3.1 GPA, Haven't taken MCAT

[alarratt]

Hi everyone! Unfortunately, I had not had that deep calling all my life to become a doctor, and went into UG not really knowing what I wanted to do. As a result, I ended up taking most of the pre-reqs and not doing stellar in them before I realized I wanted to be a doctor. Now I am one semester from graduating, with a 3.1 GPA, virtually no ECs, and want to go to med school.
I was actually considering a few different options too.
1) Don't get my BS in biomed,, but instead get my RN then BSN while Im an RN at a hospital. Would only my BSN GPA count as UG, and just pre-reqs separately?
2) Possibly military med school. I looked at their site, but it said nothing about GPA number wise.
3) Retaking orgo 1, and A+P1 as I got Cs in both.

Thanks so much for any help.

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[alarratt]

And I didn't mean just MD.

 

[Bluto385]

Shoot for DO.

 

[flodhi1]

Hi everyone! Unfortunately, I had not had that deep calling all my life to become a doctor, and went into UG not really knowing what I wanted to do. As a result, I ended up taking most of the pre-reqs and not doing stellar in them before I realized I wanted to be a doctor. Now I am one semester from graduating, with a 3.1 GPA, virtually no ECs, and want to go to med school.
I was actually considering a few different options too.
1) Don't get my BS in biomed,, but instead get my RN then BSN while Im an RN at a hospital. Would only my BSN GPA count as UG, and just pre-reqs separately?
2) Possibly military med school. I looked at their site, but it said nothing about GPA number wise.
3) Retaking orgo 1, and A+P1 as I got Cs in both.

Thanks so much for any help.

A 3.1 is pretty rough for MD schools. However, some Allopathic schools will consider you if you have extenuating circumstances, do reasonably well, have wonderful life experiences, have an upward trend and do fairly well on the MCAT.

Unfortunately though it seems that you're lacking ECs and don't seem to have any extenuating circumstances so at this point you have the following options.

1) If you're going for a MD which would be the significantly tougher route to getting into medical school you would have to take a few extra semesters in undergrad and get an extreme upward trend. After graduating you would have to enroll into a SMP program and get > 3.7 in the program. If you do not do well in the SMP program not only will you shut doors to MD but also possibly to Osteopathic medical schools (DO) which seem to be more understanding towards applicants with slightly lower stats. You would have to take the MCAT and score > 32 which is not an easy task especially if you have not done so well on the pre-reqs. The MD route could take you close to 2 years.

2) If you're going for a DO which is the slightly easier route to getting into medical school you could postpone your graduation take a few semesters and retake classes you completely bombed. DO schools replace your initial grade with your final grade (something that MD schools DO NOT do). You would have to then take the MCAT and score > 27 on the MCAT. The DO route could take you close to 1 year if you play your cards right.

Either way if you go MD or DO you need to start working on your ECs starting NOW.
There are certain things that are a must; clinical experience ( volunteering and shadowing), basic research (at a few schools NOT all) and things that are important and also look good such as leadership, community service. Medical schools are looking for clinicians and compassionate individuals. You can only show your compassion by making a difference. So, in community service get out there and work at a rehab facility, homeless shelter etc.. Leadership is pretty obvious but subtle ways of leadership is through mentoring and teaching. Tutoring little kids can be a form of mentoring. It's preferable to actually have leadership in a group organization and have tutoring/mentoring but if you don't have time as I stated mentoring will slightly cover both bases. Clinical experience is the most essential. Clinical experience should be a long term commitment since the average is 1.5 years, you should go above and beyond. You need to call hospitals and walk in clinics starting now.

 

[alarratt]

So I downloaded a GPA calc for excel. If I retake classes, that would be like post-bacc for MD schools, but I could just replace the old grades for DO?

 

[Moosepig]

So I downloaded a GPA calc for excel. If I retake classes, that would be like post-bacc for MD schools, but I could just replace the old grades for DO?

Yes.

 

[Goro]

I suggest finishing your degree and then figuring out what you want to do. It seems like you are unsure of what you really want to do in life. For medical school ALL of your coursework gets looked at as a whole. That's why it's called cGPA (cumulative GPA). naturally, we are interested when you have a rocking high graduate GPA.


1) Don't get my BS in biomed,, but instead get my RN then BSN while Im an RN at a hospital. Would only my BSN GPA count as UG, and just pre-reqs separately?


The Uniformed Services University is an honest-to-god medical school like Harvard or Duke. It's NOT the same as joining the military and then going into medical training, as opposed to missile systems.

2) Possibly military med school. I looked at their site, but it said nothing about GPA number wise.

Re-take the poor science grades and it will be replaced for AACOMAS and make you a much better candidate for DO schools. You're at the low end of acceptible for DO schools right now. Oh, and do some volunteering to see what the whole ball of wax is all about.

3) Retaking orgo 1, and A+P1 as I got Cs in both.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi everyone! Unfortunately, I had not had that deep calling all my life to become a doctor, and went into UG not really knowing what I wanted to do. As a result, I ended up taking most of the pre-reqs and not doing stellar in them before I realized I wanted to be a doctor. Now I am one semester from graduating, with a 3.1 GPA, virtually no ECs, and want to go to med school.
I was actually considering a few different options too.
1) Don't get my BS in biomed,, but instead get my RN then BSN while Im an RN at a hospital. Would only my BSN GPA count as UG, and just pre-reqs separately?
2) Possibly military med school. I looked at their site, but it said nothing about GPA number wise.
3) Retaking orgo 1, and A+P1 as I got Cs in both.

Thanks so much for any help.

Besides getting As in some of the sciences you had trouble with before, which should be easy the second time around, you would help demonstrate your capability were you to also take some original upper-level Bio coursework and do well in that also.

 

[ClemsonFirst]

Getting your RN could lead to getting NP. A viable option to still treating patients without the time commitments of the MD route.