I'm 23 year old Psychology major, starting my med school pre reqs this semester. Well I met with my advisor and he basically told me I need to take four more years worth of classes to boost my GPA. Mind you, I'm starting my sixth year, including a one year break and multiple half-time enrollments. I'm apprehensive any medical would even look at someone who took 8 years to finish one degree. Yes now I have my life together and have deticated myself to my course load, but I am able to graduate in 1 year and then go back for a post-bac! What do you think?
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Am I considered nontraditional?
Started by PreMedJunkie
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A non-trad in the strictest sense is anyone who didn't apply to med school straight out of UG. The term really has no significance..
A non-trad in the strictest sense is anyone who didn't apply to med school straight out of UG. The term really has no significance..
As gman33 said, post your stats. Very generally, you will need a 3.5+ GPA and a 30+ MCAT to get into U.S. allopathic schools. If you have 120 credits with a GPA of less than 3 or so, yes, you will have to take a ton of undergraduate courses to raise your GPA. Look at D.O. schools, or take a ton of undergraduate courses to boost your GPA.
I agree with all of this, but I also think of "non trads" as those applicants who did not take the traditional pre reqs during college and have to go back and get them in some sort of post bacc...I am just such a non trad myself...but none of the med schools seem to use this terminology, or make such distinctions, so I think the way that gman33 does: the term really has no significance.
nontrad is a state of mind
This is perfect.
I think you should call your local state medical school and ask to see an advissor. They will tell you exactly what they are looking for and what YOU need to do to get there. But I wouldn't take 4 more yrs! I'm sure you;ll need to take all your science requirement, and universities usually have programs just for that, with pre-med advisement. Aced those, plus a great MCAT, plus abunch of other much needed stuff (LOL, volunteer, shadowin, lab, research...) and you'll be fine.
A 42 MCAT would be nice...
