Going back to medicine after giving up

[agentawesome]

I graduated a year ago from college, with 2 Bachelor of Science degrees: in Biology (with a concentration in Neuroscience) and in Psychology. I also minored in Chemistry. My GPA wasn't awful, but it wasn't the best - cGPA was 3.365 and sGPA was 3.075. I took the MCAT twice about 2 years ago, and got a 23 the first time, and 28 six months later. At some point between taking the MCAT and graduation, I got overwhelmed and gave up on medical school. But now I'm realizing, becoming a doctor is what I really want to do with my life.

For the last 9 months, I've been working as a mental health technician in a locked acute psych unit at a hospital. I keep my patients safe (from themselves and their peers), monitor vitals, draw blood, do minor wound care, chart, run group therapy - basically, whatever the Drs and Charge RNs need done, I do it.

Being at the hospital everyday (almost) for the last 9 months has reminded me why I had wanted to go into medicine in the first place. It's amazing, the things doctors get to do and the people they get to help. I've sat in on a few surgeries, accompanied some of my patients to MRIs, x-rays, CT scans, and followed the psychiatrists as well as some of the medical doctors around when they do their rounds and I'm constantly in awe of everything I see.

Anyways, now I'm trying to get back into preparing to apply for medical school. I know I need to really work on my MCAT score, so I've enrolled in a Kaplan prep course that's starting in a couple of weeks, and I plan on taking the exam in April. I was hoping to apply to medical school next summer, in 2012.

But what to do about my GPA? At the beginning of college, I had a really hard time in my chemistry classes, and got a few not-so-good grades. Before graduating, I managed to retake the classes and do better, so most of them are now A/Bs, but I've got 3-4 Cs there. Should I try a post-bac program? Or would that just be a waste of time, since I already have a science degree and have finished all the pre-req classes for med school?

And letters of recommendation ... most of the schools I've looked into want letters from college professors. Well, by the time I'm ready to apply, it will be 2 years after I've graduated college - I'm not sure if my professors will remember me. Has anyone gone back after a couple of years to get LOR? I'll be able to get great LORs from the doctors I work with, as well as from the director of the psych unit (he already promised me! ), so I'll have work recommendation letters, but I'll still need ones from school, right?

I also have no research experience from college. I helped out professors here and there, with random things, but none of it was "official" lab research, and none of it lasted for more than 2 weeks. Will this be a problem for me? If so, is there anyway I could get research experience without being a current student?

Clinical experience is one thing I definitely have! Over 1000 hrs already. And I've shadowed a few doctors as well.

Also, in college, I interned with the Chicago Police Department for 3 months, and I had the chance to accompany the officers to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. At the morgue, I observed about 40 autopsies, and helped out (passed instruments, jotted down notes, collected evidence from bodies). I was lucky that the medical examiners were very friendly and helpful, so they answered all my questions and even went out of their way to show me interesting things while doing the autopsies. Would this experience be something I should mention when I apply to medical school?

What else would you suggest that I should do or look into? Any suggestions, comments, criticisms, etc. that you guys have, I would really appreciate hearing them.

Thank you so much!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Catalystik]

Are you aware that if you apply to DO med schools, they only count the second grade if you retake a class for the same credits or greater? MD schools count all grades, even if your school "forgives" them when you retake.

Does the cGPA and sGPA above reflect this? (DO schools don't include math in their sGPA, BTW, like MD schools do. DO GPA calculation spreadsheet: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=450050 Maybe you could recalculate your numbers with these ideas in mind.

Further, an MCAT of 28 would be competitive for DO schools.

If you are only willing to consider MD schools, you'd either need 1-1.5 years of full-time postbac classes, getting near straight As, or an SMP (Special Masters Program), which generally requires an MCAT score of 30+, cGPA of > 3.0, and some recent good grades in science to show you're capable of suriviving their program, before you can get in.

 

[Morsetlis]

Don't forget that SMP programs are often harder than the first year of med classes, which are already hard by themselves. Do you want the stresses of applying + taking 1st year MD classes and performing very well in them?

Then again, people often rise to the task, and SMP completers often find themselves in med school a year later.

 

[drizzt3117]

Don't forget that SMP programs are often harder than the first year of med classes, which are already hard by themselves. Do you want the stresses of applying + taking 1st year MD classes and performing very well in them?

Then again, people often rise to the task, and SMP completers often find themselves in med school a year later.

Eh, SMPs are watered down versions of M1.

 

[FattySlug]

Retake MCAT and prereq class then go DO.

 

[Morsetlis]

Eh, SMPs are watered down versions of M1.

But there are several people with SMP's who are going to my school...

I guess not everybody succeed