Bad grades

[jiepper]

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Hi,

I'm about to graduate with micro and I had a little boo boo in immunology class. Let says that I didn't pass. I'm retaking it now. I never done this in any other classes, but I didn't attempt to consider med school after immunology. I have a borderline 3.0 cumulative and my science GPA is below 3.0. What should I do next? I had a job interview as a research associate at a seed company since I do have lots of experience working in a plants biosciences lab. But I still want to improve my grades and may be apply once I showed improvement. Should I look into the SMP program or should I retake courses at a community college? I need to work while taking classes since I support my family back home. I work near full time with 15-17 credits each semester. I go to school during the day time and work from the evening to late at night and on the weekends to meet my financial obligations. There are several classes that I received better than a B- in. I don't want to use work as an excuse, but I must work. There's no other ways around it. I wasn't a science major before this. I graduated once already with a business degree with good gpa, but my gpa decreased after I started to take science courses. I came back to take microbiology degree at the in-state university because I wanted to work in a hospital after my experienced as a volunteer there. I was thinking med tech, but now I'm not so sure if any med tech schools/programs will accept me. Please give me any suggestions that you may have. My fiance says that he will help out with the cost, but I still must work part-time. I don't know if I should just give up and just move on. Going back to school again is very expensive and I can't just think about myself. I have a family that I have to take care of. Please help me to decide. Will taking classes at a local community college help my chance with med school or I should look into the SMP program, or grad school, or just work?

Thank you very much,
jipper

 

[riceman04]

Hi,

I'm about to graduate with micro and I had a little boo boo in immunology class. Let says that I didn't pass. I'm retaking it now. I never done this in any other classes, but I didn't attempt to consider med school after immunology. I have a borderline 3.0 cumulative and my science GPA is below 3.0. What should I do next? I had a job interview as a research associate at a seed company since I do have lots of experience working in a plants biosciences lab. But I still want to improve my grades and may be apply once I showed improvement. Should I look into the SMP program or should I retake courses at a community college? I need to work while taking classes since I support my family back home. I work near full time with 15-17 credits each semester. I go to school during the day time and work from the evening to late at night and on the weekends to meet my financial obligations. There are several classes that I received better than a B- in. I don't want to use work as an excuse, but I must work. There's no other ways around it. I wasn't a science major before this. I graduated once already with a business degree with good gpa, but my gpa decreased after I started to take science courses. I came back to take microbiology degree at the in-state university because I wanted to work in a hospital after my experienced as a volunteer there. I was thinking med tech, but now I'm not so sure if any med tech schools/programs will accept me. Please give me any suggestions that you may have. My fiance says that he will help out with the cost, but I still must work part-time. I don't know if I should just give up and just move on. Going back to school again is very expensive and I can't just think about myself. I have a family that I have to take care of. Please help me to decide. Will taking classes at a local community college help my chance with med school or I should look into the SMP program, or grad school, or just work?

Thank you very much,
jipper

I understand your dilemma.
Do not go to a community college to complete other science courses (especially after receiving your degrees from a 4yr university). CC's are viewed as being much less challenging and adcoms will definitely question why you chose to go back to a CC to retake and complete some science courses. Since you are no longer obligated by a university to maintain full-time status you should just take a couple classes a university. Or you could do a formal postbacc program at some university (I am doiing one at Penn right now). The good thing is that you are not obligated to be full time. In fact, most people in my program are not b/c they are working full-time. I do not think you should consider an SMP program b/c you will be competing with med school students and will be once again forced to maintain a full load. And I am sure, from your experience, you know that working full time and taking several science courses is not feasible.

So to sum up my thoughts...do a formal or informal postbacc program at a 4 yr university (CC's should be out of the question) and take only a couple of courses (maximum) at a time.

Do you mind me asking if your financial support is allowing your family to keep from scrapping pennies or is your support keeping them housed and well fed? I ask this b/c maybe there is a way for you to cut back a little on your work

Dont give up on your goals if medicine is truly what you want to be be involved with for the rest of your life....you will truly regret your decisions if you choose not to pursue those dreams.

good luck

 

[doctorFred]

i second the above poster whole-heartedly. take a post-bac year at a formal four-year university. that's your best option. also, what's your state residency? some states (like my own nj) are extremely biased towards state residents. if you live in such a state, even a modest increase in your gpa may be sufficient.

 

[jiepper]

i second the above poster whole-heartedly. take a post-bac year at a formal four-year university. that's your best option. also, what's your state residency? some states (like my own nj) are extremely biased towards state residents. if you live in such a state, even a modest increase in your gpa may be sufficient.

I live in Washington state. I don't know if I will have a chance with UW. But I will try. Thank you for both of your suggestions. I will have to discuss this with my fiance and also I'm waiting to hear back from the job interview that I had. The job that I applied to is very flexible. I discussed that I do need to take classes and they said that they are very flexible and encourage their employees to continue with education. If it's plants related, they are more than willing to pay for it. I just hope I can get this job because it's very close to another state university.