Advice please - 2 year post bac or MA then 1 year postbac?

[cordata]

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Hi,

I'm confused about how to proceed with my goal of becoming an MD. This is post is somewhat lengthy but please bear with me. Any advice would be MUCH appreciated!

I have applied for the 2 year formal postbac program at SFSU. From what I've heard in the forum, their informal program classes are great and there seems to be a lot of postbac support. However, this is a 2 year program with no linkage agreements. I am also looking at an MA program in International Relations in Paris at a grad school affiliated with Acardia Unviersity. Why? Part of what I consider being a good doctor is having a breadth of experience and an international perspective. I want to be a doctor but I also want to experience the world and never say that studying medicine kept me from developing myself in other areas of my life. If I did the program, it would be from Feb 2007-June 2008. I'd write my thesis on a topic in international health and I'd intern at an international health organization. I'd also be proficient at an intermediate or advanced level of french. I'm very interested in the Goucher postbac program so my goal during grad school would be to apply for the program starting summer 2008.

My main problem is my low undergrad GPA (graduated this year with a 2.76 - I have no science prereqs). Quite frankly, it's completely uncompetitive. If I did a 2 year postbac program I would be able to raise my undergrad GPA to about a 3.1 - 3.2. If I did a yearlong postbac at my best it would probably still be just under a 3.0. What I'm pinning my hopes on is that I do very well in my masters program so that I can prove to postbacs with linkage programs that I am capable of acing my classes. The problem is, that's putting all my hope on the year-long post bac admission committees AND on a med school agreeing to take me in a linkage program. With my GPA, they probably won't.

What do you think I should do? Who would be knowledgable in this situation? At the moment I'm confused and just trying to plan out the next few years of my life.

Thank you.

 

[relentless11]

I am also looking at an MA program in International Relations in Paris at a grad school affiliated with Acardia Unviersity. Why? Part of what I consider being a good doctor is having a breadth of experience and an international perspective. I want to be a doctor but I also want to experience the world and never say that studying medicine kept me from developing myself in other areas of my life.

True physicians need to have breadth of experience, and an international perspective, but to be a physician you need to get into med school first. Given your GPA, your priority now is to focus on boosting your GPA. It must be pointed out that graduate school, more specifically graduate courses do not boost undergrad GPA, and med schools place more weight on undergrad GPA. Therefore, your work in international relations will not boost your undergrad GPA.

My main problem is my low undergrad GPA (graduated this year with a 2.76 - I have no science prereqs). Quite frankly, it's completely uncompetitive. If I did a 2 year postbac program I would be able to raise my undergrad GPA to about a 3.1 - 3.2. If I did a yearlong postbac at my best it would probably still be just under a 3.0. What I'm pinning my hopes on is that I do very well in my masters program so that I can prove to postbacs with linkage programs that I am capable of acing my classes. The problem is, that's putting all my hope on the year-long post bac admission committees AND on a med school agreeing to take me in a linkage program. With my GPA, they probably won't.

Students who successfully apply to med school on average have an undergrad GPA of 3.4-3.6 (nationally). Some med schools also screen GPA, and they tend to have cut-offs around 3.0-3.2. Therefore even with post-bacc, some schools could screen you out. This applies to you even more since I guess you're from California. UC med schools hands down screen GPA. As you already know, UC schools are quite competative, and the average GPA in CA is essentially a 3.5-3.6 undergrad GPA, and a 33 on the MCAT.

Post-bacc programs WITH a linkage tend to have high undergrad GPA requirements. For example Scripps in So Cal requires a 3.3 GPA. Other post-bacc programs may have lower requirements, but they have every right to pick someone who has a high undergrad GPA. Here at UCD, our post-bacc program allows people with 2.7 GPA's to get in, but for the most part, they accept people with 3.0's and above. The reason is, a person who starts out with a high undergrad GPA, has less to do in order to boost their undergrad GPA, not to mention are more likely to boost their GPA. Hence, this would increase the number of "successful applicants" from their program, and thus increase their prestige. True, doing well in an MA program is commendable, however courses in International Relations does not translate into doing well in upper division science courses. These assumptions are of course just based on GPA, and you should also consider the MCAT as well. There are many other ways to travel, and broaden your horizons, but its time to prioritize. But you have to realize, med schools also want to see that you can pass their classes, and thus pass the board exams. They feel better when a student consistently gets above average grades in relavent science courses. This is why our post-bacc program requires their student's to maintain at least a 3.5 GPA, or they get kicked out!

The last thing that is of concern is your GPA. As I've stated in other similar threads, a <3.0 GPA after 3-5 years of undergrad work is the result of some kind of habitual handicap due to outside reasons, or personal reasons. Whatever it is, you should resolve it before venturing into post-bacc or graduate school, otherwise you will repeat your mistakes. You are at the point of diminishing returns, and the margin of error is slim. Many of us who came from this scenario sometimes started out by assuming they will do well, but never considered HOW to do well. Med schools want results, rather than assumptions, or promises. The same applies to post-bacc and grad school. Ultimately the choice is yours, so good luck! I really encourage you to do post-bacc, in some form or another to boost your GPA. I don't think there's any other way around given your sub-3.0 GPA.

 

[cordata]

Thank you for your response relentless11.

I was looking at other threads and I think you might have been the one who said that it actually requires effort to get Ds and Fs in classes . I totally agree. As someone who had relatively painless semesters achieving a 3.5 culmulative GPA in uper division courses, it took a lot more out of me when I was completely failing. I didn't want anyone to know about my situation so the only person I tried to talk to was a school counselor who listened to me for 15 minutes, clucked at me and told me that I was completely normal and had no problems whatsoever. I sincerely hope abject misery is not a normal state of being. What I should have done was get a leave of absence for a semester but instead I kept going to classes and thinking I'd completely failed at life assumed that I would never get into a grad school of any kind anywhere and continued on with a pattern of running away when anything was remotely challenging. I had prestigious ECs and got accepted to programs although my GPA did not meet the cut off, so everyone assumed that I was handling my classes a lot better than I actually was.

Of course, now that I've graduated I have lots of clarity, a ****ty GPA and only myself to blame. I really hate that I have the stupid, "I was sad," sob story but that's what happened. How do I know that it won't happen again? I don't know, aside from the fact that I excised a large portion of my life and that is only for the better. I completely understand that there is no way in hell I could be a doctor if someone's life depended on me and I started freaking out because it was "too hard." I take full responsibility for being an dingus in the past and am acutely aware that it's going to be hard, backbreaking work on the road ahead and I could very well not measure up.