Best way to go about a DIY Postbacc?

[mtn_dew0verdose]

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Alrighty, so I graduated earlier this year and am currently studying for the MCAT in January. My plans for an SMP sort of got shot down (at least for this coming year) so now I'm leaning towards completing a DIY postbacc in 2018 instead.

-I'm sitting at 2.9c/3.14s GPA with a Bio degree.

-I'm aware of the "retaking all F/D/C sci coursework" option but I never made anything less than a B in my BCPM courses.

-I'm also aware of the "take upp div bio courses" option but I was a bio major, so there's only 3 or 4 upper division bio courses that I haven't taken at my local university.

Knowing all of this, I'm thinking about going for a 2nd degree in either engineering or physics. Would a solid year of courses (45hrs with straight A's) in either engineering or physics do me any good?

 

[ellia]

I wouldn't bother with retaking any of the BCPM courses if you never made less then a B. As for taking other upper division biology courses, have you tried checking the course listings at other local universities near you?

 

[mtn_dew0verdose]

I wouldn't bother with retaking any of the BCPM courses if you never made less then a B. As for taking other upper division biology courses, have you tried checking the course listings at other local universities near you?

Yeah the one I graduated from is the best one when it comes to the sciences, everything else in my area is either private or brand new.

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[GypsyHummus]

Im going to be frank, you might not like my comments, but I would want someone to be real with me.

45 Hours of Strait As is very easy to say, to do it is an entirely different thing. From your record you provided, you seem like a solid B student with a handful of As thrown in here or there with a biology degree. Biology degrees at the undergrad level are not that difficult, and doing an engineering degree would be a lot tougher. What makes you think you can suceed in these classes when you had 4 years to pull up your GPA beforehand but didnt? You need to realistically have a 3.6+ to get into MD/DO schools coupled with an awesome MCAT score. How are you going to get a great score when you scored Bs in those classes?

The upside to doing an engineering degree is that it is a marketable degree if you cant get into a medical school.

Honestly, With those GPAs, I would either A) Risk it at a post bacc. or B) Look into an alternative healthcare field. If you originally wanted MD/DO, Podiatry offers a lot of what you might be looking for. You could also look into Optometry or pharmacy, but Id rather be a foot and ankle surgeon than an eye doctor or pharmacist.

Hope this helps.

Alrighty, so I graduated earlier this year and am currently studying for the MCAT in January. My plans for an SMP sort of got shot down (at least for this coming year) so now I'm leaning towards completing a DIY postbacc in 2018 instead.

-I'm sitting at 2.9c/3.14s GPA with a Bio degree.

-I'm aware of the "retaking all F/D/C sci coursework" option but I never made anything less than a B in my BCPM courses.

-I'm also aware of the "take upp div bio courses" option but I was a bio major, so there's only 3 or 4 upper division bio courses that I haven't taken at my local university.

Knowing all of this, I'm thinking about going for a 2nd degree in either engineering or physics. Would a solid year of courses (45hrs with straight A's) in either engineering or physics do me any good?

 

[mtn_dew0verdose]

Im going to be frank, you might not like my comments, but I would want someone to be real with me.

45 Hours of Strait As is very easy to say, to do it is an entirely different thing. From your record you provided, you seem like a solid B student with a handful of As thrown in here or there with a biology degree. Biology degrees at the undergrad level are not that difficult, and doing an engineering degree would be a lot tougher. What makes you think you can suceed in these classes when you had 4 years to pull up your GPA beforehand but didnt? You need to realistically have a 3.6+ to get into MD/DO schools coupled with an awesome MCAT score. How are you going to get a great score when you scored Bs in those classes?

The upside to doing an engineering degree is that it is a marketable degree if you cant get into a medical school.

Honestly, With those GPAs, I would either A) Risk it at a post bacc. or B) Look into an alternative healthcare field. If you originally wanted MD/DO, Podiatry offers a lot of what you might be looking for. You could also look into Optometry or pharmacy, but Id rather be a foot and ankle surgeon than an eye doctor or pharmacist.

Hope this helps.

I appreciate you being forthwright with me, and yeah I can see what you mean by me having 4 years to get my **** together. However, half of my "undergrad" GPA comes from 2 years of dual credit in high school where I did very poorly just cause I didn't really care.

In the middle of my 3rd year is when I actually made the conscious decision to want to shoot for med school, but at that time I prioritized school over work, was working a job with not so ideal hours, and had/have terrible study habits after all these years so my 4th year wasn't much of an improvement.

What I'm getting at, is that I'm a "natural" B student with some A's, that's my coasting pace. Im sure if I took the time to establish good study habits and whip myself into mental shape, I could earn an engineering degree or pull a solid post bac.

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[GypsyHummus]

It is good you are being honest with youself. You also need to assess if you can get mostly As and the occasional B instead of mostly Bs and the occasional A. A person with a 3.2 GPA is kind of delegated to Pod/Pharm/Optom school. If you dont want that, you need to prove to medical schools that you can handle the insane coursework. Simple, but hard.

There is a reason why MD school Averages are around the 3.8 mark.

Have a plan B in case things go south.

Whatever you do, do not go to the Caribbean.

I appreciate you being forthwright with me, and yeah I can see what you mean by me having 4 years to get my **** together. However, half of my "undergrad" GPA comes from 2 years of dual credit in high school where I did very poorly just cause I didn't really care.

In the middle of my 3rd year is when I actually made the conscious decision to want to shoot for med school, but at that time I prioritized school over work, was working a job with not so ideal hours, and had/have terrible study habits after all these years so my 4th year wasn't much of an improvement.

What I'm getting at, is that I'm a "natural" B student with some A's, that's my coasting pace. Im sure if I took the time to establish good study habits and whip myself into mental shape, I could earn an engineering degree or pull a solid post bac.

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[BobbyKoch]

I am at a university with an engineering school and I have crossed paths with engineers. You may want to find some engineering students and run the idea of "45 hours of straight As" by them! The idea of using an engineering degree for GPA repair seems ludicrous to me, considering the difficulty of the courses. Same for physics.