Career options for senior with 2.3 GPA

[BallisLife08]

Hello All,

Asking for a friend who is a 4th year senior in undergraduate, psychology major with a 2.3 overall GPA with 1.89 science GPA (1.64 if you include repeat courses taken) and 2.50 non-science GPA. Reasons for poor grades: too much partying, not caring as much or passively learning, cramming for exams, etc. MCAT this past summer was 493. She is non-URM.

Med school is out of the question but she is still interested in a healthcare profession.
What options does she have? She is interested in podiatry, nursing, or basically any healthcare profession with some sort of job security.

She is not declaring for graduating and planning on retaking the science courses she did poorly in maybe for another year. What career options are available to her regarding her GPA? What steps would she need to take? Her advisor already said post-bach programs wont really help much. She called a bunch of podiatry schools that said to retake the science courses and do well in them. Assuming she aces those classes is it realistic to assume she'd have a chance at podiatry school?

If healthcare is completely out of the question, which I anticipate would be the case (if it's not already) where she starts re-taking the courses and still is unable to do well. In that case, what other careers can one go into? There are other underlying issues that need to be addressed such as studying habits, time management, etc but assuming those are fixed, what can she do?

Sorry if this is in the wrong thread but I figured I'd get the most responses from the pre-med people.

Any advice or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

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[deleted915153]

I think most careers are out of the question until she retakes the classes and bumps up her GPA. If she shows an upward trend, and can explain she made mistakes and is more mature now it would help. For podiatry school she would need to take the MCAT. If she absolutely destroys the MCAT, and the retakes significantly boost her grade there's a chance.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

She should maybe look into paralegal work. Nursing school is possible. A psychology degree with a 2.3 is not worth the paper its written on.

 

[doc05]

Hello All,

Asking for a friend who is a 4th year senior in undergraduate, psychology major with a 2.3 overall GPA with 1.89 science GPA (1.64 if you include repeat courses taken) and 2.50 non-science GPA. Reasons for poor grades: too much partying, not caring as much or passively learning, cramming for exams, etc. She took the MCAT this past summer and scored a 500. She is non-URM.

Med school is out of the question but she is still interested in a healthcare profession.
What options does she have? She is interested in podiatry, nursing, or basically any healthcare profession with some sort of job security.

She is not declaring for graduating and planning on retaking the science courses she did poorly in maybe for another year. What career options are available to her regarding her GPA? What steps would she need to take? Her advisor already said post-bach programs wont really help much. She called a bunch of podiatry schools that said to retake the science courses and do well in them. Assuming she aces those classes is it realistic to assume she'd have a chance at podiatry school?

If healthcare is completely out of the question, which I anticipate would be the case (if it's not already) where she starts re-taking the courses and still is unable to do well. In that case, what other careers can one go into? There are other underlying issues that need to be addressed such as studying habits, time management, etc but assuming those are fixed, what can she do?

Sorry if this is in the wrong thread but I figured I'd get the most responses from the pre-med people.

Any advice or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

Why a healthcare field? Makes no sense. Med school will never happen. Science gpa is terrible, she won't get into podiatry school.

Nursing? Not a field for someone who ".. not caring".

College isn't for everyone. Maybe join the military.

 

[Dr.Housexoxo]

I think most healthcare careers are out of the question unless she is willing to reinvent herself ....... and She will definitely need more than a year to do this

 

[ciestar]

Honestly? Nursing for sure isn’t out of the question. Look into community colleges with Associates Degrees in Nursing. Ace that and then she can practice as an RN and maybe down the road enroll into RN to BSN programs if she wants a bachelors.

 

[candbgirl]

I don’t know where everyone lives but it is really hard to get into nursing schools around here. This person would have a difficult time gaining admission to a RN program. How is she even eligible for graduation with her GPA? Maybe she should visit the career counseling center and see if they can give her some career testing and see what she’d be good at.

 

[500miles]

I don’t know where everyone lives but it is really hard to get into nursing schools around here. This person would have a difficult time gaining admission to a RN program. How is she even eligible for graduation with her GPA? Maybe she should visit the career counseling center and see if they can give her some career testing and see what she’d be good at.

Definitely this. My schools nursing program was as competitive as premed. It was crazy, you needed an awesome gpa to get a spot. Maybe it's not like that everywhere, but a lot of the other medical fields are still incredibly competitive

 

[de Ribas]

I doubt you can get into nursing with GPA below 3.0

All prerequisites have to be with C or above. Some programs only accept B or above.

Nursing is competitive as well. My sister was put on a waitlist with 4.0 when she applied years ago. It was associates program, but students all over the state went there because they couldn't get in at their cities. Nursing is competitive. Even if you get in, it's hard to get through. Where my sister went to school you can only pass a class if you get 82.5%. Even if you get 82.4%, you fail. I am not joking. You only get to retake course only once and have to lose 1 semester.

It's not easy. 25 students started with her and only 8 survived until the end.

 

[de Ribas]

It was crazy, you needed an awesome gpa to get a spot.

Its true. One of the programs where I live has average of 3.52 cGPA and 3.7 GPA for prerequisites.

 

[SuaveCardigans]

she should probably take a break from school, get any job she can to support herself, and try to experience life a bit before deciding if she should go back

 

[500miles]

Its true. One of the programs where I live has average of 3.52 cGPA and 3.7 GPA for prerequisites.

I remember taking A&P with the people trying to get Into the nursing program and it was brutal. Most of them had atleast GPS
A like your talking about if not better and still didnt get in. I remember a girl saying she was retaking an A- because all the other applicants had like a 3.9. It was honestly probably harder to get into that nursing school than to get into a med school somewhere.

 

[ciestar]

I don’t know where everyone lives but it is really hard to get into nursing schools around here. This person would have a difficult time gaining admission to a RN program. How is she even eligible for graduation with her GPA? Maybe she should visit the career counseling center and see if they can give her some career testing and see what she’d be good at.

Not where I am from. Like I said, community college. I thought about nursing and it was the easiest route to an RN. They didn’t even ASK for my transcripts from my UG and did allow you to start your nursing pre-reqs completely over. Granted, you still had to have tops grades in these pre-reqs and apply after you took them, but no, not all programs are hard to get into. I know California is an enormous exception to this.

 

[DubbiDoctor]

Honestly? Nursing for sure isn’t out of the question. Look into community colleges with Associates Degrees in Nursing. Ace that and then she can practice as an RN and maybe down the road enroll into RN to BSN programs if she wants a bachelors.

And then she can get an online DNP, and practice primary care medicine independently.

 

[de Ribas]

And then she can get an online DNP, and practice primary care medicine independently.

 

[Catalystik]

Asking for a friend who is a 4th year senior in undergraduate, psychology major with a 2.3 overall GPA with 1.89 science GPA (1.64 if you include repeat courses taken) and 2.50 non-science GPA. Reasons for poor grades: too much partying, not caring as much or passively learning, cramming for exams, etc. MCAT this past summer was 493. She is non-URM.

Med school is out of the question but she is still interested in a healthcare profession.
What options does she have? She is interested in podiatry, nursing, or basically any healthcare profession with some sort of job security.

One of my classmates got into a chiropractic school with GPAs lower than that.

 

[SangriaSalsa]

2.3 Psychology major? My God. Why did she even take the MCAT? She will need to take legit science pre-req's and do well and then consider her options

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

I gotta say tho, 500 mcat is kinda impressive given the situation

 

[BallisLife08]

I gotta say tho, 500 mcat is kinda impressive given the situation

It was actually 493. So yeah..

 

[BallisLife08]

Appreciate everyone's feed back thus far. Many thanks!

 

[pug49]

Lol no way this is real

 

[Alt+Doc]

Hello All,

Asking for a friend who is a 4th year senior in undergraduate, psychology major with a 2.3 overall GPA with 1.89 science GPA (1.64 if you include repeat courses taken) and 2.50 non-science GPA. Reasons for poor grades: too much partying, not caring as much or passively learning, cramming for exams, etc. MCAT this past summer was 493. She is non-URM.

Med school is out of the question but she is still interested in a healthcare profession.
What options does she have? She is interested in podiatry, nursing, or basically any healthcare profession with some sort of job security.

She is not declaring for graduating and planning on retaking the science courses she did poorly in maybe for another year. What career options are available to her regarding her GPA? What steps would she need to take? Her advisor already said post-bach programs wont really help much. She called a bunch of podiatry schools that said to retake the science courses and do well in them. Assuming she aces those classes is it realistic to assume she'd have a chance at podiatry school?

If healthcare is completely out of the question, which I anticipate would be the case (if it's not already) where she starts re-taking the courses and still is unable to do well. In that case, what other careers can one go into? There are other underlying issues that need to be addressed such as studying habits, time management, etc but assuming those are fixed, what can she do?

Sorry if this is in the wrong thread but I figured I'd get the most responses from the pre-med people.

Any advice or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

Why not try something like Clinical Research or Drug Safety?

 

[med2345]

Throw podiatry out of the question. There’s no way. I got accepted to pod this year and there are people with 2.5-3.0 and rejected by all schools. Not even close.

I’d say nursing

 

[ChymeofPassion]

Mixologist

 

[Rooster Booster]

Definitely this. My schools nursing program was as competitive as premed. It was crazy, you needed an awesome gpa to get a spot. Maybe it's not like that everywhere, but a lot of the other medical fields are still incredibly competitive

Same at my school as well, super competitive.

 

[500miles]

It was actually 493. So yeah..

Ouch

Throw podiatry out of the question. There’s no way. I got accepted to pod this year and there are people with 2.5-3.0 and rejected by all schools. Not even close.

I’d say nursing

No. To the nursing. I dont know why people think you can just waltz into a nursing program.

 

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

One of my classmates got into a chiropractic school with GPAs lower than that.

Alan Harper?

 

[Jdoxis]

Lab tech somewhere

 

[dr_kateb]

Cadaver?

 

[LizzyM]

Does she like working with people? Maybe esthetician ? Providing skin treatments in a spa? License is required in some places. It would be possible to work up to a management position in a spa or office. In-store sales consultant in the industry (promoting laser treatments and the like).

If she prefers computers to people, perhaps something in the regulatory field. There are jobs in regulation of human and animal research, for example, that do hire and train on the job.

 

[deleted466839]

She is getting a psych degree - but she can make my plan work. First she should try to break in as a data manager/clinical research assistant in a center that performs clinical trials (cancer centers are a great place to look into this). I have seen people with a variety of degrees get this type of position. Once she gains some experience there, she should break into the pharmaceutical industry as a clinical trial associate and work her way up. Once you get your foot in pharma and continue to do well, the sky is the limit. Clinical trial associate - > assistant project lead -> project lead -> associate director -> director -> vice president -> senior vice president...etc. I am in the pharmaceutical industry right now, and pretty much followed the path I listed above. After a YEAR of working in pharma, I had my performance evaluation recently, got a 13% raise and a 11% bonus, and am pretty damn near to making six figs. And keep in mind - just ONE year in pharma at a low level position and JUST got promoted to the level above. So she can work out a nice path for herself - I am just more worried about whether she will be allowed to graduate.

edit - LizzyM brought to attention that minimum GPA to graduate is a 2.0 - so I guess she is about to run out that college and never look back! haha!

 

[LizzyM]

She has a 2.3 GPA. Isn't a 2.0 the minimum to graduate undergrad? I don't know why her ability to graduate is being called into question.

 

[deleted466839]

She has a 2.3 GPA. Isn't a 2.0 the minimum to graduate undergrad? I don't know why her ability to graduate is being called into question.

Oh nice - then she is all set to graduate this spring!

 

[mwsapphire]

I don’t know where everyone lives but it is really hard to get into nursing schools around here. This person would have a difficult time gaining admission to a RN program. How is she even eligible for graduation with her GPA? Maybe she should visit the career counseling center and see if they can give her some career testing and see what she’d be good at.

I'm pretty sure you only need a 2.0 or higher to merely graduate, it's just that graduate school won't be possible.

 

[de Ribas]

She has a 2.3 GPA. Isn't a 2.0 the minimum to graduate undergrad? I don't know why her ability to graduate is being called into question.

What about if major core required courses are failed with an F? Would they still graduate if they got 2.3?

 

[theKingLT]

If she's dead set on medicine have her look into an emt basic program. If she does that and likes it she can work full time while getting her paramedic. Careers as a paramedic don't have a ton of options for upward movement (flight medic or administrative work come to mind) but if you find a service that is short on medics you can get a lot of overtime pay and maybe a prn gig on the side. Can make really good money that way for paying off loans. if she needs to support a family a paramedic or firefighter salary by itself is enough to live comfortably (at least in low cost of living towns)

 

[mwsapphire]

What about if major core required courses are failed with an F? Would they still graduate if they got 2.3?

They would have to retake the class to pass it, dude, this really isn't hard. People with <3.0 GPA's graduate, its just to use pre meds that seems nuts to us.

 

[787593]

Hello All,

Asking for a friend who is a 4th year senior in undergraduate, psychology major with a 2.3 overall GPA with 1.89 science GPA (1.64 if you include repeat courses taken) and 2.50 non-science GPA. Reasons for poor grades: too much partying, not caring as much or passively learning, cramming for exams, etc. MCAT this past summer was 493. She is non-URM.

Med school is out of the question but she is still interested in a healthcare profession.
What options does she have? She is interested in podiatry, nursing, or basically any healthcare profession with some sort of job security.

She is not declaring for graduating and planning on retaking the science courses she did poorly in maybe for another year. What career options are available to her regarding her GPA? What steps would she need to take? Her advisor already said post-bach programs wont really help much. She called a bunch of podiatry schools that said to retake the science courses and do well in them. Assuming she aces those classes is it realistic to assume she'd have a chance at podiatry school?

If healthcare is completely out of the question, which I anticipate would be the case (if it's not already) where she starts re-taking the courses and still is unable to do well. In that case, what other careers can one go into? There are other underlying issues that need to be addressed such as studying habits, time management, etc but assuming those are fixed, what can she do?

Sorry if this is in the wrong thread but I figured I'd get the most responses from the pre-med people.

Any advice or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

McDonald’s is hiring

 

[de Ribas]

They would have to retake the class to pass it, dude, this really isn't hard. People with <3.0 GPA's graduate, its just to use pre meds that seems nuts to us.

I know that. I was just saying that overall GPA is not the only thing that is important to graduate. Individuals grades for major courses are also important. So, it's not the fact that OP will even graduate with 2.3

 

[24GaugeEJ]

If she’s dead set on healthcare, then nursing. Yes, some of the large university programs are somewhat competitive but it’s not as if there is a dearth of community college and online nursing programs. Having sat on a peer interview committee at an emergency department, as long as you have your RN, regardless of the path taken, you’ve got just as good a shot as the next person. Some, maybe even most, of the very best nurses I’ve met either had or started with an ASN. After that, RN->BSN programs are laughably easy and only take a year. Many hospitals offer tuition reimbursement, provided you’re willing to work there for a couple years. From there, the sky is the limit: get an online MSN/NP, DNP, administrative positions, etc...

Same thing with the prehospital route. Take an EMT-basic class, then work while getting your paramedic; I (and most of the folks in my class) got my start in healthcare this way. As someone above said, there’s not much upward mobility but it is fun and interesting.

Otherwise, I’d go with LizzyM’s advice.

 

[24GaugeEJ]

Ouch


No. To the nursing. I dont know why people think you can just waltz into a nursing program.

It might not be the top private school in the area, but you most certainly can. I know many people who have done just that - either coming from other fields or from backgrounds like the OP’s friend - and have done extremely well. As I and others have stated above, the most cost effective route is to search out community colleges and online programs, start with an ASN (or even LPN —> ASN, as one of my friends has done), get a job somewhere as an RN where there is tuition reimbursement, and do a transition program to a BSN. These programs exist and are designed for people who are already out in the workforce and trying to improve their lives or move in a new direction.

There are even paramedic to RN programs out there. Just have to look around.

Edit: didn’t mean to sound snotty, and sorry if I did — just in favor of second chances, particularly after having met some good examples of people who started off like OP’s friend and then got into great careers in nursing after taking some non traditional pathways.

 

[de Ribas]

It might not be the top private school in the area, but you most certainly can. I know many people who have done just that - either coming from other fields or from backgrounds like the OP’s friend - and have done extremely well. As I and others have stated above, the most cost effective route is to search out community colleges and online programs, start with an ASN (or even LPN —> ASN, as one of my friends has done), get a job somewhere as an RN where there is tuition reimbursement, and do a transition program to a BSN. These programs exist and are designed for people who are already out in the workforce and trying to improve their lives or move in a new direction.

There are even paramedic to RN programs out there. Just have to look around.

Edit: didn’t mean to sound snotty, and sorry if I did — just in favor of second chances, particularly after having met some good examples of people who started off like OP’s friend and then got into great careers in nursing after taking some non traditional pathways.

I belive in second chances, but what makes one think that if I slacked for 4 years in psychology, that I would wake up one day and do well in a nursing program. Nursing programs are not easy. Not easier than psychology major for sure. If that person doesn't change habits and become responsible, I don't want to see that nurse anywhere around me. They can cause many troubles.

What makes one think that if a person was irresponsible and not disciplined, then when they become RN they will become good nurses.

I have worked in a nursing department and have seen how many can lose their license just for being stupid. So, getting an RN is not the end.

Again, I am for people having second chances and turning the things around, but it doesn't come easy.

 

[24GaugeEJ]

I belive in second chances, but what makes one think that if I slacked for 4 years in psychology, that I would wake up one day and do well in a nursing program. Nursing programs are not easy. Not easier than psychology major for sure. If that person doesn't change habits and become responsible, I don't want to see that nurse anywhere around me. They can cause many troubles.

What makes one think that if a person was irresponsible and not disciplined, then when they become RN they will become good nurses.

I have worked in a nursing department and have seen how many can lose their license just for being stupid. So, getting an RN is not the end.

Again, I am for people having second chances and turning the things around, but it doesn't come easy.

Completely agree. I expressed myself poorly and incompletely.

 

[libertyyne]

One of my classmates got into a chiropractic school with GPAs lower than that.

You must really dislike the op if you are suggesting chiropractic school.

There are shady direct to np programs that will take anyone with a pulse.

op it seems like your friend should just find any job she can. She could always apply to the customer service and management side of medicine.

Another thing Is the radiology tech program.

Short program at a cc and you can start working. Pay can reach six figures with ot.

 

[jconnell82760]

I agree with basically everything stated above, however I think some options have been neglected. There are a ton of 6 month to 2 year programs out there for basically any "tech" work in medicine that you could imagine. Radiology tech, ultrasound tech, surgical tech, nuclear medicine tech, and radiation therapist are all ones that come to mind. With these degrees you can be working with patients, making good money, and have job security for sure.

 

[Adem Jashari]

I’m not sure if it was mentioned already, but she can go to Medical school in the Caribbean, I’m pretty sure they’ll accept her, and then if she studied hard enough she may have a chance at becoming a doctor!

 

[libertyyne]

I’m not sure if it was mentioned already, but she can go to Medical school in the Caribbean, I’m pretty sure they’ll accept her, and then if she studied hard enough she may have a chance at becoming a doctor!

With an MCAT of 493 I wouldnt be suggesting going to the carib considering she would still have to do very well on STEP 1 to even have a chance of coming back and practicing.

 

[dr_kateb]

With an MCAT of 493 I wouldnt be suggesting going to the carib considering she would still have to do very well on STEP 1 to even have a chance of coming back and practicing.

But according to some people MCAT and GPA aren't good predictors of med school success...

 

[Isoval]

But according to some people MCAT and GPA aren't good predictors of med school success...

Those people are stupid.

After a certain point? Sure. But you’re not going to magically do well in medical school after you almost failed out of college. Discussion over.

 

[libertyyne]

But according to some people MCAT and GPA aren't good predictors of med school success...

People can say what they want. There is a reason adcoms at md schools rely on mcat and gpa as predictors for completion of medical school. Now is there a chance that 493, 2.3 gpa person can make it through medical school and pass all the boards and score a 250 on step? Sure , but i would take the opposite bet, as would any other adcom at an MD school.