Anyone here ever do a postbaccalaureate AND an SMP?

[LandSpeed]

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So I'm wondering if it's smart for me to do a postbac and an SMP, since I don't want to go DO (don't believe in OMM). My background is: first 3 years of community college lots of C's, D's, F's due to extenuating circumstances. Next 4 years in comm. college and university 4.0. Cumulative GPA currently 3.0, should be around 3.1 when I graduate next year with my bachelor's in a non-science. 1280 SAT. I'm wondering how competitive I'll be when I apply to med schools at the end of my postbac... and if it's smart to do an SMP after the postbac, if I want to go to a "good" med school, like UC Irvine or USC or something (yes, I'm a california resident... it sucks, yes.) Anyone have any advice, or know someone -- or even yourself -- who's done a postbac and an SMP? Thanks so much!
Signed,
the guy with the upward gpa trend to beat all other upward gpa trends

 

[drizzt3117]

So I'm wondering if it's smart for me to do a postbac and an SMP, since I don't want to go DO (don't believe in OMM). My background is: first 3 years of community college lots of C's, D's, F's due to extenuating circumstances. Next 4 years in comm. college and university 4.0. Cumulative GPA currently 3.0, should be around 3.1 when I graduate next year with my bachelor's in a non-science. 1280 SAT. I'm wondering how competitive I'll be when I apply to med schools at the end of my postbac... and if it's smart to do an SMP after the postbac, if I want to go to a "good" med school, like UC Irvine or USC or something (yes, I'm a california resident... it sucks, yes.) Anyone have any advice, or know someone -- or even yourself -- who's done a postbac and an SMP? Thanks so much!
Signed,
the guy with the upward gpa trend to beat all other upward gpa trends

It really depends on your ECs and what you can raise your final GPA to, but unfortunately the California schools (with the possible exception of LLU if you are SDA) are so competitive that even if you got a 4.0 in all of your remaining classes and 4.0 in your SMP and 35-40+ on your MCAT, you couldn't guarantee admission to a UC/USC and TBH it might still not even be likely (with probably at best a 3.1-3.2 cumulative GPA).

Low GPA candidates that do SMPs usually have a pretty good chance to get into MD programs in general, but they can't be that picky about where they go. If you want to go to medical school in CA, get over your aversion towards DO programs and go to Western or Touro(SF).

 

[drizzt3117]

I'll likely have to do a SMP after post-bac. I don't think its all that uncommon. My cumulative will be a 3.5, but my science will be low.

You won't have to do SMP with a 3.5 GPA, and it wouldn't even be intelligent to do so. That's essentially the average GPA for matriculants. Just get a good MCAT and you'll be just fine.

 

[Dabyachunv]

So I'm wondering if it's smart for me to do a postbac and an SMP, since I don't want to go DO (don't believe in OMM). My background is: first 3 years of community college lots of C's, D's, F's due to extenuating circumstances. Next 4 years in comm. college and university 4.0. Cumulative GPA currently 3.0, should be around 3.1 when I graduate next year with my bachelor's in a non-science. 1280 SAT. I'm wondering how competitive I'll be when I apply to med schools at the end of my postbac... and if it's smart to do an SMP after the postbac, if I want to go to a "good" med school, like UC Irvine or USC or something (yes, I'm a california resident... it sucks, yes.) Anyone have any advice, or know someone -- or even yourself -- who's done a postbac and an SMP? Thanks so much!
Signed,
the guy with the upward gpa trend to beat all other upward gpa trends

Like the other members have said SMP's are the one place you do not mess up at all. I think that consistency is going to be the thing you have to prove. Calculate out how doing a post-bacc will help your gpa towards that 3.5. If its not worth it I would do an SMP and rock it. Its hard to say because you dont have any MCAT or GRE score. Maybe in that SMP 1-1.5 years you'll prove to MS what you can do. 🙂

 

[LandSpeed]

hmm. Well, I thought that California would be a reach, but still. I'm thinking about going to many different postbacs, namely those that are in the best states and more specifically, those that will admit me. I'm confident about my academic abilities, but I've got to find a good postbac that has "lower" admissions standards or that will actually review my file (I mentioned extenuating circumstances and a drastic GPA trend above). I'm considering columbia, harvard extension, etc... there are also progs with conditional acceptances like u of miami, u of vermont, and st louis university, which would essentially let me in -- and let me stay -- provided I maintain a decent GPA. Anyone familiar with other good postbacs that consider a well rounded applicant such as myself that aren't flooded like goucher, scripps, bryn mawr, or penn? How about you, lohktar, where are you going to go? At this point, I'm undecided on where to go, but I do know that I'm going somewhere 🙂

 

[drizzt3117]

hmm. Well, I thought that California would be a reach, but still. I'm thinking about going to many different postbacs, namely those that are in the best states and more specifically, those that will admit me. I'm confident about my academic abilities, but I've got to find a good postbac that has "lower" admissions standards or that will actually review my file (I mentioned extenuating circumstances and a drastic GPA trend above). I'm considering columbia, harvard extension, etc... there are also progs with conditional acceptances like u of miami, u of vermont, and st louis university, which would essentially let me in -- and let me stay -- provided I maintain a decent GPA. Anyone familiar with other good postbacs that consider a well rounded applicant such as myself that aren't flooded like goucher, scripps, bryn mawr, or penn? How about you, lohktar, where are you going to go? At this point, I'm undecided on where to go, but I do know that I'm going somewhere 🙂

It sounds like HES might be the choice for you unless you can find one of those postbacs with conditional acceptance. I don't know too much about them, though, but I'm not sure what they would consider a qualified candidate.

Lokhtar,

I don't think it matters, if you do well on the postbac you'll be fine with a 3.5 GPA regardless of your BCPM with a good MCAT performance. A SMP would be dangerous and unnecessary.