Guidance on next steps

[jstkeepswimming]

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Hello all,

So I posted a while back asking for advice on what I can do to help my situation and get into medical school. I'm here asking for more opinions.

Here's a quick refresher:

- currently working on reinventing my resume for medical school and am looking for advice on where to go from here.
- Due to my unfortunately bad grades in community college (and early undergrad at my 4 year), my cGPA and sGPA are being heavily dragged down. My CC grades are from 2011-2015 if that makes a difference (it's been a while since those grades).

- I have been doing a DIY post-bacc (at a 4 year university) since Fall 2018 and have maintained a 4.0 (all upper div science classes) - taking 3 classes per quarter. This upward trend started in the summer before my senior year of college, so I've maintained a 4.0 from Summer 2017 until now.
- I've been doing clinical volunteering and non-clinical volunteering - should have 200+ clinical and 70+ non-clinical hours

- upward trend, however, my cGPA is currently a 2.9 and sGPA is a 2.77.
- did the math, and it would take me about 13 more A's to get both my cGPA and my sGPA to slightly above a 3.0 (at this point I am 11 courses away)

I think completing my post-bacc to get to a 3.0 is a viable option, but I might not be able to get the classes I need to get there as I'm running out of courses. This makes me believe the SMP is the best possible move. I was looking at places like Georgetown, BU, Tufts, etc. I believe in my ability to handle the workload, as I am a completely different student now than I was in the past. I believe my post-bacc exemplifies this. However, I would like the feedback of the users this forum. Is a SMP the right move here? I understand the difficulty of them and that it is a do or die situation, but I believe this is the best way for me to get into an MD program. I also understand that many of these SMP programs have a GPA cutoff at 3.0 - but many state that they do look at post-baccs and look favorably upon an upward trend. I believe with a good MCAT score, I have a decent shot at getting into these programs.

I have done a ton of reading on this forum, and there are so many helpful responses and insights. So in your opinions, what do you guys think my next move should be? I appreciate any and all help.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

[bananafish94]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Strong work on the GPA trend. I would obviously try to do as well as humanly possible on the MCAT and see what your options look like at that point. Realistically, you could probably aim for an SMP with a linkage program to a medical school and have a very good chance of getting in with your upward trend. Good luck!

 

[Monkeymojo]

I think you are doing great on repairing your GPA through your current DIY post-bac and future SMP! just make sure your EC's continue to tell a similar story of evolution. I think you'll be a really strong applicant if you can manage to find some research/leadership experience.

 

[GreenDuck12]

You’re going to need to include DO programs when you eventually with or without an SMP. I agree that an SMP will help make you a more viable candidate for MD, but your going to need to apply broadly with DO schools. Even if you reside in an incredibly favorable state like NM, OK, KY, etc.