DIY Postbacc and Classes
- Thread starter Opto2MD
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Retake courses to get into the 3.3/3.4 range. I wouldn't take a Master's simply to get to know professors. Do that while you retake. Don't worry about calculus, you don't need it for D.O. -- M.D. is not an option with your stats. If you're stuck on doing a Masters, look into an SMP, but without an MCAT score yet, that's not really an advisable path.
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if you are 100% sure you can get As in your math retake, do it
otherwise, dont bother
otherwise, dont bother
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I'd probably just retake the science classes and no math classes - math isn't calculated into into sgpa for DO schools. Not too sure if MD is an option anymore unless you wreck the mcat, ace your upper div courses and have solid extra curriculars. You should try to become friendly with the professors who are teaching the courses you're retaking. As the dude above me said, do your mcat first before you consider a masters or smp program
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Math isn't calculated in for BCMP for DOs? I pretty sure it is for MD programs. That seems odd.
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Just curious...why the switch?
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I did a DIY post-bac and got a grad school degree, so I recently wrote a couple lengthy posts adressing these exact questions (feel free to do a search). The short version is: unless you are very wealthy and want to commit an extra 1-2 years to the pre-med process, do not pursue a master's unless you are genuinely interested in applying that degree in your future MD/DO career. A lot of kids in my fancy grad program took out six-figures of debt hoping that the degree would be their ticket into med school-- they ended up very disappointed. Alternatively, if you do a SMP, I'd suggest pursuing one that you can eventually use in the off-chance that you don't get into med school (or if you decide not to be a doctor).
If you're short on time and money, stick with the post-bac. If you can, try building a stronger rapport with your professors through your DIY post-bac. Research is something you can do part-time throughout the school year (if you're in school part time) or during your school breaks through your DIY post-bac profs and/or their connections. No need to do a master's "capstone" if you hate research (a lot of schools who don't require a thesis make you do some sort of mini-research project that looks a whole lot like a thesis, anyway) or spend years doing research if you don't like it. Better to have a strong GPA and MCAT.
According to the AAMC 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 acceptance grid, a URM with a 3.42 GPA (3.4-3.59 category) and a 30-32 on their MCAT had an 81% chance of being accepted. That same 3.4-3.59 GPA applicant had a 67.7% acceptance if they had a MCAT score between 27 and 29. So if I had to focus on one thing, it'd be getting a killer MCAT score. The calc retake is up to you.
Good luck. 🙂
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It's not calculated into the sGPA, but its there's in your non-science gpa
http://help.unicas.com:8888/aacomas...-history-2/aacomas-course-subjects/index.html
