Academic Fresh Start.....move to Texas?

[Lucky Buck]

I have done quite a bit of reading via SDN posts and the web. Does anyone have any experience with this?

If I understand things correctly......Basically, you could move to Texas, live there for a year, become a resident, apply to a public university under academic fresh start, grades from more than 10 years ago (regardless of schools attended and location) would no longer be factored into gpa/degree requirements, take 90 hours, apply to med school with none of the grades/courses prior to the ten year mark being factored in??

I'm guessing only Texas med schools would accept academic fresh start....not a school in FL for example?

Right now I have a 3.0 ugpa, 3.8 ggpa and I'm looking at two years of prereqs and a year to apply. Best case scenario, I'll be able to raise my uppa to ~3.2-3.3. I goofed off from 93-97 and from 98-01 retook a lot of classes and made mostly As, then I went to grad school for an MS.

If it meant I could drop the baggage of crap that haunts me from 93-98 and conceivably apply to a med program with a 3.8-3.9....I would consider it.

Or am I better off staying put in FL, taking my prereqs (making As of course), raising my gpa ~3.2-3.3 and hoping a FL school will pity me because of my vast improvement and grant me an acceptance?

Any thoughts?

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[postbacker]

I have done quite a bit of reading via SDN posts and the web. Does anyone have any experience with this?

If I understand things correctly......Basically, you could move to Texas, live there for a year, become a resident, apply to a public university under academic fresh start, grades from more than 10 years ago (regardless of schools attended and location) would no longer be factored into gpa/degree requirements, take 90 hours, apply to med school with none of the grades/courses prior to the ten year mark being factored in??

I'm guessing only Texas med schools would accept academic fresh start....not a school in FL for example?

Right now I have a 3.0 ugpa, 3.8 ggpa and I'm looking at two years of prereqs and a year to apply. Best case scenario, I'll be able to raise my uppa to ~3.2-3.3. I goofed off from 93-97 and from 98-01 retook a lot of classes and made mostly As, then I went to grad school for an MS.

If it meant I could drop the baggage of crap that haunts me from 93-98 and conceivably apply to a med program with a 3.8-3.9....I would consider it.

Or am I better off staying put in FL, taking my prereqs (making As of course), raising my gpa ~3.2-3.3 and hoping a FL school will pity me because of my vast improvement and grant me an acceptance?

Any thoughts?

Well...there is the year of residency you cite, and then it will take at least 2.5 years to take the 90 hours, and the really big assumption is that you will kick butt on these classes...so you think it is reasonable to invest nearly 4 years in this scheme that also requires you to move?

More power to you...I think it is nuts. And you might make damn sure you have your facts straight about Texas before calling Mayflower...

Finally, you are also limiting yourself to the Texas medical schools...how many is that? 7 or so...whatever it is, it is a really small number...although I am sure Texas residents do it all the time, I doubt if just applying instate is a smart idea for most applicants.

 

[Lucky Buck]

More power to you...I think it is nuts. And you might make damn sure you have your facts straight about Texas before calling Mayflower...

Thanks for the tip!
Just considering all my options....as any sane person with a 3.0 would!

 

[notdeadyet]

I'm guessing only Texas med schools would accept academic fresh start....not a school in FL for example?

Correct. You will not be able to apply to any other medical schools under the program; you old coursework would show.

So you need to move to Texas, wait a year, then apply to undergrad. You'll essentially erase all academic work 10 or more years old. So if you don't time it right, you may lose some prereqs and grades taken in 98-99.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

To clarify, you still need to submit all of your transcripts, and the schools are not SUPPOSED to look at them, but I wonder what really happens in those cases. I guess that TMDSAS, at least, would not factor them into your GPA, even though they are still there.

And I think that if you were going to do this, you'd have to redo all those classes that counted toward your degree. i.e. I forget (geeze, it's only been a year,) if there are specific total number of credits requirements for medical schools.

Also, if you want to become a Texas resident, you must move here and live here for non-academic reasons for a year before enrolling in school (which you would then be able to do as a resident.)

 

[Lucky Buck]

I'm sure a lot of nontrads are with me when I say.... the thought of being able to say goodbye to those grades from 15 years ago...words can't describe!

But...there is no telling how Texas med schools view this policy or the applicant who uses it. It would suck to go through with it only to find that it didn't help. I'm sure someone out there has done what I'm proposing....it would be great to hear from them.... I'll try telepathy, maybe I can make him or her come on hear and tell us what happened.

 

[burntcrispy]

I remember hearing about this back when I was a non-trad but seems like I heard that you would have to submit all of your other work to the med schools anyway.

I graduated medschool in Tx. Before starting my prerecs I had a GPA just just under 3.1. Made all A's in the prerecs, 29 on MCAT and got interviews at most of the med schools in Texas. Getting all As is definately doable if you bust your butt. I think you are in better shape than you think.

Good luck. Texas is a GREAT place to live.

Burntcrispy, MD

 

[Lucky Buck]

I remember hearing about this back when I was a non-trad but seems like I heard that you would have to submit all of your other work to the med schools anyway.

I graduated medschool in Tx. Before starting my prerecs I had a GPA just just under 3.1. Made all A's in the prerecs, 29 on MCAT and got interviews at most of the med schools in Texas. Getting all As is definately doable if you bust your butt. I think you are in better shape than you think.

Good luck. Texas is a GREAT place to live.

Burntcrispy, MD

That's encouraging, thanks!

 

[Kateb4]

OK, before you pack, think about this...

If you were to take 90 credit hours of coursework in addition to the probably 120 or so undergrad that you already have, that would be enough to significantly raise your GPA anyways. Really, if you have a 3.0 with 120 hours and got a 4.0 in your additional 90 hours that you are talking about taking in texas, then you would have about a 3.43 overall. That along with a good MCAT (EC/PS/etc) should get you into alot of med schools.

So, really is it worth moving to TX and waiting the year for residency? Personally, I'm recovering from a lower uPGA also, but I'm just re-taking the classes that I did poorly in and am going DO since they replace your old grades (also I live very close to a DO school, so that was my first choice anyways).

 

[Skellington]

Well, I did some calculations and if I do a full degree's worth of 120 units and get all As, my GPA would be 3.08....ouch. Not feeling very optimistic, 3.08 won't get pass the automated circular filing machine at most (all?) med schools. I wish I had know about the academic restart Texas thing I might tried that when I lived there.

I'm going to do some more research into the application process...

Thanks.

 

[Livewell]

Hmm, I was looking in the Med School guide and Baylor, Texas A&M, and UT Galveston have 100% matriculants with baccalaureate degrees, but Texas Tech lists 53% with Bacc, UT Houston lists 61% w/Bacc, UT San Antonio 58% w/Bacc, and UT Southwestern 91% w/Bacc. Who are those people who got in without their undergraduate degrees? Are they "Fresh Start" post-baccs?

I would love to hear from anyone who go into a TX medical school under Fresh Start.

 

[postbacker]

Hmm, I was looking in the Med School guide and Baylor, Texas A&M, and UT Galveston have 100% matriculants with baccalaureate degrees, but Texas Tech lists 53% with Bacc, UT Houston lists 61% w/Bacc, UT San Antonio 58% w/Bacc, and UT Southwestern 91% w/Bacc. Who are those people who got in without their undergraduate degrees? Are they "Fresh Start" post-baccs?

I would love to hear from anyone who go into a TX medical school under Fresh Start.

I doubt if "Fresh Start" has anything to do with more than a couple of these matriculants...isn't the "requirement" for med school admissions 90 or so UG hours (including the pre-reqs)? I have a feeling these are kids who have completed about 3 years of UG prior to entering med school, or they are in some sort of UG/MD program that truncates their UG with automatic MD admissions...

Just a guess...

 

[viostorm]

Texas is great for a couple of things, both financially and because of lots of opportunities.

But it seems like a waste of time. Your grades aren't THAT bad, you can probably get in without going through all this.

 

[QofQuimica]

Or am I better off staying put in FL, taking my prereqs (making As of course), raising my gpa ~3.2-3.3 and hoping a FL school will pity me because of my vast improvement and grant me an acceptance?

Any thoughts?

My thoughts as a fellow Floridian nontrad are that you should stay here. You should also contact REL Larkin at USF and ask for a pre-admissions counseling meeting with him. He is a very nice and straightforward man; he'll tell you it like it is. It's well worth making the trip to Tampa to get his advice.

FL is a very good state to be a nontrad, IMO. If I were you, I would start by contacting REL and getting his advice on how to strengthen your app. Bring a copy of your CV (listing all your ECs), your post-secondary transcripts, and your MCAT scores if you have them. (I assume you don't since you are taking pre-reqs, but just in case.) Work out a plan to do the things that he suggests you should do to improve your app. When it comes time to apply, definitely send in apps to USF, FSU, and Miami (both campuses). USF and Miami in particular have a very strong history of taking nontrads, and they look for upward trends in your grades. In other words, if you have bad grades from 15 years ago but straight As from a year or two ago, that will carry some weight with them. You can add UF too if you want, but I'll tell you right now that it's probably going to be a reach school for you. If you'd be willing to go DO, I'd add Nova and LECOM-Bradenton to the list too.

I know the idea of a fresh start sounds tempting, but getting into med school is going to get harder the longer you wait, not easier. I really think that unless REL tells you that you have no chance (and from what you've said, I can't imagine why he would), that you should be able to apply here in FL after a year or two when you're done with the pre-reqs and the MCAT. The other thing to consider is that if you move to TX and establish TX residency, you will no longer be a FL resident, and you will have a VERY hard time being able to get into any of the FL schools. Being a former resident isn't the same as being a current state resident. You cannot apply as both a resident of TX and a resident of FL.

Hope this helps, and best of to you.

 

[Lucky Buck]

My thoughts as a fellow Floridian nontrad are that you should stay here. You should also contact REL Larkin at USF and ask for a pre-admissions counseling meeting with him. He is a very nice and straightforward man; he'll tell you it like it is. It's well worth making the trip to Tampa to get his advice.

I appreciate your chiming in...us FL boys got to stick together!

I did talk to REL and as you suggested, he did say med school was doable. He intimated that 4-6 semesters of full-time/A work should do it (a B here and there). For those who are taking notes...he also stressed the importance of volunteer work (not just in a medical setting) at least as far as USF admissions is concerned.

I was tempted to call Allied yesterday; but, I think I'm going to stay put. I appreciate the advice and encouragement of all!

 

[hayashik1]

Now, in my case, I graduated with low gpa of 2.65. I am considering doing academic fresh start since I live in Texas. So what do you all think with following information?

If I do simple math, even if I got all perfect As with addtional 120 hours, I would be looking at about 3.23. Gussing grades not being perfect, what are the chances of getting into med schools if my gpa is low 3.1 or 3.0? Obviously, I would have to do extremely well on MCAT.

I am wondering if I can get the best of both worlds by doing academic fresh start. Here is why I say the best of both worlds.

If it's going to take me that long to get my gpa repaired, I would have academic fresh start to get better chance for Texas public med schools through TMDSAS. I would be getting another degree in the process at that point, I am sure. (I spoke to someone from TMDSAS; and she told me that TMDSAS removes the grades older than 10 years when it is indicated on transcript that a person opted for academic fresh start.) AMCAS would still include all my grades for application to all other med schools around the country including Baylor College of Medicine.

Here is a link to a thread with info regarding Texas Academic Fresh Start if someone is interested. It has link to TMDSAS website and College for Texans website for addtional information.

Thank you very much for your input in advance.

 

[CycleCA]

... the baggage of crap that haunts me...

HAhahaha, I like this. I too am haunted by a baggage of crap. Spooky!