BSN to pre-med, where to start, please?

[JordanMaria]

Hi all, I think I've responded to threads on here a couple of times but not for awhile. Anyway I read a lot, mostly the resident forums (especially "kold case files" on the ansethesiology forum...awesome!!) Anyway here are my burning questions.

Background: I am a 23 year old single mother (dad died) of one. I have recently earned my BSN, I have a year (so far) of full-time experience as an ICU nurse in my current position. Unfortunately, and largely due to a particularly bad semester freshman year in which I earned a 0.29 GPA on 12 credits (yes, personal reasons which I have no desire to explain), my overall uGPA is only 2.91. I do not have any of the pre-med classes, other than AP physics and calculus in HS which I'm sure don't count. I don't know if it matters but I got a 1400 SAT and am a pretty good test taker, I'm good at math and reading/writing, could probably do a good GRE with some prep if you guys think that would help. Letters/essay won't be a problem.

Questions:
1 - I want to go into a post-bacc but I'm not sure where I can even get in, and obviously I want to find a quality school that will help me get into med school. I'm not that worried about cost or moving, I will do whatever it takes. Suggestions where I can apply, or what to do to strengthen an app? BTW I want to start Summer or fall of 2010. Should I take the introductory chem along with possibly bio or physics at the university I live next to? (very good public university, where I got my BSN, no post-bacc program however).
2 - Even if I got straight As on two+ years of post-bacc course work, along with what will be extensive experience, and do great on MCATs, would medical schools still throw my app in the trash as soon as they saw my uGPA?

Any advice/input is greatly appreciated.

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[MSmentor018]

Hi all, I think I've responded to threads on here a couple of times but not for awhile. Anyway I read a lot, mostly the resident forums (especially "kold case files" on the ansethesiology forum...awesome!!) Anyway here are my burning questions.

Background: I am a 23 year old single mother (dad died) of one. I have recently earned my BSN, I have a year (so far) of full-time experience as an ICU nurse in my current position. Unfortunately, and largely due to a particularly bad semester freshman year in which I earned a 0.29 GPA on 12 credits (yes, personal reasons which I have no desire to explain), my overall uGPA is only 2.91. I do not have any of the pre-med classes, other than AP physics and calculus in HS which I'm sure don't count. I don't know if it matters but I got a 1400 SAT and am a pretty good test taker, I'm good at math and reading/writing, could probably do a good GRE with some prep if you guys think that would help. Letters/essay won't be a problem.

Questions:
1 - I want to go into a post-bacc but I'm not sure where I can even get in, and obviously I want to find a quality school that will help me get into med school. I'm not that worried about cost or moving, I will do whatever it takes. Suggestions where I can apply, or what to do to strengthen an app? BTW I want to start Summer or fall of 2010. Should I take the introductory chem along with possibly bio or physics at the university I live next to? (very good public university, where I got my BSN, no post-bacc program however).
2 - Even if I got straight As on two+ years of post-bacc course work, along with what will be extensive experience, and do great on MCATs, would medical schools still throw my app in the trash as soon as they saw my uGPA?

Any advice/input is greatly appreciated.

congrats on getting your BSN and starting the pre med journey. start taking your pre reqs. the nursing courses don't count for anything. I took everything at a CC. it was cheaper and had a better schedule. it doesn't matter if you take intro or not, as long as the "pre req" courses have good grades is the key. higest possible mcat are what you want also. don't worry about the financial/moving/will they accept me yet/gpa problems. you've got a long way to go before applications. click on my name and postings. I've posted a lot of info about being a non trad RN to med school. good luck! feel free to PM

 

[unsung]

congrats on getting your BSN and starting the pre med journey. start taking your pre reqs. the nursing courses don't count for anything. I took everything at a CC. it was cheaper and had a better schedule. it doesn't matter if you take intro or not, as long as the "pre req" courses have good grades is the key. higest possible mcat are what you want also. don't worry about the financial/moving/will they accept me yet/gpa problems. you've got a long way to go before applications. click on my name and postings. I've posted a lot of info about being a non trad RN to med school. good luck! feel free to PM

I'm sure taking courses at CC work for some, but it's risky, imo. Especially when the OP has access to a good public university locally.

Personally, I didn't do a formal post-bacc program either. I retook some pre-reqs at my local university, got straight As, and it worked out. Btw, if there's a particular med school you're shooting for, it helps to get your LORs from doing coursework at their undergrad institution. Schools tend to trust their own, when it comes to LORs, ime.

Also, volunteer experience is really important and it's good to start it asap, if you haven't already. Healthcare experience is important, but it doesn't make up for volunteer experience.

 

[aylaanne]

Some of your BSN courses may count toward your BCPM GPA. In going over my transcript, I took Anatomy and Physiology (both bio), Statistics, Biochemistry, and Microbiology for my nursing degree. They don't count as the prerequisites for Med School, but if they're offered from the right departments OR they cover certain material, they may be counted as BCPM.

If you remove your bad semester, what does your GPA look like? One bad semester can totally ruin a cum GPA, but it's my understanding that AdComs look at the whole picture, not just the numbers.

You don't necessarily have to do a post-bacc as long as you take the pre-reqs. I never actually finished my BSN, so I'm going back and doing another three years to get a degree in Micro, but I only really need two in order to fulfill the requirements for med school and to prepare me for the MCAT. If you do well on your pre-reqs and any upper-level science courses you take, and you do well on the MCAT, those two factors can balance your application against your initially low GPA (or so I hear).

Remember when deciding to take classes at Uni v. CC, that AdComs are looking at your grades to see, in part, if you can handle the coursework of a graduate medical education. CC courses are cheaper and perhaps scheduled at a more convenient time, but they may not demonstrate that you are capable of excelling when given difficult coursework, especially since you have a poor demonstration already on your transcript.

 

[Laurenb]

Why aren't you considering becoming a NP?
You coul get int a NP program tomorrow and be done in 18 months with very similar job choices...

 

[rnnpmaybe]

I'm a BSN grad who dropped out of an np program to take pre-reqs. The level of education in the np program was adequate for a mid-level provider, but I wanted to know EVERYTHING about disease/illness/etc, and the NP program wasn't cutting it.

The OP sounds like she has already made this decision, if she's willing to move wherever, whenever.

 

[gman33]

DO schools are a good option for someone with a very low gpa. You can retake classes and they only count the new grades. This is a quick way to boost the gpa.

Don't discount the NP and CRNA route. They are both worth looking into.

For MD schools you probably need all the prereqs plus another 2 years of upper levels or a SMP. So you are probably looking at 4 years before you start med school. So you are looking at 11-12 years before you are done everything. NP; you'd be done in 2 years.

Good luck with whatever you choose. Just take some time to figure out what is the best path for you and your child before you jump in.

 

[JordanMaria]

Thank you all so much for your replies. It especially warms my heart to know there are other RNs/BSNs who are interested in medical school.

I realize the NP route would be shorter, and I briefly considered CRNA, but I really don't want to do the mid-level thing. It seems like you would be a perpetual resident. No thanks! I agree with you rnnpmaybe, I want to have that deeper level of knowledge.
I am not really concerned about taking classes at a CC, like I said I live right by a good university.
Now that I've read this board more, I feel like maybe the post-bacc isn't that important? So, I may just take the pre-reqs on my own.
Something else I'm wondering, is it possible to get a second bachelor's? Simply, start over? I could do pre-med with a major in either a science or a social science, and probably be done in three years, about the same amount of time as all the other possible routes. Does anyone know if that is possible? Would I have trouble getting loans or getting the university to let me do that?

 

[JordanMaria]

To answer your question aylaanne, the rest of my GPA is a 3.56. Other than freshman year, I got As on everything outside the nursing major courses (gen eds, micro, physio, "chemistry for health professionals" ) but as you can probably relate to, nursing tests are somewhat bizaare and the grading scale is ridiculous, so nursing core is where I got my Bs and even one C.

I know that I am capable of the difficult coursework, I graduated near the top of my class in high school, took four AP courses, got 33 ACT and 1490 SATs. Some of my high school classmates that are now in med school are people who I competed with and beat in high school. And I'm not bragging, I'm sure everyone on here did all that, I might even be at the bottom of the curve here, but I'm just saying..I know my undergrad stats don't show what I can really do...did I mention my personal life really sucked eggs during my undergrad years? Anyway, I know I can do it, but I know that no one's going to take my word for it, and now I'm fighting an uphill battle to prove it.