Hello All... Insight needed

[Jnoonsie]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

So... this is my first post. Hello to all of you. I have recently decided that I want to pursue a career in medicine after year in a career I don't feel truly connected to. I got my B.S. in evolutionary biology from Syracuse University in 2010. My grades weren't amazing (3.33 overall GPA, 3.4 or 3.5 science GPA with alot of upper level BIO). Given my hiatus from the sciences as well as my mediocre GPA, I was thinking that a post bacc pre med program would be my best route to medical school. The only thing is, many of the post bacc programs will not consider those applicants who have already taken the majority of prerequisites. Am I correct in this assumption? If this is the case, what are my best options? Thanks for any insight 🙂...

 

[DrMidlife]

The postbac forum has discussion & program reviews that you'll likely find helpful.

Three things you'll need to do:
1. Start clinical volunteering right away. You shouldn't seriously consider medicine until you have clinical exposure.
2. Figure out whether you're ready to start MCAT prep. Take a practice exam (free, www.e-mcat.com). If the content looks familiar, and you're rusty, then start prep. If the content looks completely unfamiliar, then plan on more coursework before you start test prep.
3. Your GPA's a bit low for med school, but it's not bad. Taking a few classes, such as at night, or through extension, would probably fine. If you want more security, look at an SMP (see the postbac forum for details) after you have a good MCAT score.

For MD schools, average accepted student stats are about 3.6 cumulative overall/science GPA, and about 31-32 MCAT. For DO schools, GPA is about the same (3.6) and MCAT average is about 28.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Jnoonsie]

The postbac forum has discussion & program reviews that you'll likely find helpful.

Three things you'll need to do:
1. Start clinical volunteering right away. You shouldn't seriously consider medicine until you have clinical exposure.
2. Figure out whether you're ready to start MCAT prep. Take a practice exam (free, www.e-mcat.com). If the content looks familiar, and you're rusty, then start prep. If the content looks completely unfamiliar, then plan on more coursework before you start test prep.
3. Your GPA's a bit low for med school, but it's not bad. Taking a few classes, such as at night, or through extension, would probably fine. If you want more security, look at an SMP (see the postbac forum for details) after you have a good MCAT score.

For MD schools, average accepted student stats are about 3.6 cumulative overall/science GPA, and about 31-32 MCAT. For DO schools, GPA is about the same (3.6) and MCAT average is about 28.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks for the insight! So, you don't think post bacc is the path?

 

[DrMidlife]

Thanks for the insight! So, you don't think post bacc is the path?

"post bacc" is not at all descriptive. All the term means is additional coursework after a bachelors degree has been earned.

The suggestion I made (to take a few more classes) is a postbac.

If you are thinking about structured formal premed programs like Bryn Mawr or Goucher, you can't get into those. Partially because you've already done the prereqs, and partially because your GPA isn't high.

Best of luck to you.