Anyone NOT do well in a postbacc?

[cee]

for people applying to med school, i'm just curious about this. i understand that (usually), most people are pretty serious in this stage of their lives and put their best foot forward.. however, i'm sure some people didnt do as well as they would have liked in their postbacc program (not saying they didnt work hard, but some classes just work out that way, unfortunately)

if you fall under this category, how did you do in terms of getting into med school? if you didnt get in this time around, what's your next step now that this is done?

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[Law2Doc]

for people applying to med school, i'm just curious about this. i understand that (usually), most people are pretty serious in this stage of their lives and put their best foot forward.. however, i'm sure some people didnt do as well as they would have liked in their postbacc program (not saying they didnt work hard, but some classes just work out that way, unfortunately)

if you fall under this category, how did you do in terms of getting into med school? if you didnt get in this time around, what's your next step now that this is done?

How far off the mark are we talking here? If you did horribly in ug and horribly in a postbac, then carribean might be the only door left open in which to redeem yourself. If you are getting close to admittable you can keep taking ug level courses until you prove yourself.

 

[braluk]

cool i like ur avatar, thats my name

 

[etikit]

if they didn't do well, i sure don't think they would be dickin around on here still. at least i wouldn't be.

 

[mshheaddoc]

I didn't do well this past year of starting my prereqs for various reasons. I am retaking my ochem I class but I will not touch biology with a 40ft pole. I am also taking additional upper level classes as well. No one has a perfect record, unfortunately it seems many people on here seem to pull 3.97 on their post-bacc. I won't have that luxury but hopefully it will be about 3.3-3.5 or so after I'm done.

I will be doing a masters program before I apply to med school though.

 

[drjds]

I didn't do well this past year of starting my prereqs for various reasons. I am retaking my ochem I class but I will not touch biology with a 40ft pole. I am also taking additional upper level classes as well. No one has a perfect record, unfortunately it seems many people on here seem to pull 3.97 on their post-bacc. I won't have that luxury but hopefully it will be about 3.3-3.5 or so after I'm done.

I will be doing a masters program before I apply to med school though.

Where are you taking your addt'l upper level courses and where are doing your masters?

 

[mshheaddoc]

not a big name college/university. I live in midwest and I'm not moving. Most of my prereqs will be at a community college. My masters will be at a program at one of the medical schools here.

 

[AngryBaby]

if they didn't do well, i sure don't think they would be dickin around on here still. at least i wouldn't be.

ouch...

 

[cee]

I will be doing a masters program before I apply to med school though.

which masters program will you do?

 

[mshheaddoc]

Just a biomedical masters a very small program with about 11 people.

 

[lovelybereagrad]

for people applying to med school, i'm just curious about this. i understand that (usually), most people are pretty serious in this stage of their lives and put their best foot forward.. however, i'm sure some people didnt do as well as they would have liked in their postbacc program (not saying they didnt work hard, but some classes just work out that way, unfortunately)

if you fall under this category, how did you do in terms of getting into med school? if you didnt get in this time around, what's your next step now that this is done?

I was serious about doing well in my post-bac program, but was working at the same time, and my grades reflected this. I had quite a mix of As and Bs, but did get a C+ in my first semester of physics. I also got a pretty mediocre MCAT score (24). However, I just finished my first year of medical school (allopathic) and did just fine. I think the most important thing when trying to make yourself a strong applicant is to make sure that you have more to offer than just good grades and solid MCATs. There are plenty more people out there who also have these. Find something that makes you stand out in the crowd.

oops...forgot something. i think the most important part of my application, apart from grades/scores was the clinical experience i had. during my post-bac work, i had a job as a medical assistant, which I still believe was the reason that I got in. Med schools really want to know that you have had exposure to clinical medicine, and letters of recommendation from docs who have worked with you are golden.

 

[relentless11]

I was serious about doing well in my post-bac program, but was working at the same time, and my grades reflected this. I had quite a mix of As and Bs, but did get a C+ in my first semester of physics. I also got a pretty mediocre MCAT score (24). However, I just finished my first year of medical school (allopathic) and did just fine. I think the most important thing when trying to make yourself a strong applicant is to make sure that you have more to offer than just good grades and solid MCATs. There are plenty more people out there who also have these. Find something that makes you stand out in the crowd.

oops...forgot something. i think the most important part of my application, apart from grades/scores was the clinical experience i had. during my post-bac work, i had a job as a medical assistant, which I still believe was the reason that I got in. Med schools really want to know that you have had exposure to clinical medicine, and letters of recommendation from docs who have worked with you are golden.

I agree do something to stand out, but one must make the adcoms feel better about ones academic deficiencies. No amount of clinical experience will make up for a low GPA AND MCAT. There is a limit to everything, and it will be tough to sell oneself when you have a low GPA, low MCAT, and downward trend, or no upward trend in your stats. Additionally, some schools, not all, may screen for GPA/MCAT (like University of California), and thus your quantitative performance (e.g., GPA/MCAT) will determine if you get a secondary. If you don't get a secondary, then letters of recs mean nothing since adcoms will never seem them. Upward trends are the best solution to a low GPA. Under certain circumstances, a GPA that does not meet the screening cut-off, while being supported by a good MCAT score, may not be screened out due to significant improvement during post-bacc.

One can hypothesize about how they got into med school all day long, but the only way to know for sure is to open up your actual file and look. In most cases, it will be the interview that played the biggest role in getting you into med school, not neccessarily your extracurricular experiences. My PI had the opportunity ages ago to look at his file and the reason he got in was essentially the two MDs who interviewed him. He went to UCSF, and he stated that the GPA/MCAT was only worth 1/6th of the whole process while interview was worth 50%. The caveat is, GPA/MCAT is used for screening at UCSF, so if you're knocked out of round 1, you'll never make it to interviews in the first place. Take home message is, its not the end of the world for the OP, but don't rely on LORs, clinical experience to make up for GPA/MCAT either. They are apples and oranges.