Advice needed

[Running17]

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I graduated college two years ago with a useless humanities degree (3.1 gpa), I was planning on going to law school but with half of recent law school grads not being able to find a legal job decided against that. I'm now considering trying DO school. I was pre-med for a year and a half in college and have some science classes but didn't do so well (mainly b/c i never studied). I figure it'll probably take me a year-2 to do the required work for admission. Have a few questions:

If i do well in these courses over the next year, will admissions folks overlook the bad gpa from before. which would be bringing down my overall gpa
What can I do in terms of ec's, law school doesn't really care for them so I never did any while in undergrad
Should I even do it

 

[bionerd89]

I graduated college two years ago with a useless humanities degree (3.1 gpa), I was planning on going to law school but with half of recent law school grads not being able to find a legal job decided against that. I'm now considering trying DO school. I was pre-med for a year and a half in college and have some science classes but didn't do so well (mainly b/c i never studied). I figure it'll probably take me a year-2 to do the required work for admission. Have a few questions:

If i do well in these courses over the next year, will admissions folks overlook the bad gpa from before. which would be bringing down my overall gpa
What can I do in terms of ec's, law school doesn't really care for them so I never did any while in undergrad
Should I even do it

Switching to medicine is a huge commitment so before you start you should make sure you really have the passion for medicine. I don't think you have to worry too much about your past gpa as long as you do well on all your future science courses and can bring your sgpa to aleast 3.2+ and do well on the MCAT. You can also retake the science courses you didn't do well in. For EC, you should try to shadow a doctor (preferably a DO) and volunteer at a hospital or clinic (having patient contact is ideal). Those two are the bare minimum ECs for all pre-meds so you should definitely look at other types of volunteering and research. Its going to be a long road so decide if you are ready for it. good luck!

 

[JDMcNugent]

I graduated college two years ago with a useless humanities degree (3.1 gpa), I was planning on going to law school but with half of recent law school grads not being able to find a legal job decided against that. I'm now considering trying DO school. I was pre-med for a year and a half in college and have some science classes but didn't do so well (mainly b/c i never studied). I figure it'll probably take me a year-2 to do the required work for admission. Have a few questions:

If i do well in these courses over the next year, will admissions folks overlook the bad gpa from before. which would be bringing down my overall gpa
What can I do in terms of ec's, law school doesn't really care for them so I never did any while in undergrad
Should I even do it

Which science courses did you take and what were your grades? Is the 3.1 your overall or science?

Do some shadowing, try to gain clinical experience if you can just to get some hands-on experience, do soem volunteering in a field you will enjoy. Make sure you put your grades first though so the post-bac doesn't suffer.

 

[dramatrauma]

I graduated college two years ago with a useless humanities degree (3.1 gpa), I was planning on going to law school but with half of recent law school grads not being able to find a legal job decided against that. I'm now considering trying DO school. I was pre-med for a year and a half in college and have some science classes but didn't do so well (mainly b/c i never studied). I figure it'll probably take me a year-2 to do the required work for admission. Have a few questions:

If i do well in these courses over the next year, will admissions folks overlook the bad gpa from before. which would be bringing down my overall gpa
What can I do in terms of ec's, law school doesn't really care for them so I never did any while in undergrad
Should I even do it

The main thing you need is passion for medicine. Becoming a doctor is a very long, brutal road (MUCH longer than that of becoming an attorney), and simply seeking medicine for job security would be an egregious error.

For AACOMAS, any repeated courses serve as grade-replacements for the old courses. Assuming you do well on the retakes, your final science GPA will be significantly higher. Adcoms do typically overlook the bad grades if the upward trend is high enough.

ECs are essential for medical school. Shadow a DO and obtain clinical experience (via volunteering, internships, in-hospital research, etc.). Patient contact is highly recommended. Non-medicine related volunteering or experience is also a big plus. Find an activity you enjoy doing and really do it.

 

[Running17]

Thanks for the info, i took the following courses:
Chem 1: B
Chem 2: C
Bio: B
Physics: B
I'll try to get some shadowing in over the summer. Is there a recommended number of hours/doc's one should shadow.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Thanks for the info, i took the following courses:
Chem 1: B
Chem 2: C
Bio: B
Physics: B
I'll try to get some shadowing in over the summer. Is there a recommended number of hours/doc's one should shadow.

Do any specialties you are genuinely interested in. Having some time with a primary care specialty should help with DO schools. You really dont need over like 100 hours total from what I have seen... just try and get a feel for it enough that you would be able to talk about it during interviews and/or on your PS.