Do I Have A Chance at Med School

[GretchenGold]

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I completed 92 credit hours of college at a 4year university 12 years ago. I dropped out after my junior year of undergrad and did not complete my bs degree. I was majoring in chemical engineering. My gpa was/is 3.2. I am returning to complete my degree & I need 36 more credit hours to get my bs. Do you think it's possible for me to even get into med school after graduation if I make mostly A's from here on out & do really well on the MCAT or am I just dreaming?

 

[Law2Doc]

I completed 92 credit hours of college at a 4year university 12 years ago. I dropped out after my junior year of undergrad and did not complete my bs degree. I was majoring in chemical engineering. My gpa was/is 3.2. I am returning to complete my degree & I need 36 more credit hours to get my bs. Do you think it's possible for me to even get into med school after graduation if I make mostly A's from here on out & do really well on the MCAT or am I just dreaming?

Sure. Lots of people on here have gotten into med school long after their initial college days. A 3.2 is not a bad starting point. You will likely want to retake the prereqs along with your remaining 36 credit hours as med schools tend to want to see more recent results than 12 years ago, so that may mean retaking some chemistry/physics you likely already had. You will also need a year of english if you never had it. (Once you finish the prereqs you will need to study for and do well on the MCAT, so it probably pays to retake any prereq courses you already took years ago to prepare for that anyhow.) The nice thing about going back to school is that it will make getting academic Letters of Recommendation much easier to obtain than those who had to chase down old profs who didn't remember them. So be prepared to frequent office hours and otherwise get your professors to know who you are (that's part of the premed game). Also bear in mind that extracurricular activities are critical for admission to med school, so if you haven't volunteered in a hospital, shadowed a physician or otherwise gotten your feet wet in a healthcare facility you will need to do so, as adcoms like to see both a demonstrated interest in working in that setting and the fact that you somewhat know what you are getting into. So I would probably try to work some of this in at your earliest juncture. You will also need a compelling reason for the questions "why medicine?", "why now?" and be prepared to discuss what experiences you have accumulated over your last 12 years that will help you be a great physician -- ie you will need to spin a good back-story. Not usually a problem for nontrads who have lived life for a while. Good luck.

 

[njbmd]

I completed 92 credit hours of college at a 4year university 12 years ago. I dropped out after my junior year of undergrad and did not complete my bs degree. I was majoring in chemical engineering. My gpa was/is 3.2. I am returning to complete my degree & I need 36 more credit hours to get my bs. Do you think it's possible for me to even get into med school after graduation if I make mostly A's from here on out & do really well on the MCAT or am I just dreaming?

Definitely anything is possible but you need to take this one step at a time. The first thing that you need to do is figure out how you are going to get those As from here on out. Have you significantly upgraded your study skills? Have you corrected everything that caused your 3.2 GPA because you need to up the ante here and you don't have any room for error.

Your next task is to plot a strategy to do well on the Medical College Admissions Test. This is easier said than done and more than one, this test has been a "derailer" of potential medical careers. Again, you need to prepare well and do well starting with a preparation schedule that will enable you to both upgrade and solidify your knowledge base along with plenty of practice with the type of questions that the MCAT asks. Be aware that testing on the MCAT is quite different from the testing manner of most undergraduate institutions.

It's been a 12-year hiatus for you so you want to ease back into the learning lifestyle. Don't rush anything and always go for quality over quantity in terms of taking one or two classes and scoring very high before you attempt a full-load. If it takes you a bit longer but you are successful in the end, then that time that you spent easing into this process was worth it.

Good luck and put your goals into writing taking this one step at a time. Medical school will be there but you want to ensure your success every step along the way.

 

[gman33]

I agree with starting out slow. Your first semester just take 1 or 2 classes and make sure you get an A in all your coursework. Build on your success and add more credits as you show you can handle it.

Besides the academics, build up some healthcare related volunteering and make sure you have good reasons for going into medicine.

Good luck.

 

[Blade28]

The first thing that you need to do is figure out how you are going to get those As from here on out. Have you significantly upgraded your study skills? Have you corrected everything that caused your 3.2 GPA because you need to up the ante here and you don't have any room for error.

This is excellent advice.

Never fall into the trap of thinking, "oh, well, my GPA will be a solid 3.x if I just get straight As in 100% of my classes from here on out." If your GPA wasn't anywhere near a 4.00 in the past, figure out what you need to do in order to succeed in school - better study habits, different methods of reviewing, practice tests, etc.

 

[Gold 5]

I completed 92 credit hours of college at a 4year university 12 years ago. I dropped out after my junior year of undergrad and did not complete my bs degree. I was majoring in chemical engineering. My gpa was/is 3.2. I am returning to complete my degree & I need 36 more credit hours to get my bs. Do you think it's possible for me to even get into med school after graduation if I make mostly A's from here on out & do really well on the MCAT or am I just dreaming?

You may want to pick a more humane degree then chemical engineering this time around. In the end it really doesn't matter what you major in, just do well. At the end of day, you need over a 3.5 GPA (BCMP included if possible), good MCAT score, and little clinical experience.

 

[Beast11]

I completed 92 credit hours of college at a 4year university 12 years ago. I dropped out after my junior year of undergrad and did not complete my bs degree. I was majoring in chemical engineering. My gpa was/is 3.2. I am returning to complete my degree & I need 36 more credit hours to get my bs. Do you think it's possible for me to even get into med school after graduation if I make mostly A's from here on out & do really well on the MCAT or am I just dreaming?

Most ChemE are (very close to being) chemistry minors at graduation. If ChemE really turns your stomach, I think that a chemistry degree is easily achievable, and is a known commodity for pre-med apps. 36 cred hours in upper levels (and not all just chem), if performed well, can easily pull your GPA into the 3.5 competitive regime, and not much more than the year you would need to apply in any event...

That said-

1) 92 credits-esp if the bio 101/102, chem 101/102, phys 101/102 and org 201/202 are completed is a level where you can legitimately apply to med school. Perhaps try the MCAT-do well enough (should be old info for you) and you can finish with almost any b.s. major (pick one you like and can do well to pull up GPA) will work. But try for some sort of degree-virtually every med student finished and it would work best for you to.

Good luck with whatever you decide