Gap year(s)?

[ac97do]

I am currently a junior in undergrad and am coming up on decisions this summer. My current cGPA is a 3.23 and sGPA is 2.85 (semester is going great, almost to finals and expecting a sGPA of 3.08 and cGPA of 3.32 after this semester). Chemistry is the weak spot, C in gen chem 1, B in gen chem 2, Cs in both orgos and a D in biochem, I am finishing this semester with a B in the second semester of biochem though. I am currently working as a manager scribe for a branch where I manage 9 other scribes at a hospital about 40 mins from me, as well as volunteer at the local hospital. President of HOSA (founded the chapter at my school). Also doing some ecology research next year that I could not put on this year's app. Taking MCAT and scored a 500 before going into Kaplan books. I have not been studying for the MCAT as much as I would have hoped.
I don't have many ECs as you can see and my GPA is not fantastic, so I was thinking of taking a gap year or years. I want to go into family medicine and thought an MBA might be helpful in running a practice and showing schools I can take graduate level work. My school has a 4+1 program where I can start taking MBA classes next year and have the MBA by end of Summer 2020.

But of course, I have to take the GRE.

So my question is should I keep hardcore studying for the MCAT in hopes that I have a high enough score that it will help my application and forget the MBA or should I abandon the thoughts of applying this year, study for the GRE and get into the MBA program, and continue working at the hospital and gaining that management and leadership experience, possibly even after the MBA is done?

(I'm not considering MD school, I want more of a holistic approach and I would say the DO approach on patient care philosophy is more in line with what I want my style of practice to look like.)

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[ZatAnteater]

When you say "I'm not considering med school" what do you mean? A DO school is med school lol. But an MBA won't help you much since there are no classes to bring your science GPA up. If you decide to do a masters, do one in a science related field like Biomedical Sciences. Crush the courses there and bring up that science GPA. Study for the MCAT and get a 508 at the very least.

An MBA won't even help you run a practice. An MBA is usually for people who already have business experience. To get into a good MBA program, you typically need a year or two of working experience. No one in medicine cares if you have an MBA and no one in business cares if you have an MBA unless it's from a top 10 institution.

 

[ac97do]

When you say "I'm not considering med school" what do you mean? A DO school is med school lol. But an MBA won't help you much since there are no classes to bring your science GPA up. If you decide to do a masters, do one in a science related field like Biomedical Sciences. Crush the courses there and bring up that science GPA. Study for the MCAT and get a 508 at the very least.

An MBA won't even help you run a practice. An MBA is usually for people who already have business experience. To get into a good MBA program, you typically need a year or two of working experience. No one in medicine cares if you have an MBA and no one in business cares if you have an MBA unless it's from a top 10 institution.

Thank you!
Sorry, meant MD school. What about a post bacc? What are my chances for one of those? I was just considering the MBA because it would have been free on my scholarship, but if it does me no good then what's the point.

 

[GTown]

Thank you!
Sorry, meant MD school. What about a post bacc? What are my chances for one of those? I was just considering the MBA because it would have been free on my scholarship, but if it does me no good then what's the point.

I had bad science grades freshman year. Nothing below a B after that. But freshman year was enough to mess me up. I chose to do a masters in biochem instead of a post-bacc or SMP because I wanted a marketable skill that would also help me build my application for when I eventually applied to med school. I wouldn't have gotten in to med school pre-masters or without the research I've done since. That gave me an edge.

My advice - don't do an MBA, do an actual science masters if you can. You'll bump up your science GPA, show med schools you can handle high level science, and you'll end up with something that will help you build a career if you so wish or if you don't get into med school or help you pad your application with relevant research. Most of the established DO schools have some research component if not a lot (Rowan for example loves applicants with research).

Figure out what went wrong with MCAT the first time and rectify it for the future. I couldn't quite tell but is there an upward trend in your science grades? You listed a few courses but are your other sciences good? (the D in biochem looks bad - not gonna lie). An upward trend is the most important thing.

 

[de Ribas]

I am currently a junior in undergrad and am coming up on decisions this summer. My current cGPA is a 3.23 and sGPA is 2.85 (semester is going great, almost to finals and expecting a sGPA of 3.08 and cGPA of 3.32 after this semester). Chemistry is the weak spot, C in gen chem 1, B in gen chem 2, Cs in both orgos and a D in biochem, I am finishing this semester with a B in the second semester of biochem though. I am currently working as a manager scribe for a branch where I manage 9 other scribes at a hospital about 40 mins from me, as well as volunteer at the local hospital. President of HOSA (founded the chapter at my school). Also doing some ecology research next year that I could not put on this year's app. Taking MCAT and scored a 500 before going into Kaplan books. I have not been studying for the MCAT as much as I would have hoped.
I don't have many ECs as you can see and my GPA is not fantastic, so I was thinking of taking a gap year or years. I want to go into family medicine and thought an MBA might be helpful in running a practice and showing schools I can take graduate level work. My school has a 4+1 program where I can start taking MBA classes next year and have the MBA by end of Summer 2020.

But of course, I have to take the GRE.

So my question is should I keep hardcore studying for the MCAT in hopes that I have a high enough score that it will help my application and forget the MBA or should I abandon the thoughts of applying this year, study for the GRE and get into the MBA program, and continue working at the hospital and gaining that management and leadership experience, possibly even after the MBA is done?

(I'm not considering MD school, I want more of a holistic approach and I would say the DO approach on patient care philosophy is more in line with what I want my style of practice to look like.)

No need for MBA. It won't help you in running clinic and won't show schools anything.
I would suggest doing regular post-bacc. You are junior, so you have at least 2 semesters to ace and raise your GPA. I would suggest graduating and then either taking a gap year to work/volunteer and study for MCAT and then apply or do SMP/post-bacc. Or you can do SMP/post-bacc right after graduation, but it will be challenging to fit volunteering/working, MCAT and science courses all in one year.

 

[mc_bio19]

If your goal is med school, I can’t suggest taking the MBA. You’d be better served with a DIY post bacc to raise your science gpa a bit more. I’d take some courses and study hard for the MCAT.

 

[ac97do]

I had bad science grades freshman year. Nothing below a B after that. But freshman year was enough to mess me up. I chose to do a masters in biochem instead of a post-bacc or SMP because I wanted a marketable skill that would also help me build my application for when I eventually applied to med school. I wouldn't have gotten in to med school pre-masters or without the research I've done since. That gave me an edge.

My advice - don't do an MBA, do an actual science masters if you can. You'll bump up your science GPA, show med schools you can handle high level science, and you'll end up with something that will help you build a career if you so wish or if you don't get into med school or help you pad your application with relevant research. Most of the established DO schools have some research component if not a lot (Rowan for example loves applicants with research).

Figure out what went wrong with MCAT the first time and rectify it for the future. I couldn't quite tell but is there an upward trend in your science grades? You listed a few courses but are your other sciences good? (the D in biochem looks bad - not gonna lie). An upward trend is the most important thing.

It's really just chemistry that is bad for me. I have had solid As and Bs sporadically in bio/math/physics, and only As in gen eds (except for one stupid English class I got a B because of an annotated bibliography ). For chem, I had a C first semester (gen chem), B second semester (gen chem), C third and fourth semester (organic), D fifth semester (biochem), expecting a B this semester (biochem). Should I take another chem course or maybe try and retake the D? There were outside circumstances that resulted in the D for me, I'm sure if I took it again I would get a better grade.

No need for MBA. It won't help you in running clinic and won't show schools anything.
I would suggest doing regular post-bacc. You are junior, so you have at least 2 semesters to ace and raise your GPA. I would suggest graduating and then either taking a gap year to work/volunteer and study for MCAT and then apply or do SMP/post-bacc. Or you can do SMP/post-bacc right after graduation, but it will be challenging to fit volunteering/working, MCAT and science courses all in one year.

That makes sense and it seems like what would work best for me too. Would it help me to attend a post bacc at the school I want to get into? Or is it just the same as going anywhere else?

Thank you all for the help. Should even consider taking the MCAT this summer and spending the money on applying? I'm eligible for the fee waiver but its still expensive. It seems to be the general consensus from these replies and everything I've read about people in my position that I wait a year maybe two anyways.