MD & DO cgpa/sgpa 2.2,3.0 WAMC Pre-med

[lovesmondays]

Is there still time to redeem myself?

Age 23/M Asian
Texas Resident

Stats:
cgpa/sgpa 2.2, 3.0 (I've taken 40 credits so far and all are from a cc and I've only taken 2 UL science classes)
Planning to transfer to a 4 year University this fall to major in Psychology and do a DIY post bacc to complete pre requisites for medical school.

cgpa is low due to a medical condition and my immature take on college. Finished freshman year with a bunch of C's and 2 F's. I've already taken steps to improve my studying habits. This past semester I finished with a 3.3 semester average. I am hoping that there is still time to redeem myself.

EC:
200+ hours of volunteering at children's hospital

Clinical Experience:
10,000+ hours of paid clinical experience as a certified hemo-dialysis technician.

MCAT:
I've been studying for at least an hour a day and writing notes on certain areas that I feel needs attention to. I know I have a long way to go before I can actually talk about taking the MCAT but I believe preparing ahead of time doesn't hurt anyone.

Shadowing:
I am having a hard time finding a DO/MD to shadow. I was wondering if becoming a scribe would help my chances and what would be the process of becoming one.

Any kind of advice or tough love would be appreciated! Thank you!

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[Faha]

You need to keep taking undergraduate level courses until you reach the point where both your cGPA and sGPA are above 3.0 and preferably 3.2 or higher. If you then score 500 or higher on the MCAT you could receive interviews at some DO schools. Since this will take at least 2 years that will give you plenty of time to find a DO to shadow.

 

[Forever Geebs]

If you've only taken two science courses, focus your attention on acing remaining classes, ECs, etc. instead of preparing for the MCAT. Like @Faha said above, you're at least two years from being in a position to apply. Texas places a lot of stock in GPA and MCAT scores with the avg matriculant having a GPA of 3.75 (3.64 science) and MCAT score of 509.1 [source: https://www.tmdsas.com/Forms/EY17FinalMedStats.pdf].

 

[lovesmondays]

Thank you both very much for your advice! I do greatly appreciate it and will take into account everything both of you have said. I study 1 hour a day for the MCAT just as a hobby. I do understand it is not a top priority as of now but i feel that if I put in a little time through out the 2 years or so it might just help my chances later on. Thank you both for your replies.

 

[lovesmondays]

Besides everything else...how are my volunteering and clinical experience hours looking? Does it look bad to stop volunteering now if I've reached the desired amount of hours?
Paid clinical vs Volunteer clinical. Is there a big difference?

 

[Forever Geebs]

Keep volunteering. It shows a true commitment to service, which adcoms will notice. Conversely, they will notice if you stopped after accumulating X hours as it may give them the impression you "checked" the box.

Clinical experience is great and doesn't matter whether paid or not.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

You might get autoscreened with a cGPA below 3.0. If you've taken two or three years of undergrad classes with 3.8+ and it's still below that, either apply to medschool or SMPs. Maybe both. The MCAT is really going to determine things here - you've kinda got to crush that to show you've got the academic chops to do well. I'd be shooting for a 515 or better in your shoes.

 

[candbgirl]

If you’ve only taken two science classes why are you studying for the MCAT? You aren’t familiar with the material(at least the science material). You might be better off to up your reading skills .

 

[lovesmondays]

If you’ve only taken two science classes why are you studying for the MCAT? You aren’t familiar with the material(at least the science material). You might be better off to up your reading skills .

I am just going over the psychology/sociolgy/gen bio sections. Not really going full on MCAT mode just yet. Right now my main focus is my GPA. Everything else comes into place later. Thank you

 

[Goro]

Is there still time to redeem myself?

Age 23/M Asian
Texas Resident

Stats:
cgpa/sgpa 2.2, 3.0 (40 credits all from community college) (I've only taken 2 science classes so far)
Planning to transfer to a 4 year University this fall to major in Psychology and do a DIY post bacc to complete pre requisites for medical school.

cgpa is low due to a medical condition and my immature take on college. Finished freshman year with a bunch of C's and 2 F's. I've already taken steps to improve my studying habits. This past semester I finished with a 3.3 semester average. I am hoping that there is still time to redeem myself.

EC:
200+ hours of volunteering at children's hospital

Clinical Experience:
10,000+ hours of paid clinical experience as a certified hemo-dialysis technician.

MCAT:
I've been studying for at least an hour a day and writing notes on certain areas that I feel needs attention to. I know I have a long way to go before I can actually talk about taking the MCAT but I believe preparing ahead of time doesn't hurt anyone.

Shadowing:
I am having a hard time finding a DO/MD to shadow. I was wondering if becoming a scribe would help my chances and what would be the process of becoming one.

Any kind of advice or tough love would be appreciated! Thank you!

Top wasting your time studying for the MCAT and do something more constructive. I'd be very leery of someone who lists "MCAT study" as a hobby.
You have more than enough clinical experience. Time for some non-clinical displays of altruism.
Read this:
Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

 

[candbgirl]

Everyone has kind of glossed over your awful cGPA. You are going to no med school with a 2.2 cGPA. It’s good that you were able to get a 3.3 last semester but as you can probably tell it gets increasingly difficult to move your GPA as you take more classes. You have to start getting all As from this point on. And you’ll probably have to plan on a post bacc or SMP after graduation. So determine if you want to put in the work in classes to do this or maybe find another career. You also need at least 150 hours serving the unserved/underserved. So start looking for opportunities that can meet this mark. And you definitely need shadowing. You need around 50 hours with several hours shadowing a primary care doc. Since nearly everyone has told you to stop studying for the MCAT and you are resistant to that maybe if you think about it in terms of using that hour daily for extra studying for your classes or doing some nonclinical volunteering it would help you. The MCAT isn’t keeping you out of med school but your grades certainly are.

 

[lovesmondays]

Thank you for everyone that has replied. I really do appreciate it.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Don't know if OP will get autoscreened out with a GPA less than 3.0. They'll need to get at least a year of 3.7+ DIY postbacc, maybe two, under their belt, plus a 515+ MCAT and a couple hundred hours of nonclinical volunteering. And some shadowing. An SMP program might be needed, also. If OP's open to DO schools, maybe the SMP wouldn't be necessary.