Do I stand a chance? And other questions that have plagued my mind

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I'm sorry if a similar situation was already discussed but the search option isn't loading... besides i'd prefer a response from someone about my individual situation 😉

For the last two years I attended a community college, I admit I didn't try very hard and only got away with a 3.2-3.3 (I don't remember which). Though my transfer GPA (taking out non-transferable courses) was 3.5. I now attend a four year university and last semester was my first semester. I received two A's (microeconomics, Art History), an A- (macroeconomics) and a C (politics). My political science professor played favorites and was a horrible grader. I'm not making excuses, because when I go to ratemyprofessor.com all of my beliefs of him are verified with about twenty students who feel the same way. He actually has the lowest rating of any professor i've seen.

Anyway, i'm not much of a science student. I've always loved politics, philosophy, law and various social sciences. But for some reason within the last year i've slowly went from loving politics to disliking it, I think I now view the whole field as an opinion based subject with nothing to really grasp. My having this political science professor last semester didn't help my evolving viewpoint. Anyway, i've grown strongly interested in science, but I don't want to be a scientist. I've always been strongly interested in psychology and am now thinking of psychiatry or neurology.

I realize there are a lot of problems, however, 1) From what i've seen the average pre-med student (who gets accepted that is) has around a 3.7 GPA. This C I received has harmed my chances of getting a 3.7 at my new school and my 3.2-3.3 GPA at community college isn't going to help either. Not to mention I haven't really taken any science classes yet and I know science classes are much more difficult than any politics class (although, i'm inclined to believe most science classes are easier than my poly sci class last semester).

This actually brings me to the 2) Since I haven't taken any science classes yet, this will mean i'll need to take all the pre-med courses along with my major courses. This will mean another three years or more of undergraduate study. This might be beneficial for proper preparation of MCATs, since i'm alredy in my third year of college and haven't studied for them yet, but since i'll have four years of med school, three to four years of residency and two or more years of specialized fieldwork, I don't know if another three to four years of undergrad sound fun.

I was considering an option that I think would benefit me in the long run, but i'm afraid of how long this would take. I'm 21 years old right now and i'd like to be a doctor by the time i'm 36 (when I say doctor I mean done with residency and everything). My plan was to get a double bachelors degree, one in psychology and one in biology, go get a masters or phd in neuroscience (they offer a 2yr phd program at a university by here), then take my mcats and place into medical school for either psychiatry or neurology. This would be good because it would help me prepare for my MCATS, give me time to also do some work in a hospital or counseling clinic and will give me time to improve my GPA. I also hear the phd could help for researching possibilities.

Which is one final question: If I do become a graduate, will my undergraduate GPA and grad GPA be factored differently? Will premed courses I took in undergrad still count?

But my main question overall is: Considering my GPA, do I have a chance in hell of getting into med school 😕

 

[bio-chik]

Wow, that is a lot of questions....but, AMCAS factors your undergrad GPA and graduate GPA individually. Your GPA is probably fine if it stays around 3.5 or above. Don't worry too much about the general education courses...just do well in your science courses, more A's than B's. Obviously you don't want many C's , but just keep your BCMP up. You have a long way to go before you're ready to take the MCAT and apply.

Also, why would you consider a PhD, unless you wanted to become a scientist. There are plenty of ways to do research during your undergrad to gain experience in the lab. Don't waist your time, it will be harder later to explain on your application why you got a PhD and don't want to go into that field and now you want to go to med school. The best advice I can give is stay focused and do the EC's and volunteer in a lab at your university.

Hope that helps.

 

[blee]

Don't take this the wrong way, but my head is spinning a bit from your post. 🙂 What are your career goals? Why do you feel it would be necessary to get your PhD first, before even applying to medical school? For that matter, are you sure you want to practice clinical medicine, as opposed to basic research or something else?

You might want to learn a little more about science research and medicine before putting together a plan. Try finding some research opportunities through your professors, and see if you can't shadow a physician or volunteer at a hospital to get some idea of what's involved. As far as your grades are concerned, you are early enough in this whole process that you should be alright as long as you do well in your science courses.

I'm sorry if I sound skeptical, but your post does not really convey a sense of direction at this point. I love science, but I find studying to be very difficult unless I'm really committed to the material; if you're like me, you'll have a hard time doing well in your pre-reqs if you aren't a little more secure with your long-term goals.

 

[Hoberto]

I agree with Blee it really sounds like you aren't sure what you want to do. You should definitely do some research and find out if you want to do medicine or research more or both. It is definitely possible to do research with only the MD/DO degree....lots of doctors do.

Your GPA isn't bad and I'm not sure why you are so worried about it, you have plenty of time to bring it up. For you, it is probably more important to focus and pick a major you will do well in and be able to complete the pre-reqs. It is also far more important to get good grades in your courses than to complete them quickly. So, if you need to take 2-3 courses per term rather than 4+ to do well, do that.

If you are really interested in graduate school think about doing a combined program in med school. There is no real benefit to getting a graduate degree prior to med school at your age....it won't help your undergrad grades. If you finish your BS/BA and still feel that your GPA is bad, you could do a post-bac but I really don't think you should worry about that at this point.

Just explore the various fields and try to figure out what you really want to do....shadow some physicians and researchers and talk to your school's career services/counseling center if you have one.

Why are you posting in non-trad? Your questions would be good for pre-DO, pre-MD since many of those students are or recently were in a similar position.

 

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Thanks for all of the replies,

AMCAS factors your undergrad GPA and graduate GPA individually. Your GPA is probably fine if it stays around 3.5 or above. Don't worry too much about the general education courses...just do well in your science courses, more A's than B's. Obviously you don't want many C's , but just keep your BCMP up. You have a long way to go before you're ready to take the MCAT and apply.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is BCMP? Do medical schools care more about the pre-req/science GPA over the gen ed GPA?

Also, why would you consider a PhD, unless you wanted to become a scientist. There are plenty of ways to do research during your undergrad to gain experience in the lab. Don't waist your time, it will be harder later to explain on your application why you got a PhD and don't want to go into that field and now you want to go to med school. The best advice I can give is stay focused and do the EC's and volunteer in a lab at your university.

Well I read somewhere that a number of MDs go to grad school for researching. 😕 Well i'm really interested in the neuroscience PhD program and thought it could be a good experience incase 1) My GPA needs help, 2) I'm not prepared for MCATs or 3) I apply but get denied from medical school.

I was also thinking, although I don't know for sure, that it could also help me to receive some type of work experience to help pay for med school and that maybe it would look good on my transcripts for med school.

Hope that helps.

It did thanks 🙂

What are your career goals?

Well i've had a problem over the last year and a half about deciding my career. I thought I was going to be a lawyer, but I began feeling like law just wasn't right for me. I love the subject itself, but I didn't see myself as a lawyer. That took me to consider psychology, my second interest. But the field of psychology doesn't have a very good outlook in the market. Everything from salary to job growth isn't very spectacular for the field of psychology. Researching in neurobiology is an interesting field to me, but I haven't been able to find a whole lot of information on that.

You might want to learn a little more about science research and medicine before putting together a plan. Try finding some research opportunities through your professors, and see if you can't shadow a physician or volunteer at a hospital to get some idea of what's involved. As far as your grades are concerned, you are early enough in this whole process that you should be alright as long as you do well in your science courses.

I plan to do this once I start taking my science and psych courses. As for being early, I don't know how long I have left. I could graduate within a year from now with a BA in psychology, then go to a post-bacc program. Or I could do a double BA in biology and psychology, I still haven't completely decided. 🙁

I love science, but I find studying to be very difficult unless I'm really committed to the material; if you're like me, you'll have a hard time doing well in your pre-reqs if you aren't a little more secure with your long-term goals.

You do bring up a good point, but I guess i'll have to try things out before I oust the idea 😉 . Now that law is out of the picture, I couldn't picture myself doing anything besides psychology related. Therefore, even if I don't go to medschool i'll still end up going to neuroscience PhD program. The neuroscience PhD program requires all of the premed courses, although they'll probably be more accepting of various GPAs. Therefore, either way i'll be taking those courses.

Your GPA isn't bad and I'm not sure why you are so worried about it, you have plenty of time to bring it up. For you, it is probably more important to focus and pick a major you will do well in and be able to complete the pre-reqs. It is also far more important to get good grades in your courses than to complete them quickly. So, if you need to take 2-3 courses per term rather than 4+ to do well, do that.

My GPA is alright, but it isn't good considering I feel the classes i've taken are easier than the science classes i'm going to take. It would have been nice to have a better GPA going into my science classes. I will try very hard in my science classes, but i'm still preparing to do worse than the science students in those classes whose whole lives have probably evolved around science.

Unfortunately, i'm required to be a full time student. If the courses are four credit courses (which most science courses are) then i'll only take three.

Just explore the various fields and try to figure out what you really want to do....shadow some physicians and researchers and talk to your school's career services/counseling center if you have one.

Well the career services didn't help a whole lot. All they really did was direct me to a career focus website. The site did help a lot though, but the advisors themselves only replied with "that's a very good question." In other words they didn't know the answer, lol.

Why are you posting in non-trad? Your questions would be good for pre-DO, pre-MD since many of those students are or recently were in a similar position.

I figured I was probably non-trad because I have no science background 😕

Once again, thanks for the replies. They've helped.

 

[bio-chik]

BCMP= Biology, Chemistry, Math, Physics grades combined GPA on the AMCAS application.

Like the others have suggested, look into research and medicine and figure out what you want to do. You can get an MD/PhD once you've done the pre-reqs to get there. I wouldn't recommend getting a PhD and waisting the 5-6 years. Just apply as MD/PhD, it will save you time and explanation of your long term goal to Adcom.

There are a lot of PhD's that are on this site asking if it looks bad coming from grad school into med school...so you can see the struggle they are having. Look for some of those posts. Also, if you're concerned about undergrad grades now, then just take a post-bac 1 yr program and do well!