Bumping up GPA

[Deleted member 237747]

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[moneduloides]

If your 2.7 is cum from an entire bachelor's degree worth of credits then you will likely run out of pertinent classes (science) at your community college long before you raise your gpa to a 3.5. If I were you I would call a few of the post bac programs you're looking at, or have considered, and just see what they advise you do.

 

[Deleted member 237747]

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[DrMidlife]

Taking classes at a CC, in my view, is fine if you have an unblemished undergrad record. If you're fighting back from a low GPA, then it's a new blemish to go to a CC. Youu can't assume that adcoms will view your coursework as rigorous. Keep in mind that the competition is squeaky clean...

Since you're running out of classes to take anyway, and since you want a big GPA improvement, I'd suggest pursuing a second bachelors at a big university where you can major in an upper div science such as microbiology or neuroscience or bioengineering. Getting great grades in your second go-round, with very difficult coursework, is going to set you above suspicion.

Start working on a spreadsheet that will tell you what grades you need, and how much more coursework, to get to your goal GPA. Most likely, another 4 years at a 4.0 will get you no higher than a 3.35. You'll probably want to look at contingencies like getting your undergrad GPA over 3.0 with a couple years of work, and then doing an SMP. Or skip the SMP and aim for DO or Caribbean.

Best of luck to you.

 

[DrMidlife]

Also, your undergrad GPA is not "locked down" after you finish a degree. From the perspective of med school apps, your total cumulative undergrad numbers are the most important on the app (along with MCAT). The apps also break your GPA down by academic year, ie Fresh/Soph/Junior/Senior/Postbac. A strong upward trend in that breakdown is vital.

 

[Deleted member 237747]

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[Rooni]

So my options are just to do online classes or take more courses in unstructured way. I am not sure how is that viewed in admission process.

George Washington has a new certificate program in public health with microbiology. Has anyone any openion on this certificate program? Will this help to get into MD.

From what I understand, online classes and random community college courses are not viewed as being particularly valuable by adcoms, and in fact may hurt your chances, if it looks like you took a bunch of easy classes to try and boost your GPA. That public health program is probably a better bet. Like DrMidlife said, if you have a 2.7 gpa after four-year program, you will probably need something fairly drastic to boost it up to around a 3.5. If you're set on an American MD program, I would agree with DrMidlife's suggestion of a second bachelor's. If you're open to DO or Carribbean schools, then you have more options.

 

[Deleted member 237747]

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[Perrotfish]

Thanks man for taking the time out to answer me. I like the idea of doing a Special Master program, but problem is that in my area DC Metro Georgetown is the only one for students with premed background and it is very expensive. There is one at American univ but it is for career changers they will not take someone who already has done premed/life science major. For family reason hard for me to move out of this area.

1) When you decided to try for medical school, 'your area' expanded to the entire United States and possibly the Carribbean as well. You need to be prepared to move for this to work, not just for the SMP but also again for medical school itself. I mean, you can try for just in area schools but the odds of you getting in are pretty low. In your area, BTW, there are two other SMPs: at VCU and at EVMS. Maybe you can get close enough to home that you can drive home on the weekends. If you have a more time consuming family obligation that won't work with an SMP anyway.

2) There's no really cheap option here. Not for SMPs, not for medical school applications, and DEFINITELY not for medical schools themselves. I'll freely admit that, if my family hadn't footed the bill, the SMP would have been too much financial risk and I would have moved on to a different career. This process is extremely biased towards rich traditional students and it sucks. If you had gotten a great GPA, of course, you might have had a chance just submitting a couple of applications to your cheap state schools but it's too late to think about that now. You need to be prepared to risk a lot of money you don't have if you want this to work.

3) You need to figure out what caused the terrible undergrad GPA in the first place. Was it something that you can fix? Has it already fixed itself? If not, another year of undergrad (to get your grades high enough for the SMP) might be your best bet to work out what went wrong.

4) I know this can be discouraging. You can do it if you want to. Also please remember that if you choose not to go through the misery, you've already accomplished more (with a college degree) than 80% of the people in this nation ever will.

my suggestions, again, are that you either go for an SMP, go for grade replacement followed by DO, or go to the Carribbean. Good luck.

 

[Rooni]

How does the second under grad degree help? Will it not be the same as doing extra courses at present school or another 4 year college i.e kind of an informal post bacc.Looks all Junior courses for second degree will be added with the Junior courses of the first degree etc, so it is really the same thing when the averages are done. I can not hide first degree yielding low gpa anyway.

Yeah, it would be kind of like an informal post-bacc. The second degree itself wouldn't actually help, it's just a bunch more undergrad classes to help boost your undergrad GPA. I don't know what you mean by "really the same thing when the averages are done," but the idea would be to get really good grades the second time around so that your average GPA ends up higher. Obviously if you get the same grades as you got the first time around, you're just wasting your time. And no, you can't hide the first degree, but if you showed a strong upward trend, I imagine that it would reflect well.

But like Perrotfish said, you have several options. If I were in your position, I would probably go for the DO grade replacement route, but that's just me.

 

[jayzbel2]

Thanks for the info, I was thinking of a second degree myself.

Eek, I did not mean to bump up an old thread, did not even look at the date before posting.

 

[toothsome]

Yes, I am running out of courses at CC, as they become a repeat course for me. My major is premed i.e. I have taken most premed courses already. I googled pos bac programs most seem for career changers, they will just not take someone who is repeating courses to improve GPA or already taken half premeds. In my case I am trying to bump up my GPA after finishing most courses.

I am still searching for alternatives to raise my GPA so that I could be a solid applicant for MD. Any one with ideas? Only thing I could do is repeat all the courses where I had C/D(7-8 of them in 4 years) seems.

You can't major in pre-med.

 

[moneduloides]

You can't major in pre-med.

Actually, there are some schools where 'pre-med' is in fact a major.

This is irrelevant, though; what exactly does this presumed "correction" add to the thread?

 

[toothsome]

Nothing. But I'll share something that is helpful for the OP.

You can take community college classes like you have been. Like people have said it may hurt, however, if you have good reason for taking them financial reasons, only college around you etc, it will not matter at all. just send a letter to the schools that you apply to.

The second degree is a fine option as well but there is really no funding but you as far as the government goes.

Depending on what financial aid you got during college you can apply for up to FIVE years of financial aid. I would contact the college and they will be able to help you. This is not an advertised option you kind of have to ask the financial aid office.