Engineer considering med school

[mdhokie06]

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I graduated from Virginia Tech with degrees in Computer and Electrical engineering. My final overall GPA was 3.03. Right after graduating I picked up a job and have been working for almost 2 yrs now.

Lately I have been wanting to change gears and pursue a medical degree. My research has led me to discover post-bac programs that are offered for people in my position. Right now I'm looking at the program at Johns Hopkins (I'm currently a part-time grad student there for engineering).

I've also read that the average GPA for those accepted into post-bac are 3.5, clearly above what mine is. Do I have any sort of advantage given my undergraduate fields when applying to post-bac? Should I even bother applying? I have had no form of experience in the medical field other than a biological research internship back when I was in high school. I'm essentially starting from scratch. The only drive/motivation I have is the fact that med schools seem to want students from diverse backgrounds. This is something I'm hoping will be the determining factor that'll overshadow my below average GPA.

Please offer any advice possible.

Thanks.

 

[onokentauros]

Hey Mdhokie,
Before you even consider applying to a postbacc program, you should determine whether or not you really want to go into medicine. As you said your last experience with the medical field was in high school, which was a long time ago. Before you do anything else I would recommend shadowing a doctor - I recommend reading http://studentdoctor.net/blog/2008/03/22/pre-med-preparation-the-importance-of-physician-shadowing/ for further reasons to shadow a physician.

That said, let me answer your question.

Postbacc programs won't immediately cut you out of the applicant pool if you have a sub-3.5 GPA - one of my best friends got into Georgetown's SMP program with a 3.05. I think you just need to make a convincing argument in your statement of purpose and get solid letters of recommendation, and you'll be set.

Applying to medical school means that you'll have to fulfill the necessary prerequisites - undergraduate biology, chem etc. Postbacc programs can definitely help you with this, and if you do well you'll probably raise your GPA (medical admissions committees take note of this).

IN SUMMARY: Don't be discouraged by your GPA - you can definitely apply for a postbacc program (and will probably get in if you have a strong argument for applying), but make sure you want to go into medicine before you do.

 

[GatorPhD]

onokentauros offers great advice.

You should apply to postbac programs. Some are more competitive than others. You should check out Harvard's program and the programs in VA.

Also, you should try to shadow a physician and/or volunteer at your local hospital.

After that, do a postbac program, apply and you should be good to go.

Best of luck,
Gator