Bost Bac Question

[BSBD1012]

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Hello, I was kindly directed over to this forum and I have a couple quick questions. I graduated from Tulane University with a very low undergraduate GPA (2.89) with a BA in communications and a minor in business. After being out of school for a couple years I realized that medical school would be a challenging and rewarding goal to set for myself. I did not take any pre-med requisites in college and am interested in going back to school for them. I looked into numerous post-bac programs but all of the ones I researched require at least a 3.0 undergrad gpa. Would it be better for me to go back to take pre-med courses seperatly then apply to a masters program of some sort. Or are there any post-bacc programs for non-science graduates that don't require at least a 3.0 gpa?

Thank you!

 

[NewmansOwn]

Hello, I was kindly directed over to this forum and I have a couple quick questions. I graduated from Tulane University with a very low undergraduate GPA (2.89) with a BA in communications and a minor in business. After being out of school for a couple years I realized that medical school would be a challenging and rewarding goal to set for myself. I did not take any pre-med requisites in college and am interested in going back to school for them. I looked into numerous post-bac programs but all of the ones I researched require at least a 3.0 undergrad gpa. Would it be better for me to go back to take pre-med courses seperatly then apply to a masters program of some sort. Or are there any post-bacc programs for non-science graduates that don't require at least a 3.0 gpa?

Thank you!

To be honest with you, any formal postbac program that doesn't require at least a 3.0 probably isn't very good.

In your particular situation, the best course of action is to take the prereqs wherever is cheapest and most convenient for you -- perhaps a local state university. Then, you can either apply to special masters programs (SMPs) or you can simply continue at your state university taking upper-level science courses. In addition, you'll need to pad your resume with copious amounts of high quality volunteer/clinical experience. It'll be a number of years before you start med school, so try to get into something where you can become deeply involved and which will provide you with glowing letters of recommendation and essay topics.

 

[DrMidlife]

Totally agree w/Newman.

Other bits:

1. Warm up. You're about to take some very difficult classes. I recommend starting slow: take a single math class, or a single gen chem class, and see how it goes. We see too many people come back to school thinking their enthusiasm will translate into the sudden magical ability to get a 4.0 in hard science. Get that first A before you take a full load.

2. My back-of-napkin GPA math says that after 2 years of full time coursework, if you maintain a 3.7, you could have an overall GPA of about 3.16. But your science GPA would be 3.7. With a strong MCAT, and the strong app package that NewmansOwn describes above, that GPA combination is arguably sufficient to bypass an SMP, maybe at your state school(s), if you live in TX/OH/AR/VT or similar (CA/NY/PA, not so much).

3. So, more undergrad work will get you over the 3.0 threshhold, which many schools will use as an autoscreen cutoff. But you can't get very far over that threshold. It's unbelievably painful to apply with a low GPA, and I recommend not doing so if there's any other choice. The "SMP" that we all talk about here is a targeted one-year grad program, usually hosted by a med school, that usually puts you in classes with first year med students, where the whole point is to prove that your undergrad GPA isn't representative of your caliber. These programs cost a good $25k to $50k. And they usually get 80% or more of their students into med school.

So my personal plan for you would be to start slow, keep a high GPA no matter what, take the time to do really well on the MCAT, max out a beefy and interesting app package, and apply to your state school(s) if you live in a reasonable state. If that doesn't pan out, then do an SMP and try again.

Best of luck to you.

 

[NewmansOwn]

I agree with Midlife about starting slow in your particular situation. In fact, you can sort of have your cake and eat it, too. Most formal programs have their students take Gen Chem I and II in the summer. Your local state university is also very likely to offer a summer session set of Gen Chem classes and I think I'd start with this. I usually take the line that you have to get all the classes done anyway and med school will be harder still, so why dawdle? But try taking Gen Chem in the summer (condensed, so a little more hectic, but you only have to focus on one topic at a time, so it's very manageable) and see how you do. If you get good grades, register right then and there for fall classes.