Don't Call it a Comeback! Nontraditional Student Accepted into Medical School - AMA

[RocuROMANium]

SDN, especially @Goro, played an essential role in my pathway to acceptance into medical school when I had no idea where to even start. As a result, I want to pay it forward by offering an AMA so ask away!

How I am nontraditional:

1. 1st generation high school and college student graduate
2. Older than 30 y.o. and married with one child
3. Graduated with a 2.7 cGPA and 2.38 sGPA

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[Mr.Smile12]

Rock the bells! Congratulations!

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Congrats!!!

 

[Bonne Nuit]

SDN, especially @Goro, played an essential role in my pathway to acceptance into medical school when I had no idea where to even start. As a result, I want to pay it forward by offering an AMA so ask away!

How I am nontraditional:

1. 1st generation high school and college student graduate
2. Older than 30 y.o. and married with one child
3. Graduated with a 2.7 cGPA and 2.38 sGPA

Congratulations! I love a great underdog story.

How did you address your GPAs during the application process? What advice would you have for other nontraditional applicants with <3.0 GPAs?

 

[RocuROMANium]

Congratulations! I love a great underdog story.

How did you address your GPAs during the application process? What advice would you have for other nontraditional applicants with <3.0 GPAs?

I addressed it in my personal statement and my secondaries when prompted to explain. For my PS, I first described my trials and tribulations and then their consequences one of them being academic failure. However, my GPA was never brought up in the 3 interviews I had probably because I addressed them thoroughly.

My advice would be to stay current on the minimum GPA requirements for the majority of medical schools. For now most schools require at least a 3.0 but it could change in the future. That was a tough pill for me to swallow because I graduated with 185 credits and needed two more years of straight A’s in order to achieve 3.0 for both GPAs. Ultimately, I wanted medicine so bad that I was willing to take this huge gamble and give it an actual effort.

Also, it has been posted many times on here, but take upper level science courses and a full time schedule to prove your academic readiness. I advise to take it easy at first and then add extra as you go on. For example, my 1st semester I took 10 credits, worked, and did a mini internship at an orthopedic office but my last semester I was taking 17 credits, working, doing research, and volunteering. Before doing any of this though, research different study plans and NEVER cram before an exam. Study a little bit every day and it will amaze you how well you can perform and this will help in medical school or so I have heard.

Finally, because it's mathematically impossible for us to achieve actual competitive GPAs, everything else on your application should be amazing. Your MCAT will be even more important than normal applicants and you want to have such high quality extracurriculars that it almost hides the poor GPA. I had over 7,000 clinical hours, a ton of leadership experience, a wonderful volunteering story and added research as the cherry on top.

 

[Babaganooosh]

Congratulations on the acceptance, I am in a similar situation as yours, so this really resonates with me. I am sorry if I am not following. Did you apply with the sub 3.0 GPA's?

 

[RocuROMANium]

Congratulations on the acceptance, I am in a similar situation as yours, so this really resonates with me. I am sorry if I am not following. Did you apply with the sub 3.0 GPA's?

No I graduated with a 2.7 cGPA and a 2.38 sGPA but after my postbac I brought them up to a 3.05 cGPA and a 3.03 sGPA respectively.

 

[Unskilled Enzyme]

Also, it has been posted many times on here, but take upper level science courses and a full time schedule to prove your academic readiness. I advise to take it easy at first and then add extra as you go on. For example, my 1st semester I took 10 credits, worked, and did a mini internship at an orthopedic office but my last semester I was taking 17 credits, working, doing research, and volunteering. Before doing any of this though, research different study plans and NEVER cram before an exam. Study a little bit every day and it will amaze you how well you can perform and this will help in medical school or so I have heard.

Finally, because it's mathematically impossible for us to achieve actual competitive GPAs, everything else on your application should be amazing. Your MCAT will be even more important than normal applicants and you want to have such high quality extracurriculars that it almost hides the poor GPA. I had over 7,000 clinical hours, a ton of leadership experience, a wonderful volunteering story and added research as the cherry on top.

love to see it, congrats! the slog to drag your cgpa up to a 3.0 is real! my diy post bacc was several years as well. i'm starting third year now, it just get's better.

you cant emphasize this enough, the path to non-trad reinvention is very simple but it is not easy.

i'll add that you have to do the leg work and find schools where you are a strong mission fit.

once again congrats, good luck and feel free to reach out