3.45c GPA, taking classes at CC worth it?

[jkl1990]

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Hi,

I'm taking a few years to make myself more attractive to medical schools when I apply. In the mean time, I have a 1.5 year window where I am still near the state university I graduated from as I work as a medical scribe in EDs. I could be taking more classes during this time to increase my GPA, but I'm not sure if spending the extra money to take the classes at the university is worth it vs just taking them at a community college. I am also thinking about doing an SMP--if I intend on doing that, should I even worry about taking more classes to boost my GPA?

Here's some information about what I have at the moment (bold items are things I've already done, unbold are what I'm planning on doing):
- cGPA: 3.45 microbiology, minor: computer science, no real trend
- sGPA: ~3.3 (I've yet to calculate, but likely around this)
- Hours working as a medical scribe: ~2000 (will have ~5000 once the 1.5 years are up)
- Volunteering hours at emergency departments: ~150
- Years working/volunteering in research labs: 3
- Leadership program at my university (we just discussed leadership philosophy/how to be a leader, didn't actually do much hands-on leadership)
- "unique thing to my application" programming
- EMT-B certified (perhaps I should get a volunteering/job position for this in the 1.5 years instead?)
- MCAT: pending (will need to study hard and kill this)
- 2 years volunteering with Peace Corps in hopefully a medical tour
- Shadowing hours: 160 (radiology, OB, surgery, primary care, etc)
- ~2000 hours working as an EMT

Thanks for your time!

 

[GrapesofRath]

Your science grades are obviously at the low end. CC classes will likely not be much of a boost. 4 year will be better. Also, you noted you have EMT cert but indicated you have 2000 hours of work as such. Additional EMT volunteering wont improve that. Without MCAT, I am hesitant to suggest SMP, though I was leaning that way. That is until I saw you are on your way to peace corps position. That counts for alot. I would also suggest that some schools only use MCAT scores for two years and you may need to take it when you get back instead of before you go.

I agree with this and I also was a little confused, Peace Corps vs grade repair are two completely different options. Have you already done Peace Corps?

The sGPA is low but a 3.45/3.3 isnt disasterously low to the point it's unsalvagable. It's about 1 SD below MD matriculants for each GPA. I bring all this up because this GPA is above average for SMP students and SMP's are risky, high pressure and costly endeavors. In general if there is a reasonable way to avoid doing one, it's worth at least considering. If you are going to look into one make a decision now about how open/interested you are in the DO route. IF you are content with the DO route, dont do an SMP. Your GPA is honestly fine for DO programs with the right MCAT score.

If MD is the end goal a strong SMP showing is the single best thing you can do for yourself. But what I want to add to what was stated here is that you also have to realize the standards are very high: beating out MS1 class medians isnt easy, there's a reason why half the MS1's cant do it.

Your GPA's are at the point where some 4 yr DIY post-bacc work might be able to salvage them. If say 30 credits of upper level science coursework at a 4 yr university could get you to 3.55/3.45 that may possibly be a route that might be better for you given it's less risky and just as importantly allows you a chance to build your ECs. You dont really get a chance in an SMP to build up your ECs. A 3.55/3.45 with a good grade trend really wouldnt be that bad of a spot to be in if it were to come to this which is why Im suggesting it as one possible alternative to an SMP.

But yes, do well in an SMP, and with a good MCAT score you are in the best position you could be. It's just a matter of weighing the risk-reward and alternatives.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Actually I was thinking of asking your opinion on this, My thought was OP would be SMP candidate. However, DIY PB with a peace corps maybe sufficient together was my thought

I think there's a good argument you can avoid an SMP by doing Peace Corps which will carry a solid amount of weight. Honestly with Peace Corps a DIY PB might not even be necessary with a good MCAT score if the OP is in a good state. But a DIY PB could help erase any hesitations. The recent grade trend matters here also; 3.3 sGPA with a flat trend is different than a 3.3 sGPA where the last 3-4 semesters were 3.6+.

I agree the OP definitely could benefit significantly from an SMP. But I think that if there is a reasonable alternative via a DIY post-bacc to get the GPA to say at 3.55/3.45 while giving time to build the ECs, that might be something to seriously consider. The reward isnt as great through a DIY but I think avoiding an SMP is something that has real potential benefits if there is a realistic alternative to one.

 

[jkl1990]

Thank you so much for all the feedback. I'm back with more concrete numbers (and a graph!!).

I'm not sure how medical schools weigh credits from community colleges and my google-fu leads me to believe it depends on the school. Thirteen (unweighted) of my credits were taken at a community college for my undergrad (4 of which were BCPM). Here's data of my overall credits, sGPA, and cGPA in varying weights:

Weight| Credits| cGPA| sGPA

1| 129| 3.467| 3.445

0.5| 122.5| 3.439| 3.432

0.25| 119.3| 3.424| 3.426

0.1| 117.3| 3.414| 3.422

To address my GPA trends, here is a graph of my cGPA and sGPA over time. Unfortunately, I do have a down-trending GPA from Fall 2013 semester onwards.

There seems to have been some confusion over my original post, so here's a rough timeline of what I have in mind:

2016: Scribing full time + shadowing + [something else? leaning towards an EMT volunteering opportunity. as of today I have 0 hours working/volunteering as an EMT, the unbolded items in the original post's list are things I'm planning on doing]
end of 2017/beginning of 2018: Peace corps (at this point I'd prefer to stay away from the area of my 4y uni as I'm going to move in with my mother for a while when I get back from my tour)
beginning of 2020: EMT job + MCAT study (there will be a lag period where I will need to get EMT recertified and then job search)
end of 2020 (or sooner if I feel ready): take MCAT
after MCAT: ??? apply to med schools? SMP? DIY PB?

I don't think I'd be content with DO, I'd like to push for MD.

 

[GrapesofRath]

I think gonnif has a pretty good summary of things to think about. Timeline is also important here. Peace Corps is 2 years. DIY post-bacc is another year. An SMP is another year. It all adds up really fast.

What state you are a resident of also matters here: my advice would change if you were a California resident vs say a Louisiana one.

Me personally, to answer @gonnif question I wouldnt do an SMP before trying out an app cycle if OP follows the proposed strategy. I think we might be slightly overstating how low the GPA is if we think it has no chance of being redeemable without an SMP which is the situation in which I would do an SMP before applying. Peace Corps counts for a good bit. DIY PB GPA repair can also help to a decent extent potentially. There are even SMP's like Georgetown that discourage applicants with 3.5+ GPAs to do an SMP because they really dont think it's necessary and the OP's GPA could be around 3.55/3.45 with a DIY PB.

Remember, historically about half of 3.5ish/31 applicants get accepted somewhere. That number goes up to 60% for 3.5ish/33(and I think this might even deflate the odds for someone who does PeaceCorps if OP chooses that route).

In other words, I think these odds are way too high to say it's not worth applying once without doing an SMP.