class advice after bad grade

[jskenmore]

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hey guys,

using my brothers account who said this place is very helpful, so here it goes:

I go to a very good undergrad school and am now a second semester senior. I have done very poorly in a few classes, but ok in others. my overall GPA is a 3.3 currently. I scored a 27 on the MCAT.

My issue is that I did really poorly in some of the premed classes (Bio B+/C, Chem B+/B+, Physics A/C+, Orgo B-/D+). My question is what should I do now? I am ok with going to a Caribbean medical school, but are those grades even good enough to get into an SGU/Ross?

Should i retake the classes I did really poorly in somewhere else, or should I enroll in a formal postbacc or masters program? If postbacc, are there programs that will let me retake just the classes I did very badly in, or are post baccs just for people who have never taken any science courses?

Very confused, and my advisor at school has been of no help! Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Ranna]

Have you considered applying to DO schools? Retaking a few of the sciences classes you did poorly in will bump up your GPA (DO schools replace grades from retaken courses instead of averaging them) and your MCAT is competitive for DO schools.

 

[jskenmore]

do all DO schools do this or just a few? also, I want to avoid DO schools. I'd rather have the stigma of an MD from an international school than a DO which some countries don't acknowledge

 

[s1lver]

SMP time? And you better get a 4.0 this time...

 

[ucsfstudents]

Do a postbac. Shoot for A's. Show the adcom that you can handle a large amount of tough material. Be careful not to repeat the same mistakes you made in your premed courses -- i.e. you need to figure out why you did poorly and make sure it doesn't happen again. Good luck.

 

[Buttermellow]

I would retake the D+ course, and retake the MCAT if applying to MD schools.

 

[jskenmore]

Do a postbac. Shoot for A's. Show the adcom that you can handle a large amount of tough material. Be careful not to repeat the same mistakes you made in your premed courses -- i.e. you need to figure out why you did poorly and make sure it doesn't happen again. Good luck.

I'd be fine with doing a postbac, but which postbac programs. My understanding was that postbac programs are for those who have not taken any of the science recs ever or the MCAT. Is this not true?

 

[Ignatius M.D.]

I'd be fine with doing a postbac, but which postbac programs. My understanding was that postbac programs are for those who have not taken any of the science recs ever or the MCAT. Is this not true?

There are "academic enhancer" post-bac programs. Here's a good link to search from:

http://services.aamc.org/postbac/

In my opinion it would be better to take the extra year or so to get a solid foundation in pre-reqs (Mostly A's and some B's perhaps) and get the MCAT to a 30 or higher. There are a good amount of people with 3.3 GPA that get in to allopathic schools, but they generally have 33+ MCAT. There is that graph from the AAMC that shows the percentages. The one that Catalystik frequently links. Search the "What Are My Chances?" section on SDN

 

[Political]

Do a post bacc and strive for A's in upper level science classes, you should also retake orgo II, if i remember correctly med schools dont like anything less then a c in prereqs, and you should also post in the what are my chances forum.

 

[QuizzicalApe]

do all DO schools do this or just a few? also, I want to avoid DO schools. I'd rather have the stigma of an MD from an international school than a DO which some countries don't acknowledge

If you plan on practicing in one of those countries and don't need or want a spot in a US residency program, keep international MD schools on your list.

If you plan on practicing in the US and can't drag up your GPA/MCAT to be more competitive at MD schools, keep DO schools on your list.

Carribean med schools should never be your first, second, or third choice.