Help! In Search of Hope!

[whosnisarg]

Hello everyone!

As my first post, I would like to briefly mention how appreciative I am to have a place where I can ask questions concerning what I am uncertain of and trust you all for professional help.

As for my questions, I am a bit freaking out right now... It just now hit me that my stats are actually kind of low... Yes, I am certain I want to be in the medical field, particularly a pediatric physician as of now. No, it is not for the money.

As of now, a senior in high school (I wish I didn't find this site so late!), I have a GPA of 3.32 unweighted and an SAT of 1310 as on this past August (650 Reading, 660 Math) with a combined score of 16 on the essay. As for extra curricular activities, I excel in film and photography, winning local competitions in both and having done both for so long! I am school-event oriented, partaking in two of the three school bands we have, creating documentaries for the school board (used in county-wide and state-wide presentations), and have been working as a librarian at the town's local library for the past 4 years while taking on various graphic design and web management jobs for local businesses.

MY QUESTION: What are my options for 7/8-year BS/MD, BA/MD, or BS/DO programs that I have a fair chance at getting into? Are my hopes lost due to a poor GPA?

Thank you all in advance and I look forward to your replies!

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[OrthoTraumaMD]

I don't have a good answer to your question, others will... but I had to smile when reading "particularly a pediatric physician as of now. No, it is not for the money." I hate to break it to you, but pediatricians do not make a lot.... and I assume that if you want to deal with kids, and (shudder) the crazy parents, then it doing it for the money would be a remarkably poor choice. So you don't need to state that in your post-- we know.

 

[Telega987]

I can only try

 

[Mad Jack]

Hello everyone!

As my first post, I would like to briefly mention how appreciative I am to have a place where I can ask questions concerning what I am uncertain of and trust you all for professional help.

As for my questions, I am a bit freaking out right now... It just now hit me that my stats are actually kind of low... Yes, I am certain I want to be in the medical field, particularly a pediatric physician as of now. No, it is not for the money.

As of now, a senior in high school (I wish I didn't find this site so late!), I have a GPA of 3.32 unweighted and an SAT of 1310 as on this past August (650 Reading, 660 Math) with a combined score of 16 on the essay. As for extra curricular activities, I excel in film and photography, winning local competitions in both and having done both for so long! I am school-event oriented, partaking in two of the three school bands we have, creating documentaries for the school board (used in county-wide and state-wide presentations), and have been working as a librarian at the town's local library for the past 4 years while taking on various graphic design and web management jobs for local businesses.

MY QUESTION: What are my options for 7/8-year BS/MD, BA/MD, or BS/DO programs that I have a fair chance at getting into? Are my hopes lost due to a poor GPA?

Thank you all in advance and I look forward to your replies!

You don't have a good shot at any combined programs that I know of, but I would HIGHLY discourage such programs anyway, as they tend to put much higher standards on GPA for students than just applying for medical school. Stop panicking when the race hasn't even started.

 

[Kkshake]

Just do well in college while earning your bachelors and then apply to medical school. You can even take an easy major with the hard sciences sprinkled in to make sure GPA stays high.

 

[austintr]

Another thing to note is that A LOT can change in 4-5 years. Meaning you may be dead set on being a pediatrician now, but you may decide later on that you really want to do something else (outside of medicine). By doing a traditional bachelor's first, you can then easily switch gears if you so find yourself drawn to other fields. The two years saved in a BS/MD program are pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Your journey from here on out until you become an attending (if you so decide) will be at minimum 10 years.

Many people decide they don't want to be a doctor in undergrad; I would even say the vast majority of people that start down that path end up elsewhere. Others, like myself, take significant detours along the way and start med school at 30 and beyond. I know it is easy to see a combined program as a great deal, but they're not all they're cracked up to be for a lot of people. Good luck!