Do I have a chance?

[colinc27]

Hello everyone,

A bit of a long story, but I was wondering what my chances would be getting into an osteopathic medical school considering my situation.

My undergraduate GPA cumulative 3.14
I dropped a number of classes on more than 1 occasion, one time due to a concussion that was with cause, failed general chemistry when I was severely depressed however I did not have a medical withdrawal for that one, however I did retake that class and got an A. I never took a full course load until my final semester and graduated with a BSc in Kinesiology, however just about every semester was improved and my last 3 were all above 3.5 while nothing before my first two quarters were below 3.1, so I would like to think there was continual improvement in that regard. I was also diagnosed with a learning disability at age 24, with only my last 3 quarters left where I did very well, so I do attribute a lot of my difficulties and varying GPA to that.

I am currently enrolled in chiropractic at University of Western States and am nearly done my 3rd quarter with a cumulative GPA of 3.94 in the first two quarters. I enjoy it but I feel I would be rather limited in my ability to help people compared to that of a DO and would like to make the switch. Honestly the reason I never went this route in the first place was because I didn't think I was capable of making it but now I do. I do understand that these grades/classes will not do anything for medical school I am not looking or trying to "transfer," but this is strictly demonstrating that I can handle the hours and course load (obviously will be harder in medical school I know).

I also have to take a number of classes before applying and writing the MCAT, including 1 course in general biology and will likely redo another, 2 in organic chemistry, and 1 in physics which I plan to do so following this quarter.

Given my circumstances, and assuming my pre-med science that I will be taking over the next year are well done and my GPA is pushed up over 3.2 and MCATs go well, do I have a shot?

Thanks for your time and I appreciate any input.

Sincerely,

Colin

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[GreenDuck12]

Welcome to the forums

As a side note, please refrain from using too much specific information i.e. name, university attended, etc, that can be used to identify you. You may come across individuals down the line (interviews) who may recognize you from the forums.

I completely understand the desire to switch to medicine, just about everyone on here has it after working for some period of time. In your case, i think you are going to have a few challenges to getting a spot at a medical school. Your GPA is low for allopathic and osteopathic schools. In addition to a low GPA, you earned it while not taking a full course load. This calls into question whether you can handle the academic rigors of medical school. In order for you to overcome that, I suggest you target osteopathic schools and retake any courses that have an F/D/C grade. I also recommend you retake pre-requisite courses that have a grade lower than a B and take additional upper division science courses. The goal of doing this is to show admissions committees that you can handle the course load that you will encounter in medical school which is many, many more credits than a full time student. Your goal should be to get your cGPA and sGPA up to around a 3.4 range. Then, you will need to do well on the MCAT. Make sure you volunteer/shadow along the way so that you can prove to an admission committee that you know what you are getting into and won't switch away from medicine. Best of luck to you.