Another Reinvent this Nontrad

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

wontonamobae

Full Member
2+ Year Member
Joined
May 15, 2020
Messages
13
Reaction score
9
Hey ya'll been lurking around without an account for a while and decided to finally sign up for pre-med advice. Some background: I'm 25 and 3 years out of undergrad at a 4 year university. My whole undergrad career was pre-health not pre-med/dental/pharm/PA/NP or whatever other health field. Didn't really know what I wanted to do in health, but it was under that umbrella no doubt. Joined a number of clubs, did volunteering, and worked a few jobs to pay for rent (~25 hours a week). All of these EC's were accumulated over the years in college, never really backed off. Received a very mediocre GPA and overall downward trend. Here are the stats:

cGPA: 3.195
sGPA AMCAS: 3.114
sGPA AACOMAS: 2.992 (Math woulda brought me over the 3.0)

Trend details: cGPA: 3.609/3.326/3.276/3.195; the sGPA lower by about 0.1 every year except freshman.
Science Grades:
Chem 1: A-
Chem 2: B+
Calc 1: A
Calc 2: A-
Orgo 1: C+
Orgo 2: B
Phys 1: B
Phys 2: A-
Biochem: B
Metabolism: C+
PChem: C+
Genetics: B
Anatomy: A-
Genetics: B
Cell Bio: B+
Microbio: B
Physio: B+

The biggest drop began at sophomore year. This is when I moved into a house and began searching for jobs. From then on the GPA kinda plateaued, but never brought it back up. This was mainly due to me adding on more work for myself outside of class like clubs, more jobs, volunteering, etc.

What am I doing now? Moved to another city in the same state to do a "gap" year(s). Been working as a medical assistant since, still volunteering at the camp organization I was with in undergrad, but as an Ad board member at this other college. Also volunteering in the same building I work. The doc I work with now gave me the push to finally pursue medicine through not just medical assisting, but he's had me on independent research and as a clinical research coordinator. Have a few posters presented at conferences and I'm an author on an IIS in progress. Also been studying for the MCAT and I've been scoring 510s on NS and AAMC. Because of corona, I'm taking the shortened test now. I'm deadset on applying this cycle to DO and MD.

You're probably wondering well what the hell does he need advice about if he's gonna apply already? I'm applying because my doc told me I needed to even with the GPA info. The dude knows all about me and seems confident about my app. But I'm trying to be realistic because things don't always work out. In this case, if things don't work out then, all things considered on the app, I want to believe the transcript is what I need to fix because I haven't shown the ability to overcome that adversity.

So finally to the question: post bacc, diy post bacc, smp? I've read goro's advice on this and I feel like my best option is a diy upper division science because a lot of my science grades are, to me, at the level where I have the aptitude for science, but they suffered because I spread myself too thin juggling everything else. Trying to not make an excuse because tons of other people can do just the same and maintain a stellar gpa. Problem is for the colleges I'm looking at, I'm limited at the number of credits i can take per semester (6-9 credits). So the next choice would be a post bacc. Both of these I can afford with the money I've saved up and from what I've read about SMP's it's a last resort. I'd do the SMP, but its not the most economical option right now, but I will if I have to. I get that this will be a few year endeavor.

TLDR: Need advise on returning to school to repair downward GPA trend in undergrad if this cycle doesn't work out for me.

Thanks in advance to all of you and if there is a thread out there that addresses this, link it and I'll tear this guy down. I'm sure there are gaps in info that I haven't addressed yet, but just let me know what and I'll be transparent. Apologies for the rant.

Members don't see this ad.
 
You're probably wondering well what the hell does he need advice about if he's gonna apply already? I'm applying because my doc told me I needed to even with the GPA info. The dude knows all about me and seems confident about my app.

I don't know enough about this process to give you any concrete advice. But in general, I'd check the "authority" of this doctor. It doesn't matter how much he knows about you if he's too far removed from the application process. Is he an adcom? Is he a family friend?

Physician friends have the best of intentions and will always advocate for you. But they also might be decades away from when they applied and back then it was a lot less demanding. Keep that in mind.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I don't know enough about this process to give you any concrete advice. But in general, I'd check the "authority" of this doctor. It doesn't matter how much he knows about you if he's too far removed from the application process. Is he an adcom? Is he a family friend?

Physician friends have the best of intentions and will always advocate for you. But they also might be decades away from when they applied and back then it was a lot less demanding. Keep that in mind.

He used to be adcom a few years back.

@Goro I'm assuming diy, but will med schools look down on taking just 9 credits per semester? Appreciate it
 
He used to be adcom a few years back.

@Goro I'm assuming diy, but will med schools look down on taking just 9 credits per semester? Appreciate it
Yeah...you shouldn't be applying (waste of money and you're going to be a re-applicant). Look at your trend...

Adcoms aren't going to scrutinize you on how many credits you take. All they care about is that you get good grades and maintain an upward trend.
 
9/semester should work if finances are an issue

Not a matter of finances, but rather schools limiting non-degree seeking students to that amount. But if 9 is enough then I'll take it. Thanks everyone for the advice.
 
Top