Could Use Some Input, Please?

[Scattered1984]

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I guess I should give you guys a little background information. I am a first generation college student that graduated in 2006 with a degree in psychology with a minor in biology. Upon graduation, I had all the medical school pre-reqs, but acknowledged the fact that I was nowhere near competitve (2.98GPA, 22MCAT, & a Science GPA better left unsaid.) There's not much I can really say about the GPA without sounding like a whiner.

However, I can say this. I did not spend my time partying (...Looking back now, I wish I could say that...). I did not have too many horrifically terrible events that affected my life. Simply put, undergrad was the first time that I was challeged academically and had to find out that my high school preparation was sub-par the hard way. I worked my behind off and I admit it hurt not to see any improvement despite giving it my all.

After moping and wondering aimlessly for about two years, I decided to take my head out of my behind and do something. That something was to apply to PA school for Fall 2010. To raise my GPA, I retook general chemistry and added micro and genetics to my transcripts. I also took a job as a nursing assistant to readily gain that direct patient contact experience and have done shadowing with a PA and DO.

The end result was one interview (...With Duke though...yay...my app. couldn't have sucked that bad...) and eight rejections with the advice of an admissions committee member to take some more biological sciences. As a result, I took a five week biochemistry course and came out with an A- bringing my science GPA up to a 3.18.

This brings me to the present. I'm 26 and I probably now count as a nontraditional student. I do plan on reapplying to some PA schools. But for some reason that biochemistry course lit a spark in me. The detail, the intensity, and the pressure has brought back some of the confidence and fight I had lost. For 2012, I plan on putting in some med school applications along side those PA applications.

Now this is where the confusion comes in. I have no freaking clue where to go from here. Retaking the MCAT is a no brainer. However, my science GPA may be some cause for concern. The easiest answer would be to take more science classes. The problem now is that there is very little left for me to take unless I go up to graduate level. I don't know if getting a master's degree in something else is really worth it.

In short, I'm walking around in circles and could really use someone to bounce ideas off because time surely isn't waiting on me.

 

[newt0n]

I have done my fair share of research. But in no way do I even resemble nor try to resemble a credible source. However, from what I have read it would be my recommendation that you either take more classes to up your cGPA or re take the classes and apply for DO schools rather than MD schools. The later is probably your best bet from what you have stated. I hope this in some way helped you.

 

[Rollo]

I agree with looking into DO school as an option. DO schools will only count your recently taken course grade and calculate it for their GPA. That means you can potentially have a high GPA if you re-took some of the classes in which you did bad.

Other than that, what about research? You should think about getting involved in lab (even a clinical one) somewhere to show that you're serious about medical school.

 

[silas2642]

I guess I should give you guys a little background information. I am a first generation college student that graduated in 2006 with a degree in psychology with a minor in biology. Upon graduation, I had all the medical school pre-reqs, but acknowledged the fact that I was nowhere near competitve (2.98GPA, 22MCAT, & a Science GPA better left unsaid.) There's not much I can really say about the GPA without sounding like a whiner.

However, I can say this. I did not spend my time partying (...Looking back now, I wish I could say that...). I did not have too many horrifically terrible events that affected my life. Simply put, undergrad was the first time that I was challeged academically and had to find out that my high school preparation was sub-par the hard way. I worked my behind off and I admit it hurt not to see any improvement despite giving it my all.

After moping and wondering aimlessly for about two years, I decided to take my head out of my behind and do something. That something was to apply to PA school for Fall 2010. To raise my GPA, I retook general chemistry and added micro and genetics to my transcripts. I also took a job as a nursing assistant to readily gain that direct patient contact experience and have done shadowing with a PA and DO.

The end result was one interview (...With Duke though...yay...my app. couldn't have sucked that bad...) and eight rejections with the advice of an admissions committee member to take some more biological sciences. As a result, I took a five week biochemistry course and came out with an A- bringing my science GPA up to a 3.18.

This brings me to the present. I'm 26 and I probably now count as a nontraditional student. I do plan on reapplying to some PA schools. But for some reason that biochemistry course lit a spark in me. The detail, the intensity, and the pressure has brought back some of the confidence and fight I had lost. For 2012, I plan on putting in some med school applications along side those PA applications.

Now this is where the confusion comes in. I have no freaking clue where to go from here. Retaking the MCAT is a no brainer. However, my science GPA may be some cause for concern. The easiest answer would be to take more science classes. The problem now is that there is very little left for me to take unless I go up to graduate level. I don't know if getting a master's degree in something else is really worth it.

In short, I'm walking around in circles and could really use someone to bounce ideas off because time surely isn't waiting on me.

Well, you have a couple of options. As you most likely know, the biggest obstacle for you right now is getting past the med school screening process- your gpa and mcat are both very low, which is a double whammy, bringing into question whether or not you will be able to handle the rigors of med school.

I think that you have a couple of options here. The first thing I would do is consider whether or not you think re-taking some of the basic science courses would be beneficial for you-- I don't know what your grades were, if you learned anything, etc. If I recall, AMCAS averages the two grades of classes that are repeated and so this could also help you bring up your gpa.

If you feel that your "basic science" knowledge is sufficient, you could also consider doing a post-bac or a special master's program. You could take some upper level science courses, nail them and then move on from there. An SMP may be trickier because I don't know how competitive you would be for these prorams. They're also very expensive and if you don't perform well in the med school courses, you've basically nailed your coffin shut.

As you know, you're definitely going to have to re-take the mcat if you want to be seriously considered anywhere. I would encourage you to take a Kaplan course to prepare because you can't afford to have another poor performance. I would advise you against taking this exam again until you can perform very well (>30) on it.