Another question concerning post-bac and low gpa

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cole10101

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Hi everyone! I have been looking around this forum for the past year or two and decided to finally post my own question, since I have some specific questions pertaining to my situation.

So basically, I am very interested in medical school, and after this semester I will have a 3.0. I already have a degree in Psychology, and will have a degree in Criminology in May. If all goes well, my GPA will be a 3.1 at time of graduation. I have almost no science courses and I have not taken the MCAT. I have some experience working in a lab and am currently a medical scribe. I have tried for the past few years to volunteer for other labs and other volunteering experience, but my college (West Virginia University) gives extreme favoritism for medically-related experience to typically pre-med students. However, I have worked all throughout my college career. I also was a high ranking member of my sorority, on the equestrian team, and in the Psychology club. So basically, I have a low GPA and very few science credits (just geology and geography, B and C, respectively), and I know I would be looking at a career changing program. However, I am from the DC area and after spending the last 5 years away from there, I know I want to return. I am applying to Johns Hopkins, Goucher, and GW's programs, but I know my chances are pretty slim.

What I think (possibly?) may help me is I started out college really strong, and at the end of the first half of my sophomore year I had a 3.6 cumulative GPA. However, I got REALLY really sick the second half of my sophomore year and had to take a medical withdrawal. This was the semester I was supposed to take my science courses, but after my withdraw, my advisor told me I should just do a B.A. in Psych opposed to my original plan of a B.S. and then do a post bac program. Well, when I finally got back in school again, my grades sucked. The doctors never really found out what was wrong with me and I was really disheartened by everything going on. When I finished my Psych degree, my GPA was a 2.8, so I decided to get another degree. I made the terrible mistake of registering for courses without an advisor and tried to register for the same science and math classes I had been in when I took my medical withdrawal. I did not take into account that I had tested into these classes, and I realized that not taking chem or calc since my junior year of high school and going right into mid-level classes was not a good idea, so I withdrew from the semester because I was afraid of hurting my GPA anymore. I decided to start again with Criminology and got a 3.3 last semester and will end up with either a 3.8 or 4.0 this semester. I have a meeting planned with an advisor at my school to help me with my application essays, but I was wondering if anyone else has any suggestions. If worse comes to worse I will take science courses at my local CC, but I would prefer not to continue to drag the pre-pre-medical school process on anymore if I can avoid it.

As another side note, I am absolutely positive I want to continue on in the medical field. My mother and grandfather are optometrists, my father was an EMS, my godmother is a PA, my godfather works for the NIH, and my godsister just graduated medical school (I am closer to my 'godfamily' than any of my other immediate family and they are like second parents to me) I have shadowed a few doctors and spoken to many physicians over the years about my interest in the medical field.

tl;dr
I have a 3.0 GPA, almost no science GPA, and already took another undergraduate degree. I want to stay in the DC/Maryland/Northern VA area so that I could live at home and save money on housing. I do not have the qualifications for a SMP. I already have plans to apply to certain programs, so I am not trying to ask what my odds are (though if I could get more info about GW's program since its new and I can't find much on it, that would be helpful!). I am just looking for any/all suggestions, and anyway anyone can think of that might help me!

So sorry this was so long and convoluted, and I know everyone has a million excuses for their poor GPA. I'm trying to get past that and work on improving it and my application for medical school :)

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I would recommend taking your MCAT and getting a good score. Using that as leverage for your cGPA being where it is at. Obviously you went through a situation, med schools/SMP/etc just want to see that you're committed to making a change and fixing your mistakes. MCAT success is a great way to do it. Really try to get that 90 percentile and above if possible and show them that you are capable of studying and performing well.
 
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I would recommend taking your MCAT and getting a good score. Using that as leverage for your cGPA being where it is at. Obviously you went through a situation, med schools/SMP/etc just want to see that you're committed to making a change and fixing your mistakes. MCAT success is a great way to do it. Really try to get that 90 percentile and above if possible and show them that you are capable of studying and performing well.

Hello, thank you for your response! I was wondering since I have not taken any science courses in awhile if I would do well on my MCAT, or do you think taking my GRE could potentially be a better course of action? I also know for some of the career changer post-bacs I have looked at that taking the MCAT disqualifies me from admission. All of the Post-Bacs I have looked at require SAT scores as well and in high school I did not care at all about what I got (I didn't take it until December of my senior year, no prep, and no interest in college at time because of personal issues), rushed through every section in about 10-20 minutes, and so I have a 1770, unfortunately. Im afraid that will hurt my chances as well.
 
Hey guys! Sorry to be annoying and bump again, but was wondering if anyone had anymore advice/was familiar with the post bac programs in the DC/MD area.
 
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