Decade Old Grades

[ledeux]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi Everyone,

I'm having a hard time deciding if I should both taking my MCATs because even with a high score, I'm not sure how medical schools would view me. I apologize ahead of time for the long winded background story, but I think it's relevant to the overall situation.

A little bit about me. I'm currently 34 years old. Right out of high school I went into the military and did my time in the Marine Corps. After which I made the mistake of attending an expensive private school while trying to work full time (GI Bill didn't cover all my expenses). Needless to say I dropped out after 1 year with some pretty crummy grades. After that I attended two community colleges: one California community college, one in Massachusetts. Both were also not very stellar. All of these were as an econ major.

Fast forward 10 years. I've had a successful career as a software engineer and entrepreneur. In that time I've co-founded and sold a technology company and have enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life (and if I make it, graduate from medical school debt free). I've got experience working overseas and managing dozens of engineers. However, I realized that what I really want to do is help people and have some sort of positive effect on peoples lives in a tangible way. I enrolled in a California community college as a biology major and have maintained a 3.8 GPA (one year of chem w/ lab, one year of organic chem w/ lab, one year bio w/ lab, calc 1 +2) with 76 credits - all from this one institution. I've done all of this while working near-full time running a small app development company.

I'll be applying a few schools in the UC system as a transfer student, and hope to one day move on to medical school. My question is, how will admissions committees view my rocky academic past from more than a decade ago? Will my current grades and life experience outweigh that as long as I have a solid (~3.8) GPA and a good MCAT score, or will my previous schooling weigh in heavily am I'm just living a pipe dream here? None of the previous schooling credits are transferred into my current degree. If you did blend those scores in, I'm down to near a 2.8.

Thanks!

 

[PsychoSocioBioArtistMD]

I think you will have a solid shot, but the screening process may hurt you at some schools.

I recommend that you directly call some admissions offices at medical schools you like to see if you can find out more. If you are in Cali, set up a meeting in person with local admissions to discuss options.



Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[ledeux]

I think you will have a solid shot, but the screening process may hurt you at some schools.

I recommend that you directly call some admissions offices at medical schools you like to see if you can find out more. If you are in Cali, set up a meeting in person with local admissions to discuss options.

I was pretty sure it would hurt me, but I'm OK with an uphill battle as long as I know it's not a non-starter. I originally wasn't even planning on including my previous transcripts, but I don't want to chance it and be thrown out of medical school for academic dishonesty later on.

 

[Wiggly Tuff Da Ruff]

I was pretty sure it would hurt me, but I'm OK with an uphill battle as long as I know it's not a non-starter. I originally wasn't even planning on including my previous transcripts, but I don't want to chance it and be thrown out of medical school for academic dishonesty later on.

You have to include all of your college level work. You can do it tho. Even if md schools refused you a chance do schools would definitely give you a solid shot because of grade replacement. Best of luck to you 🙂

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

Even with a compelling life story, very old grades, and solid current grades you will need to get at least a 3.0 cGPA to avoid getting screened out.
On the plus side, you can always retake your classes that you took the first time and apply DO (they will replace the old grade with the new one)

It's an uphill battle, and one I've gone through so if you'd like to talk about it in depth feel free to message me.

 

[Catalystik]

My question is, how will admissions committees view my rocky academic past from more than a decade ago? Will my current grades and life experience outweigh that as long as I have a solid (~3.8) GPA and a good MCAT score, or will my previous schooling weigh in heavily am I'm just living a pipe dream here? None of the previous schooling credits are transferred into my current degree. If you did blend those scores in, I'm down to near a 2.8.

Adcomms have a soft spot for ex-military, even those with long-ago dismal academics, so long as recent coursework is strong and a decent MCAT score is demonstrated. You'd also need the usual and customary clinical experience interacting with patients, physician shadowing, and (probably) more recent altruistic endeavors, since your military service was some time back. While we've seen sub-3.0 GPAers get an acceptance, it's true that your chances will be better if you can pass the 3.0 barrier (when all grades are included) so you won't be subject to computer auto-screenouts.

 

[ledeux]

Well after doing a bit of math, my final cGPA would end up being about a 2.85 with my sGPA being 3.7 ... cGPA would be even lower @ the time of application (2.77). The issue is those 10 year old grades are F's that weren't turned into W's in time (had to leave school twice due to family/medical issues).

It's my own fault for not knowing about having to submit all transcripts with med school apps / national student clearinghouse when I started school again two years ago. I think it's just time to cut my losses because there's close to no chance I'd ever get into an MD school.

 

[Catalystik]

Well after doing a bit of math, my final cGPA would end up being about a 2.85 with my sGPA being 3.7 ... cGPA would be even lower @ the time of application (2.77). The issue is those 10 year old grades are F's that weren't turned into W's in time (had to leave school twice due to family/medical issues).

It's my own fault for not knowing about having to submit all transcripts with med school apps / national student clearinghouse when I started school again two years ago. I think it's just time to cut my losses because there's close to no chance I'd ever get into an MD school.

This SDNer had 2.87/2.77/34, postbac 4.0, 29y/o and got into an MD school: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...-bacc-3-66-gpa-34-mcat.1096456/#post-16007840

 

[Goro]

Agree with my wise colleagues.

And many thanks for your service to our country! Semper Fi!