Advice Needed

[LuckBALady]

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Hello everyone, I'm really uncertain as to what my options might be. I have a very low GPA (almost all science classes) of 2.56 with 175 credit hours. It would take a very long time to bring it up. My local gpa at the school I graduated from was 3.93 for 46 local credits. This would show my upward trend in grades..All As and one B. They were in my retaken pre-reqs. Physics II- A, Organic I-A, organic II-A with labs, General Chem.II-B, and A's and Bs in the rest from years ago. I started in 1995 from a different school and ended up with some Ws for a semester and then I went a couple more semesters without Withdrawing so I just received Ds and Fs for all those classes. I know it was stupid not to just withdraw from the university but I was young and dumb (Stalker Issues). I'm now married with two beautiful daughters and I'm attending my first semester of graduate school for a MS in Biology. It is really not the path I want to take since being a biologist isn't my passion in life. I've shadowed briefly,volunteered with the American Cancer Society, donated numerous times to Locks of Love, but I don't have very much time to volunteer due to being a stay at home mom/student. My husband is in the airforce so its like I'm a single mom most of the time. I plan on taking the MCAt in Jan and again in April if needed. Oh yeah,I forgot to mention that I'm no spring chick..I'm 29 so I would like to get my career started ASAP. Would I be wasting my money to even apply with my stats? I thought of the caribbean but, If I'm admitted to medical school in the carribean I plan on leaving my family behind..kids to stay with my parents. It's a hard decision but I've stayed home with them for 4 years and now its time for me again. I'm very passionate about becoming a doctor. I would love others advice on what I should do? Wait for DO applications (stay with family) or skip that and apply carribean(without family)? I have to be honest, I might sound like an aweful mother but the little ones are 4 and 2 and very much a distraction 24/7. I'm taking 17 hours this term and I'm pulling my hair out trying to take care of them, the house, and grad school too.Thanks for your time!!!

-Goldie-

 

[Depakote]

Hello everyone, I'm really uncertain as to what my options might be. I have a very low GPA (almost all science classes) of 2.56 with 175 credit hours. It would take a very long time to bring it up. My local gpa at the school I graduated from was 3.93 for 46 local credits. This would show my upward trend in grades..All As and one B. They were in my retaken pre-reqs. Physics II- A, Organic I-A, organic II-A with labs, General Chem.II-B, and A's and Bs in the rest from years ago. I started in 1995 from a different school and ended up with some Ws for a semester and then I went a couple more semesters without Withdrawing so I just received Ds and Fs for all those classes. I know it was stupid not to just withdraw from the university but I was young and dumb (Stalker Issues). I'm now married with two beautiful daughters and I'm attending my first semester of graduate school for a MS in Biology. It is really not the path I want to take since being a biologist isn't my passion in life. I've shadowed briefly,volunteered with the American Cancer Society, donated numerous times to Locks of Love, but I don't have very much time to volunteer due to being a stay at home mom/student. My husband is in the airforce so its like I'm a single mom most of the time. I plan on taking the MCAt in Jan and again in April if needed. Oh yeah,I forgot to mention that I'm no spring chick..I'm 29 so I would like to get my career started ASAP. Would I be wasting my money to even apply with my stats? I thought of the caribbean but, If I'm admitted to medical school in the carribean I plan on leaving my family behind..kids to stay with my parents. It's a hard decision but I've stayed home with them for 4 years and now its time for me again. I'm very passionate about becoming a doctor. I would love others advice on what I should do? Wait for DO applications (stay with family) or skip that and apply carribean(without family)? I have to be honest, I might sound like an aweful mother but the little ones are 4 and 2 and very much a distraction 24/7. I'm taking 17 hours this term and I'm pulling my hair out trying to take care of them, the house, and grad school too.Thanks for your time!!!

-Goldie-

I think your stats will be better than you think if you aply DO.

The AACOMAS GPA calculation system is particularly forgiving of past mistakes. If you have retaken a class, the initial grade for the class is not taken into account when calculating your AACOMAS GPA, this sounds like it will make a dramatic difference in your GPA since you've retaken a number of classes you got poor grades in.

Now as long as you do well on the MCAT, you should be a very competitive DO applicant.

Between now and next year, i would make sure you're ready for the MCAT and make sure you have a letter from a DO (not having one will restrict you from applying to a lot of schools).

Good luck.

 

[MikeyLu2010]

spend 1 year..retake all classes in the past where u got F's, D's...that should boost it up to above a 3.0...do good on mcats...u'll be ready to apply for class of 2012 if everything goes right as in u actually get A's in those retakes..instead of other F's and D's..and u get in everything early

 

[DoctorMom78]

I think that most schools have an absolute minimum GPA requirement of at least 2.7 and state that you need at least a 3.0 to be competetve. Also, I know some schools may have an issue with you not completing your graduate program before applying. I am in a similar situation because I am 28 (turning 29 in January), married, and have four children. I know how difficult it is to go to school and take care of children. However, if you are pulling your hair out now in a graduate program I don't know how you would handle medical school. My advice to you would be to complete your MS in Biology and then apply. I know that you want to get started as soon as possible because of your age, but I think that without some better preparation you will be disappointed. My children are 10, almost 5, 21 months, and 8 months and I have found that the older they get, the easier it is to take care of them. I think that completing your MS first would not only drastically improve your chances of getting into medical school, but it would also allow your children to get a little bit older and become more self-sufficient so it might be easier for you to attend medical school. I know that you said you don't want to be biologist, but just think of it as preparation for medical school. I think the schools will want to see that you finish what you started anyway and it should definitely help your GPA. When you do apply, I would definitely apply DO. Hope this helps. Never doubt yourself and you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. Good luck with everything!

 

[Depakote]

Just a followup:

on GPA calculation:

I repeated a course. Are the classes averaged, do they just take the highest grade, or do they just take the last grade?

Youl will put all courses in the AACOMAS application even repeats and multiple repeats. Applicants should list the original class(es) as a repeat i.e. "Repeat" and then list the final time it is taken as "Last Repeat". You will only enter a grade for the last time you took the course and this will be used to calculate you grade. 0 credits are given to all repeated courses except for the final one. This allows your class to be calculated in the GPA once.

Some classes are "repeated" for additional course work and is not considered a repeat. Grades should be entered for all of these courses.

So retake anything you got a D or F in. (esp the core sciences), do this and you'll have an outstanding GPA. Supplement this with a high MCAT and some good life experience and you'll be one of the most desirable DO applicants out there.

As I said before, I think you have a serious chance at becoming a DO.

 

[LuckBALady]

When do they calculate the gpa. I have entered all the courses and sent transcripts. I assume I need to pay the money before they will caluculate the gpa for me. Unfortunaly this application will be wiped out before I apply but I'd like to know my gpa after I retook all those classes.

Also thank you everyone for your suggestions. I feel better knowing all is not lost! Thanks for the link to the mom page too. Goldie

 

[DoctorMom78]

If you Google GPA calculator, you should be able to find some sites where you input your information and they calculate your GPA. I am sure that you need to pay first before AACOMAS will calculate it.

 

[supersash]

When do they calculate the gpa. I have entered all the courses and sent transcripts. I assume I need to pay the money before they will caluculate the gpa for me. Unfortunaly this application will be wiped out before I apply but I'd like to know my gpa after I retook all those classes.

Also thank you everyone for your suggestions. I feel better knowing all is not lost! Thanks for the link to the mom page too. Goldie

you do need to pay to see your GPA, but i calculated mine from this website: http://www.iastate.edu/~registrar/gpa-calc/gpaCalculator.html

its easy to keep track of all the classes you are entering, and you can print it out for later reference.

good luck!!

 

[LuckBALady]

Thank so much for that website. It was a life saver. It looks like so far I have an undergrad gpa of 3.04.. not sure of sciences yet b/c with the exception of math,eng, and spanish..most are science. I started grad school for 10 hours and have a 3.4 gpa but when I talked to a faculty member at DCOM her told me that I was wasting my time basically when I took graduate classes not directly pertaining to Medicine. That is why I decided to stop my formal MS in Biology..They offered a few medical classes but most were Ecology or Evolution based. Thanks again for all your help. I can't wait to apply for 2008. I'm registered to take the MCAT on April 16th so.. just a few steps left.....and then the dreadful wait for an interview 🙂