Evaluating my options

[kbnumber8]

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Hello,
I am new to this website. I have looked up threads here many times and found them to be extremely helpful. There seems to not be a lot of consensus about what to do for those students who simply will not get into an American MD program. I was just curious about a few things, and please excuse my ignorance in advance.
I went to a good state school in NY and got a degree in Psychology. I graduated with a 3.2 g.p.a, though it was trending upwards. I'm not going to lie, my undergraduate transcript is a little underwhelming. After I graduated, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do but I knew that I wanted to enter the healthcare field. I took science classes and actually got a very good science g.p.a. post graduation (3.7). I took the MCATs and got a 31 on them. My goal right now is to get a residency in either Emergency Medicine or Internal Medicine. I have no research experience, but I work in a hospital with a lot of patient contact. I am thinking that my best options are either St. George's or Ross (in the Caribbean), a D.O. school, or a possibility recently brought to my attention by a current student there is attending medical school in Israel (he's in Sackler). If anyone has any advice for me I'd really appreciate it about where they think I'd get in or where they think I can get the best residency.
The one thing that worries me about the Caribbean schools is not getting a residency and being stuck with 250k in debt.. If you pass your USMLEs and stay say in the top 25% of your class there's no way you would be unable to find a residency right?
Sorry about the length of this post but any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[deleted551990]

I think I'm in a similar boat, being that I'm not going to be super competitive this cycle. I've looked into the options pretty extensively, and in my humble opinion, the best choices are the following (in no particular order):

- US MD program. I know you said you're "just not" going to get in, but look into rocking a post bacc, masters degree, or a SMP. Your MCAT is pretty good, so I wouldn't completely rule it out. It just might take some work.

-US DO program. Utilize the AACOMAS grade replacement to get your GPA up. If you want to do EM, from what I've read, DO is absolutely a good option. There are plenty of DO's in the EM field.

Like I said, this is my opinion, but from having researched it a good bit, I believe that the caribbean would be a bad move.

 

[deleted551990]

I just wanted to add further- with your situation (acceptable MCAT but low GPA) a SMP is a great option. They are one-year masters (or certificate) programs that allow you to basically take first year med school classes alongside med school students to prove that you can handle it. If you're successful in a SMP then you have a very good chance of a US MD

 

[kbnumber8]

Thanks for the advice! When you say to use the AACOMAS grade replacement, I was wondering if you could expand on that? From my understanding, you use this to replace individual classes, usually to increase you science GPA. Although some of my science classes were not good during my undergrad career, my science GPA isnt really my problem, my problem is that my whole undergraduate g.p.a. is a 3.18, and the only way to really change that would be to retake my whole undergraduate class load right? In regards to the SMP, I had considered it, but since I am not getting any younger, and I'm going to be 250+ in debt even without it, I would prefer not to do it and be on the road to becoming a doctor a year sooner. Thanks for your help and best of luck to you!

 

[deleted551990]

Thanks for the advice! When you say to use the AACOMAS grade replacement, I was wondering if you could expand on that? From my understanding, you use this to replace individual classes, usually to increase you science GPA. Although some of my science classes were not good during my undergrad career, my science GPA isnt really my problem, my problem is that my whole undergraduate g.p.a. is a 3.18, and the only way to really change that would be to retake my whole undergraduate class load right? In regards to the SMP, I had considered it, but since I am not getting any younger, and I'm going to be 250+ in debt even without it, I would prefer not to do it and be on the road to becoming a doctor a year sooner. Thanks for your help and best of luck to you!

I hear you on that. Being a non-trad is a funny thing, because that "one more year" means a LOT more than it did at age 22.

You're pretty much right about the grade replacement... Basically when you apply to DO schools, they only use the more recent grade of a repeated course when calculating your GPA, which generally allows for much quicker GPA repair. It can be any class, not just science. But you are right in that unless you have C's, D's or F's dragging your GPA down, it still won't be a quick fix. It is still faster than AMCAS GPA repair, though.

Search the forums for a AACOMAS GPA calculator spreadsheet, and it can help you play around with how many classes you could retake to get whatever GPA you're after. Like I said, if you have any C's or below, replacing the one class can make a pretty big difference.

All that being said.... from what I've read, it would really be worth taking whatever time you need to get into a US program rather than a caribbean program.

 

[Goro]

You can do a lot better than Carib diploma mills.

There are MD schools that rewartd reinvention. Albany, Tufts, BU, Tulane, NYMC, and very probably your state MD schools (if any). best thing to do wil be to call the Admissions deans and ask if you're competetive.

You're fine right now for ANY DO program, including mine.

So quit fussing and start applying!

Hello,
I am new to this website. I have looked up threads here many times and found them to be extremely helpful. There seems to not be a lot of consensus about what to do for those students who simply will not get into an American MD program. I was just curious about a few things, and please excuse my ignorance in advance.
I went to a good state school in NY and got a degree in Psychology. I graduated with a 3.2 g.p.a, though it was trending upwards. I'm not going to lie, my undergraduate transcript is a little underwhelming. After I graduated, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do but I knew that I wanted to enter the healthcare field. I took science classes and actually got a very good science g.p.a. post graduation (3.7). I took the MCATs and got a 31 on them. My goal right now is to get a residency in either Emergency Medicine or Internal Medicine. I have no research experience, but I work in a hospital with a lot of patient contact. I am thinking that my best options are either St. George's or Ross (in the Caribbean), a D.O. school, or a possibility recently brought to my attention by a current student there is attending medical school in Israel (he's in Sackler). If anyone has any advice for me I'd really appreciate it about where they think I'd get in or where they think I can get the best residency.
The one thing that worries me about the Caribbean schools is not getting a residency and being stuck with 250k in debt.. If you pass your USMLEs and stay say in the top 25% of your class there's no way you would be unable to find a residency right?
Sorry about the length of this post but any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[kbnumber8]

You can do a lot better than Carib diploma mills.

There are MD schools that rewartd reinvention. Albany, Tufts, BU, Tulane, NYMC, and very probably your state MD schools (if any). best thing to do wil be to call the Admissions deans and ask if you're competetive.

You're fine right now for ANY DO program, including mine.

So quit fussing and start applying!

Thanks for your advice, you've made me feel a lot better!