Another sob story

[whattnow]

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Any and all advice is appreciated. I attended UC San Diego for 3 and a half years pursuing a BS in Biology. For the first two years I didn't really apply myself and earned a ~3.0 sGPA/cGPA. At the start of my junior year my mother had a disabling stroke and other family problems arose requiring me to seek a full time job. I started work as an EMT (tried to keep it relevant to the ultimate goal) and maintained a 42 hour week on top of my classes and extra curricular activities (student government). With this workload my schoolwork began to deteriorate over the next year and a half, ultimately ending up with me getting academically dismissed from my school.

When I left the school I was told that if I attended a city college for a semester and received good grades I could petition to return (and I was told the chances were very likely). But I decided that it would be better to take a sometime to fix my family life before I jumped straight into the mess I created.

I have since taken 8 months off from school and feel that I have sufficiently stabilized my life to start classes again, but I'm at sort of a crossroads regarding how to pick up the pieces. On one hand I could take the semester of classes and return to my original school, but even if I retake all classes available to me and finish strong my GPA will still be ~2.5.

I've decided that perhaps it would be better for me to start fresh. If I retake GE's at a CC I can transfer to a different school (SDSU or SFSU) and pursue my original degree over again (while adding a second major/minor I never had the chance to pursue).

But is this realistic? Even If I was able to get a 3.8-4.0 at my CC and state school, will I ever be able to escape the damage done at my first school, especially since it is ranked much higher than the second school I would attend?

 

[DrMidlife]

I've decided that perhaps it would be better for me to start fresh. If I retake GE's at a CC I can transfer to a different school (SDSU or SFSU) and pursue my original degree over again (while adding a second major/minor I never had the chance to pursue).

But is this realistic? Even If I was able to get a 3.8-4.0 at my CC and state school, will I ever be able to escape the damage done at my first school, especially since it is ranked much higher than the second school I would attend?

There's no do-over except in Texas, and you have to be 10 years out from your previous college career there.

You can't escape your previous GPA: all college transcripts have to be submitted and they get averaged together. You wouldn't be the first to comeback from a 2.5, but it's a huge undertaking. DO schools may give you a better shot than MD. There are one-year bioscience masters programs (SMPs) at med schools that you can think about later on, after your cumulative GPA is over 3.0.

It's my experience that when you do a multi-school GPA comeback, they're not too hung up on school prestige. They're looking first at cumulative GPAs and MCAT. Then they're thinking "ok where's the part where this person got a really high GPA taking piles of really hard science courses for more than a year...ok there it is."

That said, I suggest doing only one year at a CC, and/or just enough to get you admitted back into a university. Usually I say "avoid or minimize CC coursework" to offer conservative advice, but assuming you're still in California, now I say it because I'm very concerned about budget cuts there.

So I'd say try to negotiate on taking "all" GEs again. Focus on what you know you have to retake, get A's, and stay focused. Consider going to a private school, if you'll thrive there.

Best of luck to you.

 

[TriagePreMed]

Cross posting will hurt you around here.

 

[Mr Karatepants]

What's done is done. Now, take this with a grain of salt, but if I were on an adcom and I saw that you had a 2.5 GPA at UCSD, then you went on to do a 3.8 or 4.0 at SD State or similar institution, the thought might cross my mind that you can't handle more rigorous coursework and that your grade improvement is due to a lower level of difficulty.

The most ideal thing for you to do, I think, would be to go back to UCSD and put in two-three years (delay that degree!) where you take upper division science classes and ace them. That way, you can point at your poor performance before and show that it is behind you by performing at a high level on more advanced and equally rigorous material.

Of course, this is going to depend on your being honest with yourself. Are you capable of taking upper div science at UCSD and getting a 3.7+? If not, you might want to go the more humble route and transfer somewhere easier. It will leave a question mark, but better than getting a 3.0 and removing all doubt of your ability (not to) hang.