Getting back on course for med school

[mybliss]

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So my story so far is that I completed my undergrad in 2011 with a 3.2 GPA. I was initially trying to be a pre-med during undergrad, but due to getting disillusioned early on with a couple bad grades and also being a little immature I stopped pursuing med school. During my vacation breaks at school I worked at an Oncology Clinic, working full time during my Junior and Senior year summers. After graduating undergrad I went to grad school for a year attempting to get an MPH. I did well but not great, however after that year I had no passion for that subject I decided not to finish and save some money and withdrew from the program, I had a 3.0 grad gpa upon exiting. Currently I'm working in the auto insurance industry as a claims adjuster, where I also deal with some medical claims as well.

Now that I've matured some I'm really wanting to pursue my dream of Med School again. I have most of my pre-reqs already done from my time in undergrad, but still need to complete physics and o-chem and of course take the MCAT.

I'm just curious if anyone has any advice on a good plan of action for myself. I know its not always recommend but I've been thinking of taking my final pre-reqs at a community college, since I don't know if I have the money off hand to afford the classes at a University.

Also if anyone else has been in a similar situation as me I would love to hear your story and how successful you were.

 

[katiemaude]

Welcome! I had a similar GPA from undergrad but buffered my post-bacc experience with a decade in a completely different field where I did extremely well but realized it wasn't what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. Like you, I didn't have the money to afford taking classes at a four-year, private institution or the stomach for a formal post bacc program... unlike you a formal postbacc was an option, because I had none of the prerequisites.

It is highly recommended that you take your prereqs at a four-year university or college. There are some med schools that won't consider you if you have your prereqs from a community college. So if there is anyway you can swing it by moving back home, attending a state school or taking out more student loans, I would recommend you go that way. This is especially important if you are RETAKING any classes (which helps with your GPA for DO schools). You don't want to look like you took the "easy" route to get a better grade.

That said...

I took my prereqs at a community college. I wasn't retaking anything, I got straight A's and I did well enough on the MCAT to apparently convince some med schools that the As were not easy ones, i.e. that I really did know the material. The professors at my CC were awesome and they had great credentials which might have looked good on their recommendation letters for me. I took two years of a fully loaded science schedule and brought my cumulative GPA up to 3.6 and my science/math GPA was 3.9.

In the end, I only applied to five medical schools (one DO) and I applied really late (absurdly late) because I ran out of money to send in my secondaries (don't do that). Two of the schools said they preferred prereqs to be taken at a four-year institution but didn't require it. Guess where I didn't get interviews? Amazingly, I was given interviews at two MD schools in the past month and they are both ones that I called in advance and asked about the CC credits and said they had no problem with them. The DO school I am still waiting to hear from and although my stats are well above their averages, because of the lateness of my application and the fact that they don't like CC credits, I am not holding my breath. I am also fully planning on reapplying in June.

So there is my story. Not sure if it helps. Overall my advice is to give yourself the best shot possible. Take your classes at a four-year institution, apply early and broadly, and get as much patient exposure as possible while you are doing your prereqs. Volunteer in an emergency department or get work as a PCA in a hospital. It will not only inform your personal statements, it will help you make sure that this is the right field for you.

Good luck!

 

[HesyRa]

To be honest, it is going to look bad that withdrew from the MPH program. It shows that you are not able to complete a task or goal that you have set for yourself and that you easily give up (3.0 in my MS program is borderline for getting the boot). It might be a different story if you had a great GPA from undergrad, but that is not the case. You need to show adcoms that you are capable of handling the stress and rigor of medical school, even if you aren't thrilled about the topics of your class at that time. Someone looking at your application, at this point in time, is most likely going to think that you just hated being an insurance adjuster and not that you have done an immense amount of maturing in the 6 months since dropping your MPH. I only point this out so that you know how others might perceive your record.

With that being said, I would think that you should definitely be doing your post-bacc work at a four year university, and you will need to hover right at a 4.0 in order to prove yourself. Get involved with volunteering in an area that you are passionate about, so that if you do get interviews you will come across as passionate. With a solid year or more of additions to your application, I think that there will definitely be schools that will extended offers to you, but you are going to have to make this #1 in your life.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Chuchunezumis]

Physics and Organic chemistry are generally the toughest required courses, and your GPA is pretty bad without having taken them. Also, as the above poster points out, your poor GPA and withdrawing from the MPH look bad as well.

I'd try to answer the following questions first for determining your best course of action:

#1) Are you interested in DO schools as well as MD schools, or MD only?

#2) Do you have any generous state schools or are you an URM?

Note if you are not interested in DO schools and aren't a URM, you'll be held to a pretty high standard like everyone else (3.6 GPA and 30 MCAT being about average). This will likely be quite difficult (if not impossible) for you to achieve, so be aware of that before going in.

Lastly, if your finances are tight, this will be even more difficult. Community college classes are often frowned upon, and you probably won't have the adequate time to volunteer/research/etc to give yourself the boost you need to be competitive if you have to work. Also, working while taking organic chemistry and/or physics and/or studying for the MCAT will be difficult. Doing the non-traditional career change thing is expensive, and you'll be at a significant disadvantage when competing against people who either have money saved or receive financial backing from their family.

That's not to say this isn't possible, it just will be at least very difficult and it's important you set forth and intelligent plan for how you'll achieve your goals before pursuing medicine.