Caribbean school? or postbac/smp

[akakelsy]

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To start, two years of wasting college studies on partying and lacking ambition in life to finally maturing has left me with atrocious grades following me into junior year of university. With a subpar gap 3.15 overall, a 2.3 science gpa. The past is past no need to bash about my younger years, right now my main concern is atoning for these grades:

Bio1/bio2: C+/C-
Chem 1/chem2: C/C- Retook Chem 2: A-
Genetics: C
Cell Phys: C
Biostats: A
OChem1 Lab: B+
Fundamentals of OChem: B-

Is retaking Bio 1/2 a good idea? I am currently enrolled in Ochem 1, plan on finishing Ochem 2 in the summer and I still have 6 upper division biology courses to take as well as physics 1/2 upon finishing my undergrad degree. Any helpful tips/studying/etc from similar others who have been in a position such as I? All is a appreciated!

 

[oybello]

your sGPA is going to hurt you a bit. I think your best option it to either apply D.O or do a postbac. If you can raise your cGPA to 3.45 and your science to ~3.0, then i would say study really hard on your MCAT and get a 30+. You might have a chance at a "lower tier" U.S M.D school then. Don't think carib at this moment

 

[dragonfly99]

Your science grades are not good.
You are still in undergrad at this point so I would say yes, retake biology 1/2 because you need a good foundation for your upper level courses and you need to prove you can do the work on a level with other successful premeds.
You may say you partied away your 1st two years of school, and you may know it is true, but every applicant with lousy grades, you can bet, has a sob story for the admissions committees about why they didn't/couldn't do well. And it is never that they couldn't cut it academically. Some of them might even have a hard luck story about how they had to work 2 jobs and take care of their dying relative and still got B-'s. So you need to do a lot better...before even looking on premed internet forums and thinking about where to apply. Rack up a bunch of A and A-'s and a few volunteer hours in a hospital and check back in 1-1.5 years.

 

[Unzbuzzled]

Your science grades are not good.
You are still in undergrad at this point so I would say yes, retake biology 1/2 because you need a good foundation for your upper level courses and you need to prove you can do the work on a level with other successful premeds.
You may say you partied away your 1st two years of school, and you may know it is true, but every applicant with lousy grades, you can bet, has a sob story for the admissions committees about why they didn't/couldn't do well. And it is never that they couldn't cut it academically. Some of them might even have a hard luck story about how they had to work 2 jobs and take care of their dying relative and still got B-'s. So you need to do a lot better...before even looking on premed internet forums and thinking about where to apply. Rack up a bunch of A and A-'s and a few volunteer hours in a hospital and check back in 1-1.5 years.

^This is good advice. Retake the biology and get As. Then apply to either an SMP like RFU (where I went) or EVMS, or else try the shotgun approach to lower-tier MD schools or DO schools. I would avoid the caribbean because it's tougher to land a good residency, but it's relatively easy if you get into a US MD or DO school.

 

[saurabh16]

^This is good advice. Retake the biology and get As. Then apply to either an SMP like RFU (where I went) or EVMS, or else try the shotgun approach to lower-tier MD schools or DO schools. I would avoid the caribbean because it's tougher to land a good residency, but it's relatively easy if you get into a US MD or DO school.

Hey , umm at my university if I were to repeat a course they do not consider my highest mark but include the grades which i got at first time... so it kind of sucks and useless to repeat a course. What should I do then ?
thanks for the help !!

 

[Shalashaska]

Hey , umm at my university if I were to repeat a course they do not consider my highest mark but include the grades which i got at first time... so it kind of sucks and useless to repeat a course. What should I do then ?
thanks for the help !!

When you retake a class at your school, the grade gets averaged in with everything else. This would be your school's core GPA. Same goes for applying MD, grades get averaged.

DO core GPA calculation is different. If you retake a class and get a higher grade, that is the only grade that is used. So that is what is meant by DO grade replacement.

 

[Unzbuzzled]

I agree w/ shalashaska. I think for DO schools, if you retake a class, the new grades replace the old grades. For MD schools, the old grades stick no matter what on your transcript, although they might average them together. I know this is one large advantage when applying to DO schools. However, you may want to retake those classes anyway, because, even if the old grades stick, you can raise that low science GPA and boost your overall GPA. At this point, you are too low to apply to MD or DO schools right off the bat. So I think your options are to retake Bio and try for DO (still unlikely to get in) or try an SMP program at an MD school. I think that is by far your best option. Even if you still can't get in after your SMP, you'll at least have a masters degree to add to your application. Give the SMP a shot, because its your only shot for a US MD degree. Also, you can probably get into a good SMP without retaking the Bio.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

I would do everything in your power to stay in school retake classes and apply DO.

This is why:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=12645322#post12645322