BS in business admin, 2.5gpa, and want to go to do med school.

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graceinhb

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I have a BS in international business, and my gpa is super low (2.56). I haven't taken any science pre-reqs yet but I want to go to med school, and go into ophthalmology.

What can I do to get into med school? Should I just start over from scratch and forget about my B.S degree? I'm so confused, please help.

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You don't need another degree, necessarily, but you'd have to do major damage repair on your GPA.

If you haven't taken any science pre-reqs my advice is to take a full year sequence of two or three of the following three classes:
General Chemistry
General Physics
General Biology

After you've taken a full year of at least two of these classes then you're in a position to re-evaluate. If your GPA is already super low you I think you need straight A's in *ALL* of these classes.

So take two or three classes (the full year-long sequence of each). If you get straight A's in all of them, you have a shot. If you don't get straight A's, I think your chances are poor.
 
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All of your post-secondary school grades are calculated into a cumulative undergraduate GPA and a cumulative undergraduate science GPA, which includes only science courses and math courses (unless it's for Doctor of Osteopathy programs, which do not include math). This is so that they may easily see your aptitude for science. However, for most applicants, the cumulative GPA tends to be a bit higher. This cumulative undergraduate GPA is one of the main standards for judging applicants for admission. So, no, you cannot "erase" or move on from any old grades. Any post-baccalaureate classes taken after your degree will be calculated into the cumGPA as long as they are undergraduate level courses. There is also a graduate GPA calculated which will only include graduate level courses.

For admission into an MD or DO program you will need to have an undergraduate GPA close to 3.5 or higher. Then, you will need to take the MCAT. A competitive score varies by program. DO schools tend to accept those with scores from 26-28 and MD schools like 30+, in general.

With your previous degree, you probably have ~130 credit hours of a 2.5 GPA. You will need to figure out how many post-bacc classes you can take to raise this significantly. You should really get it to at least a 3.0. However, your journey does not stop there because you will not to further prove that you can succeed as a student. This means applying and being accepted to a Special Masters Program where you compete with current med students as an "audition" for the affiliated med school or other schools to which you apply.

Alternatives to the SMP include a very high MCAT score. This would be 35+. Or, a very high MCAT score and a very high science GPA.

Since your degree is in business, you will need to take the med school pre-requisites, which you may know are 1 year each of biology, chemistry, physics, and organic chemistry.

ADDITIONALLY, medical schools like candidates who have explored medicine as a career in-depth, so you will need to complete significant healthcare volunteer experiences with patient contact. Medicine is also a dynamic field, and many strong applicants have research experience. Combine these activities with some interesting hobbies, life experiences, and non-clinical volunteering, and you may become a well-rounded applicant.

As you can see, it is a very long road. You must first understand the process and decide whether or not the committment is worth it to you. Have you shadowed any physicians? One more thing: you will need to write a detailed personal statement for your application answering the question "why medicine?" This is of particular importance for non-traditional students such as yourself, who have left one career for another.

Anyway, I hope this helps. I apologize if it is redundant to anything you already knew. Good luck and let us know if you have anymore questions.
 
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There is a faster pathway to raising your GPA, if you consider applying to DO med schools. Their application service has a grade forgiveness policy. This is particularly efficient if you have isolated low grades and retake them. Only the most recent grade is included in your application GPA calculation, provided the credit hours are the same or greater. Your GPA would rise much faster than applying to MD schools which average in retakes and have no forgiveness.

While the average entering DO student has a cGPA of 3.48 and MCAT of 26, you can get in with a lower GPA if your MCAT is correspondingly stronger, your science GPA is higher, and you have a steep upward grade trend. For example, even cGPAs of 3.0 have been known to get an acceptance with an MCAT score of 30+.

All specialties are open to DO med students provided their med school record and Step scores are sufficiently competitive.
 
Thanks so much hopefuldoc and startswithb!!! This is actually the first I've ever posted anything on a forum. And no, I haven't shadowed any physicians yet, but I've spoken to a few an they all say go with what you are passionate about and you wont have any regrets. I'm turning 29 this year, if I decide to go the MD route I'll be around 40 when I'm done right?

My plan is to take my pre-reqs in fall 2011 and see how it goes. Again thanks so much. I know I'll have other questions.
 
How do I go about doing grade forgiveness? Do I have to talk to an DO school advisor? And what is "Step score"?
 
How do I go about doing grade forgiveness? Do I have to talk to an DO school advisor? And what is "Step score"?
I think that speaking with a DO med school admissions person is a great idea.

To get the grade forgiveness, you retake the course. You send all transcripts from all schools attended to the application service when you apply. When you fill out the application you mark that the retake is the last time you repeated the class, so they only count that one. The original course is there too, with the bad grade, but you mark that it IS NOT the final retake, so it isn't included. And BTW, the class need not be retaken at the same school. The course title need not be identical, so long as the course descriptions in the two catalogs shows similarity. If you have questions about tricky circumstances, you could call AACOMAS (the DO application service) and ask.

A Step score is either a USMLE (US Medical Licensure Exam) or COMLEX (not sure what it stands for-maybe College of Osteopathic Medicine Licensure EXam) test, which has three parts taken at three times during your training, two before med school graduation, that are required for eventual state licensure. How high the scores are also determines how competitive you are for residency programs (along with grades, etc). A DO student can take either and can apply to either DO or MD residency programs, BTW.
 
I am in a very identical situation as you. I just turned 29, and I'm currently in the first semester of Biology. I should have the pre-reqs done by spring 2012. My undergrad gpa is just a little bit higher at 2.76. It was that low because back then I didn't even want to be in college, so I really didn't even try. Things have changed, and I'm confident I can get straight A's in these pre reqs and do very well on the MCAT.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know we are on about the same path! Good luck to you! :)
 
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