I listen to everyone who doesn't live in the past with "you should have done x, y,and z" tyvm and can actually give solid non-discouraging advice, hence the taking it with a grain of salt. I give you dudes props a ton of advice particularly a lot about volunteering and school selection, but a lot stuff is overwhelming negative on this sight and sets you up for failure, hence my "not listening". I'm not letting anyone especially on a website sell me short.
I encourage and listen to everything worthwhile, doesn't mean I have to follow everything said on this site either.
I owe my medical school acceptance to two things... SDN... and *drumroll* my pre-med advisor!!! I think SDN goes a few different ways. There is definitely great information out there, but there are also people that are pushing you to go above and beyond things you'd need to do. What inspired me to create my recent large threads about getting into medical school are because I think SDN might do certain things wrong. For example, I feel like there is a common mentality on SDN where pre-meds are expected to make this into a meaningful journey. I think that type of reasoning sets some people up for failure, because they will be pressured into getting a high MCAT score and grades, all while feeling even more pressured to do 1000+ volunteering hours over numerous commitments. On the contrary, my pre-med advisor told me what classes to take, and what ECs to get involved in. By combining what he said along with some stuff on SDN, I did very well. I may not have done everything I was supposed to be passionate about according to this site, but I got an acceptance, and that's all that matters. In my opinion, if there was an area between what SDN and what pre-med advisors say, then that would be a happy place. Otherwise, it's easy to get stressed out because you feel so inadequate compared to others on this site. In some cases that might be good, because you're forced to bring out the best game possible. In some cases that might be bad, because you try to do too many things, and end up destroying your grades and MCAT (think doing too many ECs to stay competitive).
As for the OP, you can go two routes:
1.
DO and grade forgiveness - This would be the least risky route. Just retake your worst classes. With AACOMAS, your old grades are entirely replaced for
all DO schools.
2.
MD school and SMP - This is a far riskier route. But if you have a good MCAT and get straight-A's in an SMP, you should be able to get into an MD school. If you blow your chances, then it's all over.
You might want to beef up your ECs, and try to go with a specific service-focus. I know some service-focused schools will accept people with lower stats assuming you have some killer ECs to offer which are in line with their mission statement.
