Nobody's talking about MCAT. What's the MCAT to go with these GPAs? If you can't break 31, which is the matriculant average, then hush up about going to med school with a sub-3.0.
Don't go to an SMP with a sub-3.0 unless the SMP puts a published and very high percentage of its grads straight into med school. If you do EVMS or Cincinnati or Tulane ACP or similar, then your med school seat is yours to lose during the SMP. At other SMPs and SMP-like programs, it's
your problem. So you'll be sitting there with your 2.8 and your SMP transcript
and debt and
then you'll have to go DO or Carib.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure if there is enough courses at my alma mater to raise my GPA by a substantial amount.
You don't have to go back to your alma mater. You can take more courses anywhere. IMHO not at a CC though.
If there are not enough courses to raise my GPA substantially, should I go straight to a Masters program?
These are two separate questions. If there aren't enough courses, find another school. Do a traditional masters if that's what you want to do, but don't plan on that work getting you into an SMP or into med school. Med schools and good SMPs evaluate you like a med school applicant. If you don't compare well to the other ~5000 applicants per school (~500 for SMP), why would they let you in?
Even if you were to 4.0 a full year of undergraduate coursework (30 credits) your cGPA would only rise to a 2.94. However, this GPA bump would put you in the competitive range for a few solid formal post-baccs and SMPs.
2.94 is not competitive range, it's the bottom of acceptable range.
Couldn't a good performance at a traditional Master's Program supplant the extra year of undergrad and open the same SMP doors?
An "extra year of undergrad" doesn't open any doors - there's no formula here. A cumulative undergrad GPA that starts with a 3 and shows an upward trend opens doors. A prolonged and diligent effort to disprove a poor undergrad performance opens doors. An acceptance that the odds are very much against you, with a sub-3.0, and a willingness to do anything and everything for years to get into med school, that opens doors.
As stated, you need a year of upper level undergrad classes @ 4.0, and then hope someone will take you in their SMP. That's your quickest most effective route
Agreed, if that year @ 4.0 gets the OP over 3.0.
As for the MD/PhD, yes I do plan on getting both degrees. Whether it be through MSTP or separately, it doesn't really matter to me.
It
should matter. With MSTP, you have no debt on the other side of med school. If you otherwise do a combined PhD/MD and get funded, there's no debt on the other side of med school. Whatever job it is that you think you need both MD and PhD for, think about how you'll handle a quarter million in student debt along the way. A quarter million is
normal med student debt, and a large portion of it accrues interest during deferment. Point being, if you do a PhD after med school, it'll cost you a couple hundred thousand at least in accrued interest. Funded or not.
If you don't have the credentials to get into MSTP or a funded MD/PhD, which you don't, and you
have to have a PhD, then do the PhD first
if you can get a funded position. Otherwise I see no way to handle the debt.
So back to my hypothetical scenario, if I were to gain acceptance to a Master's program, it should be able to make up for the undergrad, correct?
You have a 2.8/2.7 so you don't get to make any assumptions. You are extremely unlikely to get into med school, period. If you want to beat the odds and be the 2.8/2.7 who gets into med school, then do something
directly aimed at improving your chances. With a 2.8/2.7, traditional grad work is a
detour.
A year of undergrad might help, but there are no hard and fast rules. Quite a few people get into the Boston University MA in Medical Sciences (a true SMP, I starting it soon) with GPAs under 3.0 (not me).
And then what happens? Boston doesn't publish its percentages, so as far as anybody knows, most of those sub-3.0's end up in DO schools or Carib or not in med school at all. As do some of the 3.0+ students. For the record I know a BUMAMS student with a sub-3.0 who got an MD acceptance...but that was after multiple years of effort prior to BUMAMS.
I left undergrad 4 years ago with a 3.2 GPA....I hope my refusal to take more undergrad courses works out.
I hope it works out for you as well, but I doubt you'd refuse with a sub-3.0.
Best of luck to you.
