Do I need post-bacc for MD?

[Unshake07]

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Hey all,

New to the forum looking for a little bit of advice. Ive been out of school for about a year working in healthcare IT (good job, got me more interested in medicine) . I never considered medicine or much of anything in college, but majored in molecular biology so I have all the pre reqs done. Im just starting to consider med school and build my resume (shadowing, volunteering).

Anyways my cGPA was 3.55 sGPA 3.54 and state residency is MN and WI (Want to stay in these states if possible). I usually test well on standardized tests and hopefully score over 31, but obviosuly no guarantees there. I took an extremely science-rich college schedule and am not sure taking more science classes would do much to increase my readiness for med school.

Is my GPA high enough for MD or should I look to go back to school or at DO programs? I have some interesting resume lines and plan to do significant shadowing and volunteer work over the next year or more before I apply.

 

[TriagePreMed]

On GPA alone: A bit lower than the average, but you are definitely within range for an MD acceptance, especially with a strong MCAT. Personally, I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket and apply also to D.O. colleges.

If you don't have strong EC, I think those should take priority over any post-bacc work.

 

[Unshake07]

On the same not, how do non-trads with demanding jobs find time for ECs? I travel very frequently and work 65+ hours per week. Not working is not an option do to finances.

 

[UpwardTrend]

What season are you thinking of applying? Do you have weekends off of work?

 

[theseeker4]

On the same not, how do non-trads with demanding jobs find time for ECs? I travel very frequently and work 65+ hours per week. Not working is not an option do to finances.

What other activities are taking up your time? If you can fit in a few hours of hospital/clinical volunteering a month, plus a few shadowing sessions with various doctors before applying, you should be good. Most schools are understanding of time commitments such as work, family, etc. which limit non-traditional students to fewer hours in EC's than traditional applicants are able to accrue. Good luck!

 

[Unshake07]

I have weekends off of work and I am not sure which season; sooner is better, though.


Is a 3.55 unrealistic for MD programs in MN or WI (I think there are only 3, excluding Duluth)?

If it is, I would need to drastically my plans. I would consider other states, but I've heard it is difficult to gain acceptance of OOS schools.

 

[blife]

On the same not, how do non-trads with demanding jobs find time for ECs? I travel very frequently and work 65+ hours per week. Not working is not an option do to finances.

You can check out volunteering at the emergency room of a local hospital - they're open 24/7 which means you can volunteer at 4am on a Saturday if that's the only time you can fit it in.

 

[UpwardTrend]

That GPA should work with a 30+ MCAT. Its not super competitive for Allopathic so you may want to look into DO and/or apply broadly to MD. Make sure you look around the 30+ MCAT thread when it comes time to start reviewing. If you apply 2013 then 18 months at 12-16 hours a month of volunteering should do. Find out asap which of your local hospitals allow weekend or possibly evening volunteering. Is your current job in a hospital? Can it open any doors to relationships with the right med personnel? Another option is the local county family health clinic (for low income families). You could try to shadow on weekends too, but most likely you will have to use vacation time for that. Its all doable with some time and sacrifices. You may want to consider one other long term non-clinical volunteering shift. A few hours per month should do and these are easy to find evening or weekend shifts.