Career Change Post Bacc - A Realistic Pathway?

[TheWeekendWarrior]

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Hey guys,
First-time poster here and just need some insight from you guys.

Background:
I am 24 years old, and becoming a doctor has been my dream since I was a young boy. As I grew older, I started to dick around, and ended up hanging with the "wrong crowd," so to speak. Anyway, I got into one of the University of California campuses as a Bio major even though I had graduated HS with a 1.9 GPA purely by sheer luck and my SAT scores. Obviously, it's hard to shake bad habits in as little as a summer. So, my subsequent Freshman year was horrific. I flunked out, and dropped out. This was in 2008.

I decided to just work and take classes here and there. I started working weekends as a Microbiologist Analyst at some environmental company. I did this for 2 years while trying to take classes here and there in order to readmit into my university. I've done fairly well taking classes through the Uni's Extension, but I was forced to change my major from a science major to something else. I sort of accepted my fate and just focused on what I was doing: working and taking a few classes here and there. Well, a series of unfortunate events occurred (my cousin drowned, my uncle passed away from cancer, and my father was diagnosed with cancer) and the consequent emotional roller coaster made me reevaluate my life and I've realized the flame has yet to die. I would still do anything to be a doctor.

At the beginning of the year, I used my past micro experience to land a job in a clinical lab, working as a clinical lab assistant. This experience in turn has helped me land another job at a local hospital in their microbiology lab as a Microbiology Lab Tech. I'm still taking classes, and my advisor thinks I should have a pretty good shot in applying for Fall '15 readmission. I did the math, and if I really haul ass and do well in the rest of my classes before I graduate, I can get away with a GPA slightly above a 3.0. I also plan on doing some volunteering at the hospital that just hired me, and possibly taking the GRE.

Now, I'm wondering if I can get into a decent Post Bacc with my stats. :/
I'm really hoping my professional experience might give me an edge, and hopefully my previous mishaps might be "forgiven" by my good grades later on? I have seen that some Post Bacc programs suggest that applicants turn in any SAT, MCAT, or GRE scores?
My SAT scores are as follows:
General: 2180
Biology: 780
Math: 800

Maybe if I do well on the GRE it might also make me a more competitive applicant? All in all, I just need to know if I'm just wasting my time or not. :/

Sorry for the long post.

 

[DrMidlife]

1. "postbac" isn't descriptive enough. you are in need of "substantial additional undergrad for GPA redemption, possibly followed by an SMP"

2. it doesn't make any difference whether you can get into a "postbac" or not. There is nothing you can do to escape your cumulative undergrad GPA, there are no erasers, and no program is going to take care of this situation.

3. all that micro lab whatever isn't going to make any difference in med school admissions because your GPA will be more than 2 std devs below average. get to know your competition.

If you want to go to med school from a sub-3.0, you need to produce a MULTIPLE YEAR 3.7+ undergrad performance. And that still leaves you with a poor cumulative undergrad GPA. No guarantee whatever that you'll get into med school after doing a boatload of work and spending a boatload of money to try to redeem your GPA.

So you should make friends with DO, so you can get some relief with retake forgiveness.

Your premed adviser, like 99.9% of premed advisers, has no idea what to do with you, and his/her advice is useless. Premed advisers are barely competent with high stats premeds.

What you do now, if you're serious, is read and read and read the treasure trove of SDN. Nobody is going to figure this out for you.

Best of luck to you.