Advice moving forward (crappy GPA etc.)

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incognitofmd

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I'd like to lay out my case and maybe get some feedback on which direction I should take moving forward. One way or another I know my sGPA must (emphasis on must) improve. Disclaimer: Haven't taken my MCAT, but planning on dedicating a solid 3-4 months starting August and taking it in January 2017.

I received a BA in Psychology (2014). I was originally a pre-med student, but failed miserably some pre-reqs during my freshman year. I did not feel confident enough to push through so I changed my major and did pretty well, building confidence along the way and learning how to balance work (I worked 30hrs weekly during my entire undergrad career) and school.
-Two years of research, 3 poster presentations (1 at a national conference)
-National fellowship for minorities in research
-Section Editor (one of four) of my college paper
-Associate editor of college literary magazine
-1 year shadowing experience

At this point I decided, what the hell, I'm going to give it a real try. I decided I would finish the pre-reqs along with all the required electives for a second degree, a BS in Biology. During the next two years (2014-2016) I worked full time as a clinical assistant (glorified MA w/o certification) in a pediatric ENT clinic and managed to finish. During my last semester I was taking five classes, moving, and somehow managed to land a job as an RA at a top 50 medical school. I have never been a great student, for whatever reason my work ethic doesn't translate, but I am more than confident my rec. letters will be stellar. Since I already had a degree, this second degree I believe will count as a post-bacc. My stats, while improved, are unimpressive. Using the GPA calculator from AMCAS I have a running GPA of 3.1 and a sGPA of 2.6. This is terrible. I see only two options moving forward.
-Do a post-bacc/MS program
-35+ MCAT

Quite honestly, I feel a combination of both (such a small chance of happening) would still render me a mediocre applicant. While the first option seems the most logical, I have a really, really great job with publication possibilities at a recognizable medical school. I can't leave and forfeit this rec. letter and experience, especially in my predicament. My question moving forward is: What about an online MS, like the medical microbiology MS at UF? Is there another option I'm not seeing (besides changing careers)?
 
So those are your GPAs for both Bachelors combined? Have you considered DO? They have grade replacements and at this point , with all of those undergrad courses, you need replacements and not just retakes. Otherwise I would imagine your GPAs are not going to move at all . I doubt you'd get into a SMP with your sGPA and a 35+ MCAT isn't going to make up for your GPAs. And a MS won't help at all. And then there are your ECs... Do you have a plan B ?


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There might be a SMP out there that would take you as is with a decent MCAT score added but there lays the question if you could handle the workload and come out on top with a high gpa. Alternatively, as candbgirl wrote, you can take advantage of grade replacement as practiced by AACOMAS for DO schools. Mind you, I suspect you would have at least 2 years or more of retakes to do
 
Take your MCAT. I can't stress this point enough to everyone on this site asking for advice. I did the same thing until I realized that you can't do anything without knowing how you perform on the MCAT. You will end up wasting a lot of money and time if you keep putting it off. I'm serious.


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This is going to be hard for you to hear but I'm not going to sugar coat it.
You have no chance with current statistics, zero, zilch. You might as well retake all your pre-req courses below a B and try to get into a SMP after raising your GPA...even then you'd have to crush the curriculum to prove to schools that you're intellectually capable. Also, please don't take the MCAT on a whim, it would take an act of God for you to make above a 35 with your academic record.

tl;dr Prep properly for your MCAT and work on salvaging your academic record, then think about having a legitimate shot with a DO program.
 
incognitofmd said:
...GPA of 3.1 and a sGPA of 2.6. This is terrible. I see only two options moving forward.
-Do a post-bacc/MS program
-35+ MCAT

...My question moving forward is: What about an online MS, like the medical microbiology MS at UF? Is there another option I'm not seeing (besides changing careers)?
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For DO, do grade replacement while maintaining your current job, and score well on the MCAT (~508). This would be doable, and you could find yourself in medical school within the next 2 years.

For MD, you are going to have to dedicate at least the next 2-3 years of your life to become a competitive applicant (that's if you do everything perfect). 1-2 years of grade replacement to get your gpa high enough to make it into a decent SMP (which you will need for MD), and another 1-2 years for the SMP/glide year. Unless you have some other compelling reason for a medical school to admit you, I don't really see any other options. You could stay at your job while retaking classes to get your sGPA to ~3.0, and get your publications, etc.. You will also need a high (~32-33+) MCAT for this route. If you are gunning for MD, do not take the MCAT soon. You want to take the MCAT around the time you apply to the SMP (that way, you won't have to retake the MCAT if things don't go as quickly as you had hoped).
 
yayayaok said:
Take your MCAT. I can't stress this point enough to everyone on this site asking for advice. I did the same thing until I realized that you can't do anything without knowing how you perform on the MCAT. You will end up wasting a lot of money and time if you keep putting it off. I'm serious.


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Click to expand...

If the GPA isn't good and will take a year or more to repair, the OP should NOT take the MCAT now. They would just exhaust some of the years of its eligibility before they are even ready to apply...
 
Honestly, everyone come in here with a subpar GPA and says "guess I'm going to have to kill the MCAT!!!1!" like its no big thing.. Getting a 35+ is incredibly difficult. I suggest boosting your GPA with a post bacc to get to a stable place and take the MCAT for DO schools. If you are able to get the 35+ (big if considering your academic performance doesn't indicate you can do that) then you can consider an SMP for MD schools
 
yayayaok said:
Who cares if he has all the prerequisite might as well prep thoroughly and take it. If he can't hack a 35 lol than maybe it could give him idea of where he truly stands.....

I have done this myself. I did it the wrong way. I learned through trial and error, wasted money, and lots of wishing someone would have guided me through the process. If you have experience replacing 36 credit hours and taking the MCAT twice while working full time you might understand.

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Sorry you had a bad experience but your advice is poor.
 
yayayaok said:
Who cares if he has all the prerequisite might as well prep thoroughly and take it. If he can't hack a 35 lol than maybe it could give him idea of where he truly stands.....

I have done this myself. I did it the wrong way. I learned through trial and error, wasted money, and lots of wishing someone would have guided me through the process. If you have experience replacing 36 credit hours and taking the MCAT twice while working full time you might understand.

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Click to expand...

yayayaok said:
Post-baccs are expensive. Post baccs require MCAT scores and if the don't, they certainly have minimum GPA cutt offs


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1. If he needs to spend 1-2 years on grade rehab, but takes the MCAT now, he has now lost 1-2 years of MCAT eligibility for most schools (3 years) before he's even ready to apply. That would be foolish. Taking the MCAT more than once is not good either in most situations.

2. You can do a Postbacc on your own, the Do-it-yourself Postbacc, that is discussed on these forums frequently. This can be done at a local college/university and does NOT require an MCAT. This is not a formal program and can be affordable. What you are likely thinking of is a SMP that often does require an MCAT/minimum GPA and can be expensive.
 
yayayaok said:
Who cares if he has all the prerequisite might as well prep thoroughly and take it. If he can't hack a 35 lol than maybe it could give him idea of where he truly stands.....

I have done this myself. I did it the wrong way. I learned through trial and error, wasted money, and lots of wishing someone would have guided me through the process. If you have experience replacing 36 credit hours and taking the MCAT twice while working full time you might understand.

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Click to expand...

Hold on, that's some bad advice. If this person did poorly in their prereqs then there is nothing indicating a good performance on the MCAT. The best studying you can do for the MCAT is to do well in the prereqs in terms of learning and understanding the material instead of memorizing for the grade. If the OP hastily takes the MCAT and does poorly then that will be yet another red flag on his app that he doesn't need. To determine where he "truly stands" he should see how he performs on the retakes for his undergrad coursework. I had to salvage a poor early performance in undergrad by retaking some of my prereqs, performing well in them, and scoring in the 91st percentile on the MCAT. Mind you, I had to work in addition to conducting research, publishing, and maintaining my extracurriculars.

Along the way, he'll have checkpoints at which he can gauge his progress. If he is not progressing or doing well then I'd suggest a career change. I'm sorry to hear that your path was not as successful.
 
yayayaok said:
Word of advice to you. Those cocky remarks you made about minding me, you keep that kind of attitude up, come clinical rotations you will get torn up. 80% of healthcare employees aren't physicians and they don't like med students interns and residents. I don't care how many hours you scribed, volunteered whatever you have no idea what a cutthroat world acute care medicine can be. Those employees won't give a rats ass about your research or "extracarriculars". The patients on clinic observation will make you want to go in the corner and cry.

You might have a 91 percentile, but you have no real world experience. The type of experience that allows you to to gain a patients trust. The type of experience to know how to communicate with peers. I'm letting you know now you need to humble yourself or it's going to be a long road for you. It took me four years before I felt comfortable with acute care medicine. It will take you the same amount of time.


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His attitude has nothing on yours...
 
yayayaok said:
I didn't say hastily did I? 91% really good for you! I don't agree with you if he has taken the pre requisite course one should be able to study for the MCAT given adequate time and resources. Mind you, I took all of my prerequisites while I was working full time as a neurophysiology tech, at a level 1 trauma center, diagnosing brain death, 45hours a week. I took the MCAT twice sleeping 4 hours every night to take my online TPR course .Mind you I have adult responsibilities and pay my own bills and don't get money from mom and dad. Don't flatter yourself you have yet to enter the real world.

My path was successful .... It just took longer because once again mommy and daddy didn't pay for it

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watch-out-we-got-a-bad-ass-over-here.jpg


P.S. You weren't doing any diagnosing, that was the neurologist...
 
yayayaok said:
First of all I've done this whole thing on my own. You guys might read things about diy post bacc's but I actually did one replacing 36 credits. I took my MCAT after the grade replacements and did not fair well on my MCAT. I would have been better off preparing for the MCAT first with a reputable program and knowing what score I was working with. Do you understand. If he takes a 5 month Kaplan then kills the MCAT guess what? Probably aren't going to have to retake as many classes! It is expensive to take classes thus he could save money. Worst possible situation he sits for the MCAT does horrible and voids. You guys are knuckleheads


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Because of course we know nothing about what we're talking about...
 
yayayaok said:
I have a masters degree in clinical neuroscience. I go to work and put wires on dead people interpret the results ON MY OWN. I consult with the neurologist at the end of the day and we formulate the best plan of care. What you may not understand about eci EEG is that a physician is not present during the test which means I make the first call. What you may not know is that I am a licensed caregiver and if necessary have the power to order paralytics, sedatives and anti-epileptics for the best interest of my study. I'm not sure why I'm explaining myself to you. Next time you have to apply cranial Needle electrodes to patient with a gunshot wound to the head you can call me a badass till then this conversation is over.


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You are giving out poor advice on here and you are called out on it. You get defensive and start trying to puff yourself up. Maybe you didn't mean it, but that's how you come across. I've seen brain death EEG tests done. Yes, the tech generally knows what is going on and can tell you what it says, but at the end of the day, the buck stops with the Neurologist. But really, that job has nothing to do with the advice you're giving out, which is generally less than ideal.

Have a nice day.
 
yayayaok said:
Word of advice to you. Those cocky remarks you made about minding me, you keep that kind of attitude up, come clinical rotations you will get torn up. 80% of healthcare employees aren't physicians and they don't like med students interns and residents. I don't care how many hours you scribed, volunteered whatever you have no idea what a cutthroat world acute care medicine can be. Those employees won't give a rats ass about your research or "extracarriculars". The patients on clinic observation will make you want to go in the corner and cry.

You might have a 91 percentile, but you have no real world experience. The type of experience that allows you to to gain a patients trust. The type of experience to know how to communicate with peers. I'm letting you know now you need to humble yourself or it's going to be a long road for you. It took me four years before I felt comfortable with acute care medicine. It will take you the same amount of time.


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Click to expand...

Is this your usual course of action when someone disagrees with your opinion?

I've got plenty of experience in the healthcare profession but I'm certainly not going to sit here and type up my life story so that you can be satisfied with the answer. I will however say that I just spent 8 months being evaluated, scrutinized, and weighed throughout the admissions process. In the end, several admission committees agreed that my experiences, convictions, and abilities were sufficient to pursue a profession as a physician. I don't need a random web poster's approval.

As for OP, I'll refer you to my original post.
 
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I'm sure you were all great pre-med applicants - though, I don't think that conversation is relevant here.
 
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yayayaok said:
Word of advice to you. Those cocky remarks you made about minding me, you keep that kind of attitude up, come clinical rotations you will get torn up. 80% of healthcare employees aren't physicians and they don't like med students interns and residents. I don't care how many hours you scribed, volunteered whatever you have no idea what a cutthroat world acute care medicine can be. Those employees won't give a rats ass about your research or "extracarriculars". The patients on clinic observation will make you want to go in the corner and cry.

You might have a 91 percentile, but you have no real world experience. The type of experience that allows you to to gain a patients trust. The type of experience to know how to communicate with peers. I'm letting you know now you need to humble yourself or it's going to be a long road for you. It took me four years before I felt comfortable with acute care medicine. It will take you the same amount of time.


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Click to expand...
You're a tool
 
yayayaok said:
Word of advice to you. Those cocky remarks you made about minding me, you keep that kind of attitude up, come clinical rotations you will get torn up. 80% of healthcare employees aren't physicians and they don't like med students interns and residents. I don't care how many hours you scribed, volunteered whatever you have no idea what a cutthroat world acute care medicine can be. Those employees won't give a rats ass about your research or "extracarriculars". The patients on clinic observation will make you want to go in the corner and cry.

You might have a 91 percentile, but you have no real world experience. The type of experience that allows you to to gain a patients trust. The type of experience to know how to communicate with peers. I'm letting you know now you need to humble yourself or it's going to be a long road for you. It took me four years before I felt comfortable with acute care medicine. It will take you the same amount of time.


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Click to expand...


Literally, read what you wrote that is in bold, and re-read your posts. You'll find the cocky remarks are also coming from you and that your poor attempt to humblebrag will similarly find you in a bad situation on clinical rotations because of that attitude. Also, congratulations, you did things on your own. Many of us did as well, albeit not having to redo all those classes. Mommy and daddy didn't pay for my medical school applications, interview costs, ect. That was on me, and I'd be willing to bet that it is similar for many other applicants as well. One last thing, you got into medical school. Your method that you took makes YOU an outlier. As you are well aware, 9 out of 10 people will not have been successful doing what you attempted to do. That is why people are saying it is bad advice. Stop getting so butthurt.
 
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