terrible start years ago, but returned to school and made a solid 4.0. I just got accepted this cycle after applying with a 3.19 overall gpa. Still, even with such a steep turnaround, years of medical experience in the military, and a 37Q on my mcat, I only got interviews at 2/13 schools I applied to.

My point is: yes, it's possible, but know that your overall gpa needs to be acceptable--at least close to a 3.0. Also, understand that even with everything else being stellar, your gpa will be a hurdle to get over.

You should probably visit the non-trad board, you'll find many similar situations and a ton of motivation.

 

[fasting]

Thanks guys.
GPA for BCPM courses taken during science degree were very low (Range anywhere from 1.9 to 3.7, but mostly in the lower ends).
GPA for BCPM courses taken during nursing were 3.7 - 4.0.

I worked really hard to boost my GPA up during nursing for two reasons
1) Lives of the patients were on my hand, and I wanted to excel in nursing knowledge and skills to provide high quality care for them
2) To keep the hope alive in getting into medicine

I'm wondering if there is a particular system in place where the computer calculates your cGPA from both degrees and automatically throws out the applicants that do not meet the cut offs.

In this case, I feel that I have no chance at all... unless there is any subjectivity involved for admission process and cases are reviewed one by one. Even then, would they even care?

As for MCAT, I'm studying for it really hard right now.
ps, I'm not in Texas heh

 

[Thego2guy]

What is your overall gpa? I'm a nontrad who had a terrible start years ago, but returned to school and made a solid 4.0. I just got accepted this cycle after applying with a 3.19 overall gpa. Still, even with such a steep turnaround, years of medical experience in the military, and a 37Q on my mcat, I only got interviews at 2/13 schools I applied to.

My point is: yes, it's possible, but know that your overall gpa needs to be acceptable--at least close to a 3.0. Also, understand that even with everything else being stellar, your gpa will be a hurdle to get over.

You should probably visit the non-trad board, you'll find many similar situations and a ton of motivation.

Congrats man on your acceptance! And thank you for your military service.
I just wanted to comment tat 2/13 is not that bad with a 3.19 over all and a 37. If you applied to 20+ schools (like most people do on SDN) I am sure you would have had at least two more interviews!

 

[fasting]

What is your overall gpa? I'm a nontrad who had a terrible start years ago, but returned to school and made a solid 4.0. I just got accepted this cycle after applying with a 3.19 overall gpa. Still, even with such a steep turnaround, years of medical experience in the military, and a 37Q on my mcat, I only got interviews at 2/13 schools I applied to.

My point is: yes, it's possible, but know that your overall gpa needs to be acceptable--at least close to a 3.0. Also, understand that even with everything else being stellar, your gpa will be a hurdle to get over.

You should probably visit the non-trad board, you'll find many similar situations and a ton of motivation.

Congrats on your acceptances. I would say that my overall GPA is lower than yours due to my first degree. More like hovering around 2.9 including my GPA from first degree.

 

[Thego2guy]

OP, what is your state/where do you plan on applying for Medical School?

A lot of schools DO NOT have cut-offs for secondary applications. So you should not worry about that!

 

[fasting]

Thanks Thego2guy!

Buffalo, NY
I plan on applying to all the medical schools that are willing to give me a chance. I'm not sure which ones that are though at the moment.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

go search around the forum and find a gpa calculator. lohktar made one i used but there are tons around. then use this gpa calculator to actually figure your gpa. don't guess. it will take a bit but input every class you have ever taken,. the grade, and the credit hours. before we can give you any advice we need to know your actual cGPA and sGPA. If your second degree was 120 hours like the first, the advice is incredibly different than if your second degree was 60 hours.

Also did you retake any classes?

 

[hopeful22213]

Assuming you took about the same number of credit hours your second degree as the first, that puts your cGPA in the neighborhood of 2.85 ish. If you were to take the mcat and score a 32, that puts you in a cluster of applicants who were accepted at a rate of about 24% the last few years. (I was actually surprised it was that high.) So first off, as it stands now you'd need to do well on the mcat at a minimum just to give yourself a fighting chance. If you score exceptionally high, say a 38, the number goes up to 36%. Those aren't great odds, but they also show that every year a fair number of people with GPA's below 3.0 are accepted.

Other than the TX grade forgiveness which was mentioned, I think another route to consider would be to apply to D.O. schools. You could retake classes you did poorly in the first time around and AACOMAS will replace the lower grade with the higher one. With as many credit hours as you have, that would be a much faster and more effective means of improving your gpa. D.O.'s tend to send a solid number of grads into emergency medicine, so if your goal was to practice as a physician in an ED than the D.O. option is worth some serious consideration.

Best of luck

 

[Catalystik]

go search around the forum and find a gpa calculator. then use this gpa calculator to actually figure your gpa. don't guess. it will take a bit but input every class you have ever taken,. the grade, and the credit hours. before we can give you any advice we need to know your actual cGPA and sGPA. If your second degree was 120 hours like the first, the advice is incredibly different than if your second degree was 60 hours.

Also did you retake any classes?

AMCAS GPA Calculation Spreadsheet

AACOMAS GPA Calculation Spreadsheet