Are you saying I should pursue a second Bachelors before I apply to SMPs?
Yes. Depending what state you're in, and whether you're considering DO, you might be able to skip the SMP.
Getting another BS doesn't matter. Getting
access to lots of science coursework, with registration priority and maybe some financial aid, and maybe deferred student loans, usually requires being enrolled in a degree-seeking program. Some smart folks get a campus job that allows them to take several classes per semester. The point is to get
access to lots and lots of classes in which you can get A's.
Even with 4.0 coursework for 2 years, it would only raise my GPA to a 3.3.
Correct. There's nothing you can do to get your GPA into competitive range, but you simply
must produce a multi-year mostly-science strong academic performance before you'll be taken seriously as a candidate for a US medical school. One year in an SMP doesn't accomplish this.
Acing an SMP and having an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 is not good enough?
Correct for US MD, unless you are URM or a resident of a state that has lower-tier public medical schools and lets its low stats students in.
Review the web pages for the good SMPs such as Georgetown, Cincinnati, Loyola etc, and review the postbac forum (on SDN down under Interdisciplinary) to find out what your chances are of getting accepted at a good SMP with a 3.0 vs. a 3.3, and to find out what tends to happen after succeeding in those SMPs. Generally you're going to see three classes of SMP students:
1. those who are waitlisted at US MD schools prior to starting the SMP, with stats like 3.4/32, who can reasonably reapply MD during their SMP year.
2. those who have above a 3.0 and above a 30 going into the SMP, who aren't from California, and can apply MD
after completing the SMP, with about a 50% chance of success.
3. those who should not have been accepted to an SMP at all, because they have not shown that they're ready for the work, as evidenced by a sub-3.0 and/or a sub-30. But SMPs
do accept these students, because SMPs bear no responsibility for what happens to their grads. These students rarely do well in the SMP, and even if they do well, and wait to apply MD until after completing the SMP, their MD app cycle tends to be emotionally devastating, and they tend to have some success during a DO app cycle the next year.
Unless you can get into Temple or Tulane ACP (for which you are not qualified; one requires a 3.4 and the other requires a med school waitlist), your chances of getting into an SMP's host med school are 5% to 50%. SMPs at US MD schools tend to include DO and Carib students in their results, such as "80% of our students matriculate into medical school".
In summary, if your underlying academic assets of cuGPA and MCAT can get you past the initial review at US MD schools, you may
then find your SMP work being considered as part of your overall story.
My one and only practice MCAT was 36
Practice exam scores are poorly predictive. If I had a dime for every SDN poster who talks about their practice scores being great and then gets real real quiet after their actual exam, I'd have a whole bunch of dimes.
Measure your MCAT readiness by your ability to answer
any question in
any prep material (such as Examkrackers) on
any subject. Use practice exams to understand timing and to practice strategies.
and I have solid ECs like EMT for 1000+ hours.
Solid ECs are required. Solid ECs will not save you.
Sorry the news isn't better, but having been in your shoes, the less smoke that gets blown up your fanny the better.
Best of luck to you.
