Do I Have A Shot?

[UncreativeGenius]

Hello Everyone!

To be brief: I grew up with a strong interest in both medicine and law enforcement. By 12 years old I had sought out and met a doctor that was also a reserve police officer and decided that was the path I wanted to take. When I got to high school I was having trouble with math and science and didn’t put my best foot forward for four years, and I decided that getting to medical school was going to be too difficult and that I didn’t have the brain for it so I decided to pursue law enforcement.

Fast forward ten years, I’m getting out of the Marine Corps in a few months and have planned to go straight into a police department. But the passion that I had for becoming a doctor is still there and growing again. I have decided that my options are to go into law enforcement full-time and work on school on my off-time, or to go back to school full-time and become a reserve police officer.

I was able to finish my Associate Degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences online in about a year and a half because of APs, and I took a few courses through an online program at a major university towards my Bachelor’s. At this point, I have about 45 units left to finish my Bachelor’s Degree and I have only taken one science course so far (Intro Astronomy, got a B). Current stat:

cGPA 3.34 (AA GPA was 3.4 but my online upper division courses brought it down).

sGPA 3.0 (One course)

My concern is, since I’ve never really applied myself in school I’m not sure if I struggle with math and science because I’m not trying or because I don’t have the mind for it. I’m the type of person that requires motivation to study something, and because I convinced myself I couldn’t go into medicine for so long I’ve never really studied with motivation.

To sum it up…my main questions are: does someone who barely made a C in high school physics and chemistry and nearly failed Algebra 2/Trig have a shot at doing well with pre-reqs or in med school at all? And with a 3.34 cGPA and 3.0 sGPA how much can I do in 1.5 to 2 years to be competitive in at least a DO school?

I’m recently married and my wife is going to PA school next year, so it will be somewhat of a financial strain if I decide to go back to school full-time on the GI Bill instead of going into the police department full-time, but it’s one I’m willing to live with if I have a decent shot at med school.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this and your assistance!

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[Tannersousa]

I don't have any answers for you man but I got this, I'm in the army and I'm trying to get my bachelors done once I'm able to, I got a wife who's trying to go to PA school, I plan on going to med school, and I got a 3 month old daughter. in high school I thought skipping out was cool so I dropped out and got a ged so let me just say I FEEL FOR YOU. but getting to an end goal should be your motivation to push as hard as you can to get a good gpa. i know I tell my self every day " one day closer to becoming a doctor" and it puts everything into perspective for me. remember gpa and mcat are only a percentage of getting in, a large percentage, but a percentage.

dont fail, and definitely don't quit man. good luck to you and strive to be better than you think you can be.

 

[Eccesignum]

I haven't served in the military and can't speak for what help that might give you in admissions, though I've seen numerous adcoms on here say that military experience is highly valued in the admissions process.

Academically I can say this -- I did poorly in math and science in high school, so much so that I managed to talk myself out of pursing any sort of science-oriented career back then. Don't get me wrong, I value what life experience I did get; I certainly wouldn't have gotten to do some of the things I did in my 20s if I'd gone straight into medicine then. But my reasoning was out of fear and that's the only aspect of it that I regret.

Years later when I decided to commit to pre-med in my 30s, I was so scared of getting back to school and failing chemistry and math that I literally had nightmares about it the summer before I started. But I found that years of allowing myself time to mature and time spent in the workforce had taught me lessons I hadn't been able to grasp as a younger me -- namely how to make use of all my resources, including knocking on professor doors and asking for help. The appearance of things like Khan Academy (which weren't around the first time I went to college) made the process so much better. And going and making connections with faculty early meant I developed a relationship with many of the people who would later be my mentors, research PIs, LOR writers, and support. If I hadn't had the maturity to say "I know this is a weakness and I need help", I wouldn't be in medical school now.

I found (after Gen Chem, which I found dull) that I actually really liked organic chemistry and biochem (I know, what). It took a while but once I was into material that made sense to me, I actually looked forward to class. You couldn't have convinced 2002-me of that, ever. Still hated physics, but you can't win 'em all

Point is, you can definitely readjust your sights. Aggressively seek out help. Use all the fantastic resources the internet has to offer to see material from different angles. Don't give up on yourself before you've tried.

As for your GPA, get an AMCAS/AACOMAS GPA calculator (someone posted a revamped one on this forum a bit down if you look). Plug in all your classes so far and then plug in the ones you expect to take. Assign those As to see what that in theory would do for you. For now, your focus needs to be on your classes and not whether or not you'll come out competitive, since you're already rolling through a bachelor's. Finish that strong no matter what. I'll put up the @Goro batsignal for you on the numbers and DO competitiveness front.

 

[Goro]

First off, many thanks for your service to our country. Semper Fi!!

If you can raise the sGPA, you have a shot at MD schools, providing you do well on MCAT. Your chances for DO are better. But you still need to show Adcoms that you can handle a medical school curriculum. Look up the posts by the wise DrMidlife.

Hello Everyone!
sGPA 3.0 (One course)

My concern is, since I’ve never really applied myself in school I’m not sure if I struggle with math and science because I’m not trying or because I don’t have the mind for it. I’m the type of person that requires motivation to study something, and because I convinced myself I couldn’t go into medicine for so long I’ve never really studied with motivation.

To sum it up…my main questions are: does someone who barely made a C in high school physics and chemistry and nearly failed Algebra 2/Trig have a shot at doing well with pre-reqs or in med school at all? And with a 3.34 cGPA and 3.0 sGPA how much can I do in 1.5 to 2 years to be competitive in at least a DO school?

I’m recently married and my wife is going to PA school next year, so it will be somewhat of a financial strain if I decide to go back to school full-time on the GI Bill instead of going into the police department full-time, but it’s one I’m willing to live with if I have a decent shot at med school.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this and your assistance!

 

[bluebeardAT]

Got a C in a no credit remdial math course in 2008. D in 3 credit math on math topics in 2009. 2nd highest grade in precalc class this past semster. Most people have the brain for math. They just never learn how to learn it. Takes a lot of practice and discipline and persistence. But it also gets fun. When you starting doing math problems with ease that you used to look at in horror: that's an amazing feeling. If you have that now and didn't earlier, you can take this on now.

 

[rugby_dork]

Do you feel that those C's reflect your ability, did you really apply yourself? I think there is a misconception that you have to be a super genius to do well in pre-med classes/med school. Yes, there is definitely an intelligence component - the material can be very conceptually challenging and you need to be reasonably smart. But I think its more about dedication and hard work, than having an exceptional IQ. I'm pretty sure every med school requires you to have a bachelor's degree, so you will have finish that. Am I correct to assume you haven't taken any of the med school pre-reqs? (Intro Bio, Intro Chem, Organic Chem, Intro Physics, etc). I think doing well in those classes would help bring up your cGPA a few points. Since you have basically no science classes yet, you could end up with a stellar sGPA if you do well in all your pre-reqs moving forward. Its probably gonna take you about 1 year (if you take summer courses), or 2 years (if you do only Fall/Spring classes) to complete all of them. Keep in mind almost all of them require the lab component, and thus cannot be online classes. Most med schools prefer, or require, that you take those classes at a 4 year school. I would recommend you try to arrange your class schedule so you are only taking 2 science classes at a time. These classes require a lot of studying outside of class time, you definitely don't want to overload yourself. It really helped me to become friendly with other pre-med students and study together. Its my opinion that it is better to gets A's and graduate later, than get B's/C's and graduate sooner. Your military experience will probably help you too, schools like diversity and like seeing a commitment to serving others.

I would also recommend trying to get some practical experience in medicine before you go crazy preparing for medical school, its a huge investment - make sure you are making an informed decision. That isn't meant to discourage you at all. I didn't realize how much I loved medicine until I worked in the field. My experience has given me a drive I would not have otherwise had, and has also helped me network with currently practicing medical professionals. They have provided a lot of great information and opportunities to beef up my resume. Paid work would probably be ideal, especially if you are directly caring for patients. But its also good to have volunteer experience, maybe try doing an internship at a local hospital, or shadow a physician. Reach out to your personal doctor(s), just tell them you want to go to medical school, you might be surprised how many doctors like helping prospective med students. It is also important to consider the impact of medical school (and preparing for it) on your personal life, you're not going to have a ton of time to spend with friends/family. Don't give up if this is your passion, don't get overwhelmed by how long the road is - just take it one step at a time. For what its worth I'm 27 & my cGPA is a little lower than yours, but I'm not giving up until I have exhausted every possibility.

 

[UncreativeGenius]

I truly, truly appreciate all the responses I've received. You have all been very insightful, thought-provoking, and encouraging. I will admit it was a little daunting to add all the credits I need for med school pre-reqs to the credits I need to finish my degree. My 45 units (3 semesters) remaining jumps up to like 90 (counting pre-reqs + recommended courses). The only way to avoid that would be to major in Bio which would include all the pre-reqs but I think that may be a little too trying as an entire major. I will take of this advice to heart and continue to soul search on my best route to my dream!