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- Jun 26, 2015
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So I’m just finishing up my first year of an informal postbacc, with a 3.7. If I continue with my current course plan (for a total of 38 credits) and maintain the same average, next year, that will bring my sGPA to 3.38, and total college GPA to 3.47.
However, taking into account the AACOMAS retake policy, my sGPA would be 3.68, and my new college GPA would be…I’m not sure, but it would be in the 3.5 range at least.
That means, after 2 years I will (assuming a good MCAT score) be competitive for DO schools at least numbers-wise. But not so much for MD programs. I like to think that a strong upward trend, 5 years out from college, would be good, but I doubt it’s good enough.
I could increase my course load and get more credits in next year, but I wouldn’t want to risk the 3.7 I’ve been able to attain, especially with Orgo on the horizon. So the alternative would be a third year. If I took a third year postbacc, this time squeezing in 12 credits/semester because Orgo is behind me, and maintaining the same 3.7, I would have about a 3.48 sGPA under AMCAS, and an overall GPA I would estimate somewhere in the 3.5 range. A 4th year taking at least 10 credits and maintaining a 3.7 would bring my sGPA up into 3.5 range. And at that point I’ve basically done undergrad twice 🙁
An extra year or two to be a borderline MD candidate at best, unless there are MD schools that are willing to overlook 10 year old ****ty freshman college grades because of my strong postbacc performance-and if that is a possibility please let me know.
To make this less abstract: based on my shadowing, I found the work neurologists and ENTs do fascinating (no, I did not mean neurosurgeon, I know neurologists don’t do surgery). I know it’s theoretically possible for a DO to match into anything, but are they so difficult for a DO to get that I should spend an extra year or two on top of my thus far 2 year minimum postbacc to shoot for MD? For family reasons, I would strongly prefer to stay somewhere in the Northeast as well.
However, taking into account the AACOMAS retake policy, my sGPA would be 3.68, and my new college GPA would be…I’m not sure, but it would be in the 3.5 range at least.
That means, after 2 years I will (assuming a good MCAT score) be competitive for DO schools at least numbers-wise. But not so much for MD programs. I like to think that a strong upward trend, 5 years out from college, would be good, but I doubt it’s good enough.
I could increase my course load and get more credits in next year, but I wouldn’t want to risk the 3.7 I’ve been able to attain, especially with Orgo on the horizon. So the alternative would be a third year. If I took a third year postbacc, this time squeezing in 12 credits/semester because Orgo is behind me, and maintaining the same 3.7, I would have about a 3.48 sGPA under AMCAS, and an overall GPA I would estimate somewhere in the 3.5 range. A 4th year taking at least 10 credits and maintaining a 3.7 would bring my sGPA up into 3.5 range. And at that point I’ve basically done undergrad twice 🙁
An extra year or two to be a borderline MD candidate at best, unless there are MD schools that are willing to overlook 10 year old ****ty freshman college grades because of my strong postbacc performance-and if that is a possibility please let me know.
To make this less abstract: based on my shadowing, I found the work neurologists and ENTs do fascinating (no, I did not mean neurosurgeon, I know neurologists don’t do surgery). I know it’s theoretically possible for a DO to match into anything, but are they so difficult for a DO to get that I should spend an extra year or two on top of my thus far 2 year minimum postbacc to shoot for MD? For family reasons, I would strongly prefer to stay somewhere in the Northeast as well.
