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- Dec 24, 2017
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Hi All (looking for actually advise/experience, not a list),
I am currently in a one-year, 37-credit SMP at a new DO school (3rd cycle coming up) in Texas. I had moved to the area due to a military partner and was hoping to pursue medical education again after 3 years out of school. I found out the medical school I was interested in had a master's program and I thought it would be a great opportunity to boost my GPA and give me time to improve my MCAT. I had never applied to any medical school before due to my low MCAT scores:
September 2014 | 20
June 2016 | 493
August 2018 | 497
January 2019 | 504
Unfortunately, I didn't know what an SMP was at the time and definitely didn't know that this master's program was going to be such a risk. Now, being in the program (at a brand new medical school)... I find that I am struggling to the extreme. Interesting enough is that I don't feel like it's the content (apart from anatomy) - it's more so the disorganization and instability of the program. Either way, I'd be lucky to end the program with a 3.5 GPA, with one C in anatomy from the first semester (3.14 GPA) and currently trying to avoid another C in neuroanatomy.
The medical school I'm currently under seems to know how difficult their SMP is, but my fear is that other schools would have expected a much higher GPA with the understanding that an SMP should "set students up for success." Now I'm afraid I've made the wrong decision and really want to be realistic when I plan to apply broadly May of this year. I've currently been post-interview waitlisted by the school I currently attend. Crazy thing is that I probably would've had a better chance of acceptance into their medical school if I hadn't started their program. Their c/o 2018 stats are: cGPA 3.52, sGPA 3.44, and MCAT 502.
Majority of my applications will go out to HBCU (Historically Black University - I am a Black female) allopathic medical schools and osteopathic medical schools. My alma mater is Howard University, so that would really be my top choice. My second choice is the DO school I’m at now (which believes a 3.5 GPA in their program is doing well). I don't think the type of medical schools I want to attend are extremely far out of my reach, but there are so many different factors at play now with this darn SMP.
GPA as calculated by AACOMAS:
Baccalaureate 3.24
Post-Baccalaureate 3.78
Cumulative Undergraduate 3.29
Baccalaureate Science 3.38
Post-Baccalaureate Science 3.72
Cumulative Undergraduate Science 3.43
GPA from 1st semester SMP (not reported in time for AACOMAS)
Graduate 3.14
Graduate Science 2.93
IMPORTANT NOTE: I have 44 credit hours of a 2.596 GPA from an early college high school. Unfortunately, I have to report these grades and it significantly impacts my GPA. I'm not sure if medical schools will even bother noticing this, but I make sure to call attention to it in my letter of intent/supplemental material (NOT in my personal statement). Any advice on this particular struggle would be beyond helpful! This was from when I was 14-17 years old. I am 25-26 now - yes, it is incredibly painful. I just Google'd that Texas has a "Fresh Start Program" for classes taken over 10 years ago. Does anyone know of any similar programs nationwide?
Let me know what you think and if you have any advice. Be honest, but don’t troll. Thanks!
Hi All (looking for actually advise/experience, not a list),
I am currently in a one-year, 37-credit SMP at a new DO school (3rd cycle coming up) in Texas. I had moved to the area due to a military partner and was hoping to pursue medical education again after 3 years out of school. I found out the medical school I was interested in had a master's program and I thought it would be a great opportunity to boost my GPA and give me time to improve my MCAT. I had never applied to any medical school before due to my low MCAT scores:
September 2014 | 20
June 2016 | 493
August 2018 | 497
January 2019 | 504
Unfortunately, I didn't know what an SMP was at the time and definitely didn't know that this master's program was going to be such a risk. Now, being in the program (at a brand new medical school)... I find that I am struggling to the extreme. Interesting enough is that I don't feel like it's the content (apart from anatomy) - it's more so the disorganization and instability of the program. Either way, I'd be lucky to end the program with a 3.5 GPA, with one C in anatomy from the first semester (3.14 GPA) and currently trying to avoid another C in neuroanatomy.
The medical school I'm currently under seems to know how difficult their SMP is, but my fear is that other schools would have expected a much higher GPA with the understanding that an SMP should "set students up for success." Now I'm afraid I've made the wrong decision and really want to be realistic when I plan to apply broadly May of this year. I've currently been post-interview waitlisted by the school I currently attend. Crazy thing is that I probably would've had a better chance of acceptance into their medical school if I hadn't started their program. Their c/o 2018 stats are: cGPA 3.52, sGPA 3.44, and MCAT 502.
Majority of my applications will go out to HBCU (Historically Black University - I am a Black female) allopathic medical schools and osteopathic medical schools. My alma mater is Howard University, so that would really be my top choice. My second choice is the DO school I’m at now (which believes a 3.5 GPA in their program is doing well). I don't think the type of medical schools I want to attend are extremely far out of my reach, but there are so many different factors at play now with this darn SMP.
GPA as calculated by AACOMAS:
Baccalaureate 3.24
Post-Baccalaureate 3.78
Cumulative Undergraduate 3.29
Baccalaureate Science 3.38
Post-Baccalaureate Science 3.72
Cumulative Undergraduate Science 3.43
GPA from 1st semester SMP (not reported in time for AACOMAS)
Graduate 3.14
Graduate Science 2.93
IMPORTANT NOTE: I have 44 credit hours of a 2.596 GPA from an early college high school. Unfortunately, I have to report these grades and it significantly impacts my GPA. I'm not sure if medical schools will even bother noticing this, but I make sure to call attention to it in my letter of intent/supplemental material (NOT in my personal statement). Any advice on this particular struggle would be beyond helpful! This was from when I was 14-17 years old. I am 25-26 now - yes, it is incredibly painful. I just Google'd that Texas has a "Fresh Start Program" for classes taken over 10 years ago. Does anyone know of any similar programs nationwide?
Let me know what you think and if you have any advice. Be honest, but don’t troll. Thanks!
