Have I burned by bridges?

[Razor6792]

I graduated high school as the salutatorian. My SAT score was among the top percentile. I then went to college as an engineering major. After my sophomore year, my GPA was a perfect 4.0. But then one night, my girlfriend told me she missed her period... and everything went downhill from there.

To finish my degree, I would end up retaking my remaining classes at least 3 times each. The first attempt was always a fail, the second was always a drop, and the 3rd attempt was a pass. That's what happens when you only ever show up for the syllabus and the finals. By the time I graduated, I had a 2.56 GPA from a ridiculous 228 total credits worth of passes, fails, and drops. Applying to medical school would've been a colossal joke.

That was 1994. Since then, I've done very well working in the private sector. The past 15 years have been financially rewarding, but not personally fulfilling. To this day, I still yearn to right my past wrongs.

I think about going back to college, but only for the sole purpose of eventually applying to medical schools. I have no doubt that I will perform well academically, and I'm equally certain I will ace the MCAT when the time comes. Academic proficiency has never been an issue for me. My only flaw back then was an utter lack of maturity. At 38 years old, that is no longer a problem.

I'm not looking for encouragement or validation. I guess what I'm asking for is a realistic assessment of my situation. Given my academic sins from 1994... are my chances for medical school irreparable?

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[LuciusVorenus]

I graduated high school as the salutatorian. My SAT score was among the top percentile. I then went to college as an engineering major. After my sophomore year, my GPA was a perfect 4.0. But then one night, my girlfriend told me she missed her period... and everything went downhill from there.

To finish my degree, I would end up retaking my remaining classes at least 3 times each. The first attempt was always a fail, the second was always a drop, and the 3rd attempt was a pass. That's what happens when you only ever show up for the syllabus and the finals. By the time I graduated, I had a 2.56 GPA from a ridiculous 228 total credits worth of passes, fails, and drops. Applying to medical school would've been a colossal joke.

That was 1994. Since then, I've done very well working in the private sector. The past 15 years have been financially rewarding, but not personally fulfilling. To this day, I still yearn to right my past wrongs.

I think about going back to college, but only for the sole purpose of eventually applying to medical schools. I have no doubt that I will perform well academically, and I'm equally certain I will ace the MCAT when the time comes. Academic proficiency has never been an issue for me. My only flaw back then was an utter lack of maturity. At 38 years old, that is no longer a problem.

I'm not looking for encouragement or validation. I guess what I'm asking for is a realistic assessment of my situation. Given my academic sins from 1994... are my chances for medical school irreparable?

I'm guessing there's been a huge enough gap between the last time you took classes and today that if you did your prereqs and got pretty much straight As and a 30+ MCAT your much older grades wouldn't kill you. After all, having a kid is a pretty big deal so I'm sure they'll understand. Unfortunately you have so many units I doubt you'll be able to bring your GPA past a 3.0 but I might be wrong. Is that 2.56 GPA calculated by replacing your old Ds/Fs with the newer grades? If not then you might want to apply DO since they replace Ds/Fs with the grades you got after you retook those classes and that would be a serious boost for your GPA.

I would say it's worth a shot? You could probably do it in 3 years so you'd be like what, 41? Let's say you get in and finish med school you'd be 45. As long as you do something with a short residency like FP or IM you'll probably be looking at at least a 15 year career as a doctor. They need FP and IM doctors anyways so maybe if you show a desire to do it they'll look past your age.

 

[hydraphoenix15]

I figure you'll probably end up in school again if you're aching to go to medical school. I actually read up on Special Master Programs today and it seems like a pretty good option//quick low cgpa redemption.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=346106

My school doctors a DO and he does a pretty awesome guy, if you don't mind going osteopathic, then go for it.

 

[J ROD]

I would go back to school and retake some or all of the science prereqs. Do well there and then take the MCAT and kill it. You might have a chance then with great luck and explanation.

A SMP would be the better option after taking some classes and the MCAT. It would give you the best shot at GPA repair with a strong MCAT.

 

[Catalystik]

Your age will be no barrier to getting into med school.

I'd like to know what your GPA is when you only include the most recent retake of each class. Here is a Calculator to help you: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=450050

Let us know what you get.

That a great deal of time has passed puts you in a much better spot. Adcomms love a good redemption story. You need to prove that you can excel in academics and that you are a new person. You do have a chance. At the same time that you begin your academic journey, you need to start building Experiences that matter to adcomms. First to begin, since longevity is preferred, would be gaining clinical experience with sick people. If you haven't already, consider volunteering in a hospital, clinic, nursing home, or hospice where you work face-to-face with patients (ie, not in a gift shop).

 

[MilkmanAl]

I'd agree with what has been said, but you do face a major hurdle. If you can't get your overall GPA above the automatic cut-offs for the schools you've applied to, you're going to be SOL. That cut-off is generally speculated to be 3.0 for both science and cumulative GPA's, so with 228 credits under your belt, that's going to take a whole lot of 4.0 work. If you can get through screening, I doubt you will have any problems. Also, not all schools screen (to my knowledge, at least), so very broad application would help you significantly.

Catalystic requested your GPA factoring in only retakes because DO schools only consider the most recent grades obtained for classes you've taken multiple times. With that in mind, you'll be quite a lot better off if your 2.56 includes a bunch of D's and F's and a lot of A's since you can retake the low grades and watch them disappear. MD schools are not quite as forgiving, unfortunately.

The bottom line is that good performance in your return to school (plus a solid MCAT score, of course) will probably make you competitive at the medical schools that consider your application. Best of luck to you.

 

[dokein]

If you found a gf as an engineering major that should be enough to get you into any medical school you want.

 

[DRIN]

Believe it or not, there are medical schools that will forgive poor academic performance with a good amount of post-bacc. work to show that you are not the same student you were 15 years ago.