Fear and Loathing on the Road to Medical School

[Jakethepsychsnake]

Hello there, I just made this account, and I am very worried about my chances of getting in.

So some background is that I am a sophomore/junior, and I have a 2.7 cGPA/2.5 sGPA. I was laid off from a job as a psych tech which I accumulated over 1000 clinical hours from, and I am volunteering at least 100 hours over the summer to help with Remote Area Medical Services. I haven't taken my MCAT yet because I am planning on taking an additional semester to finish my undergraduate. I am also looking at conducting what I believe is pretty sophisticated psychological research for an undergraduate.

As for after I graduate, I am considering a few options:
- Joining the Air Force or Navy for officer training
- Working towards my masters in biomedical scientists
- Working towards a Master's in Public Health

I am just wondering what my chances would be if I continue with an upward trend. Would I be competitive for DO school, or should I complete one of the items listed above?

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[FutureSurgical]

So if you become an officer, you'd have a lengthy time commitment (thinking 4 years at least.) That'd put you far back on attending medical school and, if you took the MCAT before becoming an officer, it'd be expired by many schools.

What happened to your GPA? I took a small hit after my first semester, but I had valid reasons that I pointed out in my interview. Was it just a hard time adjusting? If you got your pre-reqs out of the way, then if you can maintain a 4.0 with nothing but BCPM courses, you'd be fine for DO. MD I'm not so sure about though... a lot of MD schools have a 3.0 sGPA threshold, or else you're screened out.

Next, were you laid off, as in "we can't afford your position/getting rid of your job/shutting the business down?" AKA, out of your control? Or were you fired? That's an important distinction.

Lastly, an MPH is great if that's the field you wanna work in when you're a doctor. But if you're using it to "boost" your application, it's pointless. You'd be better off doing a DIY post bacc or SMP.

 

[Jakethepsychsnake]

So if you become an officer, you'd have a lengthy time commitment (thinking 4 years at least.) That'd put you far back on attending medical school and, if you took the MCAT before becoming an officer, it'd be expired by many schools.

What happened to your GPA? I took a small hit after my first semester, but I had valid reasons that I pointed out in my interview. Was it just a hard time adjusting? If you got your pre-reqs out of the way, then if you can maintain a 4.0 with nothing but BCPM courses, you'd be fine for DO. MD I'm not so sure about though... a lot of MD schools have a 3.0 sGPA threshold, or else you're screened out.

Next, were you laid off, as in "we can't afford your position/getting rid of your job/shutting the business down?" AKA, out of your control? Or were you fired? That's an important distinction.

Lastly, an MPH is great if that's the field you wanna work in when you're a doctor. But if you're using it to "boost" your application, it's pointless. You'd be better off doing a DIY post bacc or SMP.

Hey there, and thank you for responding to me. I honestly didn't realize that the timeframe on MCAT scores expiring was so short. I will definitely have to keep that in mind.

As for my low GPA, it was a combination of adjusting and a lot of additional responsibilities being added to my plate very suddenly. I have adjusted and I did overcome that.

As for the job, I was technically fired for 'being late' (the sheet they handed me listed a date that was the day after they fired me, and a day that I was on time for; the sheet said 0 minutes late for the latter). It was at-will employment, so they didn't need a reason to fire me either. I said laid-off, as they were closing other departments and facilities and were replacing newer employees in others with older employees in the shuttered programs, and as a relatively new employee they decided to fire me to make room.

 

[medschoolthrowaway2020]

Hey there, and thank you for responding to me. I honestly didn't realize that the timeframe on MCAT scores expiring was so short. I will definitely have to keep that in mind.

As for my low GPA, it was a combination of adjusting and a lot of additional responsibilities being added to my plate very suddenly. I have adjusted and I did overcome that.

As for the job, I was technically fired for 'being late' (the sheet they handed me listed a date that was the day after they fired me, and a day that I was on time for; the sheet said 0 minutes late for the latter). It was at-will employment, so they didn't need a reason to fire me either. I said laid-off, as they were closing other departments and facilities and were replacing newer employees in others with older employees in the shuttered programs, and as a relatively new employee they decided to fire me to make room.

Its kind of hard to tell from your description but if you don't have a strong letter of rec from your PI there that could be a bit of a problem.

 

[LizzyM]

You don't need a LOR from an employer (who is not a PI, principal investigator).

You do need to boost that GPA to 3.0 or higher to have a decent chance of getting into a graduate or professional program later. Research experience won't make up for a sub-par GPA so don't focus on that if it will be at the expense of your grades.

Don't take the MCAT before you are ready and plan on several hundred hours of prep for that exam including as a many full length practice tests taken under test conditions.

If you want to be a military officer, then that is a reasonable path toward your goals. You may have a tuition benefit that you can use after you are discharged to do a master of science program to refresh your science knowledge.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Why would you be joining the military? It is a great EC, but it will make it very difficult to do gpa repair which is what your app really needs.

 

[FutureSurgical]

Hey there, and thank you for responding to me. I honestly didn't realize that the timeframe on MCAT scores expiring was so short. I will definitely have to keep that in mind.

As for my low GPA, it was a combination of adjusting and a lot of additional responsibilities being added to my plate very suddenly. I have adjusted and I did overcome that.

As for the job, I was technically fired for 'being late' (the sheet they handed me listed a date that was the day after they fired me, and a day that I was on time for; the sheet said 0 minutes late for the latter). It was at-will employment, so they didn't need a reason to fire me either. I said laid-off, as they were closing other departments and facilities and were replacing newer employees in others with older employees in the shuttered programs, and as a relatively new employee they decided to fire me to make room.

As far as the employment issue, that's up to you to include on your AMCAS. If you left on good terms with your boss, then I don't see why you can't add it to AMCAS. The application needs a contact name and email/phone number.

I'd honestly work on your GPA and get to >3.0 in both if that's possible. Only get an MPH if you have a passion for epidemiology. And go for an SMP if you don't make it into medical school the first app cycle after doing GPA repair.

You don't need me to tell you how important it is to ace the MCAT. That will be a great buffer for you and your short comings