Academic Guidance

[runnergirl1]

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Hi 🙂 I hoping that some of you experienced members can help me out.

I am currently now a senior at a CSU and I am a social science major. After a long hard couple of years I decided what I wanted to do career wise. Obviously, by being here, it has become be a doctor. I kind stumbled upon it because well, for the past 4 years I have helped take care of my elderly father (81 now) who has been very sick, and its been sad, but it has guided me towards this career path. Over the course of this time though my grades took a hit to the point that I was on academic probation with a 1.8. Since then I have:

• Raised my gpa to a 2.8
• had a 4.0 two semesters in a row, and a two 3.5's and a 3.0
• Retaken the classes I failed (but still have a couple C's)

So now I am in my last year, but I am wondering what I need to do academically to further make up for my past grades.

• should I double major in bio at my CSU? (to show I can handle bio)
• graduate and attend a UC and do upper division bio?
• try to get into a post bacc?
• or other?? 🙂

Honestly, I am sad that I let my grades get so low, but I am not sad that I have helped take care of my dad. I come from a culture that nursing homes are not an option and take pride in saying that at 21 I have cared and continue to care for my dad and teenage brother! (sometimes harder!!)

Thanks for your feedback guys. Really appreciate it! <3

 

[njbmd]

Hi 🙂 I hoping that some of you experienced members can help me out.

I am currently now a senior at a CSU and I am a social science major. After a long hard couple of years I decided what I wanted to do career wise. Obviously, by being here, it has become be a doctor. I kind stumbled upon it because well, for the past 4 years I have helped take care of my elderly father (81 now) who has been very sick, and its been sad, but it has guided me towards this career path. Over the course of this time though my grades took a hit to the point that I was on academic probation with a 1.8. Since then I have:

• Raised my gpa to a 2.8
• had a 4.0 two semesters in a row, and a two 3.5's and a 3.0
• Retaken the classes I failed (but still have a couple C's)

So now I am in my last year, but I am wondering what I need to do academically to further make up for my past grades.

• should I double major in bio at my CSU? (to show I can handle bio)
• graduate and attend a UC and do upper division bio?
• try to get into a post bacc?
• or other?? 🙂

Honestly, I am sad that I let my grades get so low, but I am not sad that I have helped take care of my dad. I come from a culture that nursing homes are not an option and take pride in saying that at 21 I have cared and continue to care for my dad and teenage brother! (sometimes harder!!)

Thanks for your feedback guys. Really appreciate it! <3

First of all, (I believe you know this all ready) that cumulative GPA that you have is very, very low for an applicant for medical school. That's a pretty low uGPA for an applicant for a formal post bacc program. Your jumpoff point is that you are going to need to raise your uGPA no matter what you decide to pursue. The undergraduate "grade damage-control" process is lengthy and expensive but doable.

There is nothing "magical" about a Biology major that will get you into medical school. Your social science major is OK but your performance in this degree is what you have to overcome along with getting the pre-med prerequisite courses out of the way.

Your next hurdle is that you might need to take some of the pre-med coursework: General Biology with lab (one year), General Chemistry with lab (one year), General Physics with lab (one year) and Organic Chemistry with lab (one year). Keep in mind that you need strong math skills (through the level of Pre-Calculus) for those science courses and that you need very strong grades/knowledge base in order to do well on the Medical College Admissions Test. For most folks, getting through the pre-med work takes a minimum of two years (more if you need math buffing).

In addition, you need to do some solid career exploration in terms of shadowing several physicians to get a good sense of what a career in medicine will entail under the best of circumstances. There is no minimum number of hours that you should shadow but you do need to obtain a realistic look at the practice of medicine.

I would also encourage you to explore other health care careers that might provide satisfaction for you that might not require as much prep as medicine nor as much training as medicine. This exploration exercise is also good for allowing you to hone your interest in medicine if you find that nothing else out there is satisfying for you.

Go the the library and pick up a couple of books that guide you in the pre-med process. You may also want to make contact with the pre-medicine advising service at your college/university for more information too. It's good to have many informative resources at your disposal when you are moving into a career that requires as much of a commitment as medicine. Good luck.

 

[runnergirl1]

Thanks for your imput. I will definitely take everything you mentioned into account! Do you think it would be okay if I damaged controlled my GPA and junior college? I have completed my bio 1-2 sequence as well as Chem 1, B's.

 

[Crelal]

I think you need to prove yourself in the sciences and raise your overall GPA, as njbmd pointed out, it is low. If you are looking to stay in CA for school, it is extremely low.

As a former social worker, I would encourage you to look into additional upper level science coursework. It will give you a taste of what you will need to learn in med school and allow you to prove your abilities. It will not guarantee you admission to med school, even if you did exceptionally well in the program, but if you do end up in med school, it will give you additional background to build upon.

You do have some wiggle room with the fact that you were/are caring for a sick relative, but not a lot. I also agree with njbmd that you should look into a variety of health care professions- you may be looking at a full 3-4 additional years of GPA repair to demonstrate the kind of GPA med schools will look at. (I started my GPA repair with a 3.21 and spent 3.5 years getting a straight 4.0 in all upper level science courses to prove I was serious about medicine.) In that same amount of time, you could finish a PA program, nursing program, u/s tech program, etc. So do some investigation and take a hard look at how you want to spend the next 10-15 years.

Good luck! You are right, you should not regret your time you have spent caring for family- at the end of the day, it is our families that are there for us, not our degrees.