Am I Wasting My Time?

[brettevan]

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I went to the University of Miami 8 years ago and was not close to mature enough to be in college at that time. Due to this I never attended classes and ended up failing out. I took a number of years working different jobs until I finally decided to go back to school. Recently I have realized my dream to become a doctor. Unfortunately after 2 years of screwing around in Miami I failed out with a GPA of 1.6. Since going back to a community college I have gotten a 4.0 two semesters in a row and will be transferring to a four year university to get my bachelors degree. I was curious to see if I maintained this 4.0 throughout the next 2 years or so until I graduate and get above a 30 on my MCATS is it even remotely possible to get accepted into a US med school or am I just wasting my time. Also are there any steps I can take to make my resume more attractive to an admissions team. I was hoping that someone on this forum has had similar circumstances to mine and was able to overcome and get into medical school.

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

I see this is your #1 post

Medical school is still an option for you.

You're still a way off from applying. My advice:

• Get an "Idiot's Guide" type book to medical schools and read every page.
• Do really well in your classes
• Kick butt on the MCAT
• Consider osteopathic medical schools
• Follow the non-traditional threads here. Read them fairly regularly and soak in the wisdom.

Good luck!

 

[MrLinderman]

I just played around with the UMiami GPA calculator for you. I made a couple of assumptions

1. That your GPA of 1.6 is based on 15 credits a semester.
2. That all grades will be based on the Miami scale (if it gets calculated by another scale, it may be slightly different)

Assuming these are true, and you get your degree at 120 credits, getting a 4.0 every semester will give you about a 3.4. Uphill climb for sure, but stranger things have happened.

Good Luck.

 

[0919mmk]

Qualitatively speaking, yeah you can definitely do it, but its a long road from here. But with a 3.4, an earnest story of redemption, and a 32+, you should be good for an MD school and great for a DO school.

 

[Dharma]

Work your @$$ off. Volunteer at hospitals and in your community, get in on research, shadow doctors. Don't take "YOU CAN'T DO IT" as truth but as fuel to stoke the fire. Attack this. When you take your classes, don't just try to attain high grades... shoot for mastery of the subject (especially your pre-reqs) AND get 4 o's! This will make the MCAT so much easier to prepare for. Exercise, eat right, and smile and enjoy the journey.

I am on a bit of a comeback attack myself and I am beginning to realize that this is not just about the destination. To succeed I feel that we need to be immersed in the process. While our eyes need to be set on the prize, we have to be most concerned with the now. You ARE on the road to becoming a doctor. Travel the road with that in mind. Work hard. Be patient. And stay aware, self-aware and otherwise.

Good luck. To quote a mullet-haired band of the 80s "Don't stop believing."

Own it... YOUR journey that is. It is yours to create.

 

[EdLongshanks]

I went to the University of Miami 8 years ago and was not close to mature enough to be in college at that time. Due to this I never attended classes and ended up failing out. I took a number of years working different jobs until I finally decided to go back to school. Recently I have realized my dream to become a doctor. Unfortunately after 2 years of screwing around in Miami I failed out with a GPA of 1.6. Since going back to a community college I have gotten a 4.0 two semesters in a row and will be transferring to a four year university to get my bachelors degree. I was curious to see if I maintained this 4.0 throughout the next 2 years or so until I graduate and get above a 30 on my MCATS is it even remotely possible to get accepted into a US med school or am I just wasting my time. Also are there any steps I can take to make my resume more attractive to an admissions team. I was hoping that someone on this forum has had similar circumstances to mine and was able to overcome and get into medical school.

Do you know about grade replacement to the DO schools. If you retake all of the classes that you failed (it sounds like a small number) then your old grades are not calculated into your GPA. That puts you in the front of the line. Since your bad grades are all from a single period of time, then they are easier to dismiss in the interview as youthful foolishness. If you then have all of your clinical and volunteer experiences, then you have a good path ahead. You clearly are not incapable of good scholastics, so you still have a not impossible path to a DO degree.

 

[brettevan]

Thank you for the quick responses and wonderful words, they mean a lot. I was curious to see your feeling on whether I should take my pre-reqs before graduating undergrad or instead apply to a post bacc after undergrad, specifically one with linkage. Thoughts?

 

[brettevan]

bump

 

[NuttyEngDude]

with 2 years to go before you get your undergrad degree, i'd take the pre-reqs as part of it, ace it all and do as others have said.

 

[brettevan]

Unfortunately for me since I had to take all of my electives at the CC level I wont be able to take my med school pre-reqs during the next two years. I'm on track for a degree in humanities, hoping that med schools will see me as a more well rounded candidate as opposed to the typical science major. Could anyone give me any advice on post bacc programs. If I do a post bacc at a certain school will I have a better chance of getting into said schools med school program? Are there certain programs I should be aiming for? I like the idea of staying in Florida, and a huge reach for me would be to get into UM Miller, I love the idea that they are integrated with Jackson Memorial and from friends at the med school I hear the cases you see their are some of the most interesting. Any advice I could get from multiple users on this blog would be great. Thank You!

 

[NuttyEngDude]

Unfortunately for me since I had to take all of my electives at the CC level I wont be able to take my med school pre-reqs during the next two years.

Sorry I'm not following, why can't you take the pre-reqs as additional electives?

If I do a post bacc at a certain school will I have a better chance of getting into said schools med school program?

if you are talking about UM's postbacc, I think there is no linkage. would it give you a better chance than a postbacc elsewhere? I dont know, but I still dont see the advantage of planning to go postbacc when you have most of your schooling remaining.

if you get good grades here on out, the early poor start can easily be explained away.

 

[arclight610]

All the previous posters have hit the nail on the head. Just be honest about your past, that you were young and did not have direction in life. However after seeing your many A's afterwards, they will see that you are not the same person you were 8 years ago. Good luck, Godspeed.

 

[DrMidlife]

Take a look at Miami's admissions FAQ. They weigh postbac GPA separately for instaters, which is a good thing if you get great grades in a postbac.

 

[NuttyEngDude]

two things to consider (from the faq that DrMidLife is referring: )
http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/0,1770,66825-1;66827-2;47735-3,00.html

• do all applicants get to complete a secondary application? no. If you are a florida resident you must have at least a 3.2 undergraduate gpa. If you are a resident of another state you will need to have a cumulative undergraduate gpa of at least 3.6. All applicants must have a minimum composite mcat score of at least 24.
• my cumulative gpa is only 2.9. Is there still a chance i can get a secondary application from the miller school of medicine? there is if you are a florida resident and have subsequently done post-bac or graduate work (at least 15 credits of either must appear on your amcas application) and have a gpa of at least 3.5. Post-bac and graduate work is not considered when sending secondary applications to non-floridians.

also:

• My freshman GPA was low because I had a sub-human roommate. After that, my GPA steadily improved. Does the Committee look at trends in GPAs? Of course they do. Everybody understands that unpleasant roommates, adjustment to college, girl-friend/boy-friend problems, problems at home and a myriad of other things can lead to a disastrous academic performance. Hopefully, it is a temporary problem. Be prepared to discuss any poor academic performance in your personal statement or in an interview.

i still think you should go the traditional route, take the pre-req's as part of your undergrad, apply as normal. if you are worried about the gpa, then up the gpa as part of your undergrad before applying for your degree. good luck, back to memorizing the periodic table for me 😛

 

[brettevan]

To graduate from my major I need to take certain classes, unfortunately because I have to take those classes I dont have enough elective space to take two semesters of chem, orgo, bio and physics plus labs. I will be able to take a couple of these classes but if I do take a couple I wont be able to get into a post bacc which in turn will screw me out of getting into med school wont it?

 

[NuttyEngDude]

ok, a couple of things:

• taking a pre-req and acing it will never screw you out of med school.
• there is no requirement that a person who did not go "pre-med" as an undergraduate must take a post-bacc. what a lot of people these days do is take whatever undergraduate they want and add the pre-req classes in with the classes on their prescribed curriculum.

there is more than one kind of a postbacc, check this thread out:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=114425

now from a time point of view, and I'm making some assumptions here, you can do either:

1. take no pre-req's graduate with no additional electives taken in 2 years in a degree that you do not intend to get a job in. enroll in a type of post-bacc for 1-2 years, take MCAT's, apply for medical school.
2. take pre-req's with the additional classes for your major, 2 years + (1 to 2 years for pre-req's), take MCAT's, graduate with a degree, apply for medical school.

In both cases above, you show an upward trend in grades and take roughly the same amount of time. it is just that in case 1, some of your grades will appear in a different field called "postbac" when you apply to med school.

In both cases, your cumulative and science gpa's will be the same (assuming you perform the same in both cases).

Now two things can happen from here:

• 1 - You get accepted to medical school. Yaay!
• 2 - You dont get accepted to medical school, you figure out why not.

if because of a bad GPA:

• 2a - enroll in a GPA enhancement post-bacc or SMP (SMP's some consider risky), then repeat the applying

if because of a bad MCAT:

• 2b - you take a different prep course, repeat the applying.

if because of bad EC's:

• 2c - volunteer more, elsewhere, etc, repeat the applying.

if because of bad LOR's:

• 2d - do 2c with the intent of finding a different person to write the LOR, repeat the applying.

​

make sense?

 

[wholeheartedly]

To graduate from my major I need to take certain classes, unfortunately because I have to take those classes I dont have enough elective space to take two semesters of chem, orgo, bio and physics plus labs. I will be able to take a couple of these classes but if I do take a couple I wont be able to get into a post bacc which in turn will screw me out of getting into med school wont it?

Usually schools will let you take more classes than what is required for your degree. So even if you only have elective space within your degree for one or two pre-reqs you can take more than that provided you meet the requirements for your degree. The only problem you might run into is financial aid wise and then you can usually just file some papers saying, yeah I know this is beyond the credits required for my degree but I'm planning on applying to medical school and these classes are pre-reqs. I did something similar when I did a second bachelors. It wasn't a big deal. Someone in the registration office or whatever should be able to advise you on what would work at your school.

With respect to the postbac I can't really comment, just wanted to mention that it should be possible to do the above.