Help needed

[Eas]

Hello.

This is my first time writing here, but i've been reading and gathering many information from this SDN community, thank you.

The reason why I'm writing is to ask you guys for directions.

I will not hide anything and put it as detail as possible so that you guys can give honest inputs.

*I live in California, Korean-American, first one to go to university in my family. Came to U.S. in junior year of high school. Technically got accepted to an excellent university in one and half year of studying in U.S.

*During high school, I was doing very well, but I had a difficult time to adjust to university level of education. Failed many classes. Received Academic Probations.

*I commuted from my home since freshman. I had no mentor. Although I entered to university to be a doctor, I had no direction or guidance of how to survive and pursue my dream in the university.
Eventually I was able to come back to the school, but i found out that to go to med school, I needed a superb GPA (I really didn't know until that time), which I didn't have.
I lost hope, and just dragged myself to graduate with BS in General Biology.

*Usually, applicants show an improvement of their academic performances, but my academic performances were steady.

*My GPA is 2.2.

*My dad had a stroke, and I spent most of my times to take care of him.

*I took MCAT as I take care of my dad, and got 26.

*I am currently teaching Biology at local high school, but after the graduation and caring my dad and teaching high school kids, I realized why I wanted to be a doctor. I learned that I was the one who gave up on the hope while I teach high school kids to keep up with their dream to be what they want to be.

*With a late realization of why I want to be what I want to be, I decided to search for an opportunity to show I am a changed person.

*However, because of my poor performances during my undergrad years, no one was willing to give a chance.

*I talked with a friend who work at Postbac Program at one of UC system. He found out that there are number of students who have C average GPA and MCAT score lower than 26 get accepted to med school after postbac program, but I got declined. Korean American is not considered as an underrepresented minority.

*I actually sent e-mail to all universities who offer postbac program. Some suggested that I should re-take few science classes and apply for postbac or special masters program. I retook a class and got a good grade. I was planning to take few more evening classes during fall semester, but being a full-time teacher, it isn't easy.

Bottom line: I want to be a doctor, but I am caged in my past mistakes. I need someone to open this cage door so that I can fly.

I would appreciate greatly if anyone can provide me with the guidance of what I should do to gain a second chance that I am a changed person.



Thank you.

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[yadave]

Hello.

This is my first time writing here, but i've been reading and gathering many information from this SDN community, thank you.

The reason why I'm writing is to ask you guys for directions.

I will not hide anything and put it as detail as possible so that you guys can give honest inputs.

*I live in California, Korean-American, first one to go to university in my family. Came to U.S. in junior year of high school. Technically got accepted to an excellent university in one and half year of studying in U.S.

*During high school, I was doing very well, but I had a difficult time to adjust to university level of education. Failed many classes. Received Academic Probations.

*I commuted from my home since freshman. I had no mentor. Although I entered to university to be a doctor, I had no direction or guidance of how to survive and pursue my dream in the university.
Eventually I was able to come back to the school, but i found out that to go to med school, I needed a superb GPA (I really didn't know until that time), which I didn't have.
I lost hope, and just dragged myself to graduate with BS in General Biology.

*Usually, applicants show an improvement of their academic performances, but my academic performances were steady.

*My GPA is 2.2.

*My dad had a stroke, and I spent most of my times to take care of him.

*I took MCAT as I take care of my dad, and got 26.

*I am currently teaching Biology at local high school, but after the graduation and caring my dad and teaching high school kids, I realized why I wanted to be a doctor. I learned that I was the one who gave up on the hope while I teach high school kids to keep up with their dream to be what they want to be.

*With a late realization of why I want to be what I want to be, I decided to search for an opportunity to show I am a changed person.

*However, because of my poor performances during my undergrad years, no one was willing to give a chance.

*I talked with a friend who work at Postbac Program at one of UC system. He found out that there are number of students who have C average GPA and MCAT score lower than 26 get accepted to med school after postbac program, but I got declined. Korean American is not considered as an underrepresented minority.

*I actually sent e-mail to all universities who offer postbac program. Some suggested that I should re-take few science classes and apply for postbac or special masters program. I retook a class and got a good grade. I was planning to take few more evening classes during fall semester, but being a full-time teacher, it isn't easy.

Bottom line: I want to be a doctor, but I am caged in my past mistakes. I need someone to open this cage door so that I can fly.

I would appreciate greatly if anyone can provide me with the guidance of what I should do to gain a second chance that I am a changed person.



Thank you.

I am in the exact same boat as u as far as gpa goes. i ahve not taken the mcat but still. as far as i have understood from advice recieved on this forum, u have to raise that undergrad gpa so that u can get into a good smp. after that, u gota work ur butt off and get a stellar smp average. i know it seems hard but u have to have faith in urself and ur dreams...nothing is impossible and there is still time to redeem urself. just keep working and take as many classes as u can to prove ur intelligence. good luck with everything.

 

[NutCracker2021]

Well heres the thing..you need to raise that GPA to a 3.0 in order to apply for a post or special masters program. I am not sure if you completed all your pre-requisites already but if you havent maybe taken those will help bring your GPA higher. If not, then i suggest you take some classes at your local college in order to bring your GPA up.

In terms of your MCAT, there are a lot of programs that give MCAT preparation. I would take it over and try to get it over a 26. DO NOT TAKE IT ANYTIME THOUGH. The main focus right now is to bring that GPA.

Also you need to gt your feet wet. Why do you want to be a doctor? Have you done any volunteer or work experience int he health care field? Those are important things that medical schools will be looking at. They want to see if you have been around doctors. How do you know you want to be a doctor if you have never been around one?

http://services.aamc.org/postbac/ This website is such a great website. I suggest you click Search and start going through every single post bac program out there in the nation. Find a couple that can cater to your situation. Start emailing and calling the schools and go from there.

So the plan for right now is to bring your GPA up...to a 3.0 (as close as possible)..take some science course and a few other courses to help bring it up.

 

[badgpadoc]

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I am in a similar situation and have a hypothetical question.

I have a low undergrad GPA (around 2.5) but lots of research experience (10 years) and some publications.

I've e-mailed some SMPs and some have said that under 3.0 would not make me ineligible since they can take me in under "special consideration" and I would be on academic probation the first semester.

Anyway, my question is: Theoretically....If I work like crazy to get a good MCAT score...somehow one of the SMPs accept me...I ace the SMP program....and then apply to medical school, would my low undergrad GPA still make me an impossible candidate for med school admission?

If so, I guess I should take classes now since it would be weird to do the SMP only to then go back to a state college and take classes.

Thanks!

 

[Squiggy]

I think you should take undergrad classes until you bring your GPA above a 3.0 because less than that would not get you off of many autoscreens. Of course, if you can get into an SMP with high linkage you might not need to do this.

I'm kind of in your shoes (non-trad) though I have a GPA slightly over a 3.0 and I've never done any research. Starting premed in your late twenties or thirties is really annoying but I think you should do upper level undergrad science to figure out if you can study a decade out of school (I'm doing this right now!). Get those A's and you'll bring your GPA up to a suitable level and will be prepared to kick arse in the SMP.

On the other hand, even if you get into an SMP, a poor performance will ruin your chances of getting into med school and even a stellar performance may be anchored by that 2.5 undergrad GPA.

 

[badgpadoc]

Thanks Squiggy! Your advice was very helpful.

I'm not a decade out of school...just a year and a half (graduated 2007). I've worked 30 hours a week or more for the past 10 years. Ironically, me being in the lab so much is actually one of the factors my GPA is so low =(

I was going to try to apply to the SMPs this cycle for entry Fall 2009, but I guess I should look into taking undergrad classes first.

So as long as I take the classes at an undergrad university it is considered undergraduate grades?

Thanks again!

 

[DrMidlife]

So as long as I take the classes at an undergrad university it is considered undergraduate grades?

Not quite. So long as you take undergrad classes you get undergrad grades. Universities aren't typically only grad or only undergrad.

Folks in the nontrad forum have some horror stories about undergrad classes getting counted as grad, because they were grad students at the time. This is kind of an edge case, and it's school-specific, but it seems relevant to mention.

I feel quite strongly that doing an SMP with a sub-3.0 is a mistake, so I very much agree that getting your cumulative numbers up over that threshold is your next move. There are people who would disagree with me on this. But I would expect that nobody will argue against killing the MCAT.

Best of luck to you.

 

[badgpadoc]

Thanks for the info =)

My remaining question is...if I'm going to take classes at a 4-year college, do they need to be different than the prereqs I took for my bio degree? I got C's and C-'s in many of those med school prereqs.

So my plan is to go take basically all the med school prereqs over and that is enough if it gets my cumulative ug GPA over 3.0? Or should I take some other easy classes to get a few more A's?

Also, I AP'd out of one semester of english while in college. Should I just take that semester of english now?

 

[moneduloides]

Thanks for the info =)

My remaining question is...if I'm going to take classes at a 4-year college, do they need to be different than the prereqs I took for my bio degree? I got C's and C-'s in many of those med school prereqs.

So my plan is to go take basically all the med school prereqs over and that is enough if it gets my cumulative ug GPA over 3.0? Or should I take some other easy classes to get a few more A's?

Also, I AP'd out of one semester of english while in college. Should I just take that semester of english now?

I would talk to a few med schools you're interested in attending and see what they have to say (I don't know whether AMCAS looks down upon re-takes or not, honestly). At the same time, you may want to consider a DO seeing as retaking the courses will actually give you a new grade in the course and it will be much easier to raise your GPA; at the end of the day you're still a doctor, and with few exceptions you have all the same professional opportunities as an MD.

 

[badgpadoc]

I was just thinking...does it matter to retake all those prereqs? Is my goal just to get my cumulative undergrad GPA over 3.0?

I would like to still work my job (at least part time) and the labs involved with the rereqs make things very difficult to hold a job.

If my goal is to get my total GPA over 3.0 in order to go to an SMP, then can I just take science-related courses that aren't as involved?

 

[badgpadoc]

Whoops...I missed your post because I was posting too. Going to DO might in fact be a good idea. I need to look into that...

If I don't retake the same intro to bio/chem/physics/ochem/calc classes...i'm actually better off since those are the most time consuming ones. What are some types of classes that people take to improve GPA? (sorry if this is getting a bit past the point of this thread...I do realize I should probably post that question elsewhere, but I'm already on this thread and so I shall ask it!)

Thanks for all your help!

 

[moneduloides]

Whoops...I missed your post because I was posting too. Going to DO might in fact be a good idea. I need to look into that...

If I don't retake the same intro to bio/chem/physics/ochem/calc classes...i'm actually better off since those are the most time consuming ones. What are some types of classes that people take to improve GPA? (sorry if this is getting a bit past the point of this thread...I do realize I should probably post that question elsewhere, but I'm already on this thread and so I shall ask it!)

Thanks for all your help!

Time consumption is really based on the university you're taking the courses at, but I would recommend taking Genetics and a few math courses maybe (Stats, Calc 1, 2, 3), as these are non-lab courses that will raise your BCPM. The other courses you really should take if you don't want to repeat but want to prepare yourself for medical school (and look good in the eyes of admissions) will be a bit time consuming, though: namely Embryology, Histology, Biochemistry, Vertebrate Anatomy, etc...

 

[badgpadoc]

Time consuming (content-wise) is okay. I just don't have enough # of hours in the day to work as well as take classes that have lecture, discussion, and 4 hours of lab.

Should my goal be to raise my total GPA to above 3.0 using science classes or to raise my science GPA to above a 3.0? Since an A and a C- average to B-, having to raise my science GPA to above a 3.0 is near impossible. In which case I guess DO is the way to go since I could just retake and have my bad grades not factored in.

I'm not good at calculus...so I'd like to stay away from that if at all possible. Which means DO since calculus isn't counted as part of science GPA.

 

[Squiggy]

Retake your classes in order of lowest grades (that's what I'm doing). Consistent A retakes might win you an acceptance to an SMP in addition to boosting your DO calculated GPA, killing two birds with one stone.

 

[badgpadoc]

Thanks...that is probably the best way to do it. I just can't commit to it yet because I can't suddenly leave my job. The next semester at my local state school starts in two weeks and I plan to start classes then. So I have to figure out what to do. Maybe I'll retake a few of the upper divs that I did poorly in which will buy me a semester of time to decide to leave my job and become a full time student.

If I do well at my state school and retake all my bad classes, perhaps an SMP wouldn't be necessary for DO?

 

[GloryofGreece]

Thanks...that is probably the best way to do it. I just can't commit to it yet because I can't suddenly leave my job. The next semester at my local state school starts in two weeks and I plan to start classes then. So I have to figure out what to do. Maybe I'll retake a few of the upper divs that I did poorly in which will buy me a semester of time to decide to leave my job and become a full time student.

If I do well at my state school and retake all my bad classes, perhaps an SMP wouldn't be necessary for DO?

Either way you will fight an uphill battle, but in the end you will get to pursue your dream. We all got one life (haven't been proven otherwise) so we gotta make best of it.

I am in the same position as you...

My gpa is 3.1 after I drop out of of college, because I was gonna graduate from something that I have no interests at all (Information science ) and want to work on biology/premed. I worked in verizon wireless customer service for about two years call center will teach you nothing but one thing: Dont get stuck here for life!

Thanks for tuition assistance, I pull 3.8 GPA out of community college while working fulltime, took my premed courses (some of them I did already) and now completeing my degree in chemical engineering in another school. The degree in engineering is just an insurance in case I dont make it to med school.

 

[badgpadoc]

Greece, wish you the best of luck!

I really wish the schools around me had night classes. The pre-med prereqs offered at these schools are all scheduled in a way that makes it basically impossible to hold a job as well. They're all spread out late morning and early afternoon.

Maybe I can find some random job on campus so that I could go to work in between classes.

So going the DO route and being able to just apply the retakes to my GPA...would an SMP still be necessary? I could probably get to a 3.5 if I replace all my C- with As.

I guess I'll figure it out when I get my transcript. It's so stupid that I have to pay my school $20 to get a copy of my own grades. But once I get them in the mail, I can figure out what I'd have to do.

 

[badgpadoc]

Back again for your help!

I KNOW from this forum it's okay to repeat classes so they can be replaced and my GPA upped quickly for AACOMAS application. But I e-mailed a "pre-med advisor" at my state school to set up an appointment to talk before the semester starts and this is her reply:

Biology Department Pre-Med Advisor:
You should NOT repeat any previous courses. Medical Schools, both alopathic and osteopathic, will not consider repeated classes. You need to take new, upper division and graduate level courses to prove that you can be successful academically.

This can't be right right? I just need assurance from you guys on the forum. I'm not sure why this advisor thinks this way, but I am sort of hoping she's not right...especially since the DO forums FAQ mentions exactly how to list retakes on the AACOMAS app.

 

[DrMidlife]

But I e-mailed a "pre-med advisor" at my state school to set up an appointment to talk before the semester starts and this is her reply:

Your premed advisor, like so many, is ignorant and irresponsible. Skip the appointment; it will be a waste of your time.

 

[badgpadoc]

Your premed advisor, like so many, is ignorant and irresponsible. Skip the appointment; it will be a waste of your time.

That's exactly what I needed to hear =) Thanks!

I will probably still go to the appointment because I need help figuring out which classes are comparable to what I've already taken. Although I'm going to have a tough time asking those questions since that advisor does not believe it will be allowed.

But thanks for the reassurance! I'm still trying to sort everything out so I freaked out when I saw the advisor's email.

 

[DrMidlife]

Although I'm going to have a tough time asking those questions since that advisor does not believe it will be allowed.

Bring in some docs from the AACOMAS app that explain repeats (and try not to be smug, hello, how hard is it for him/her to look this **** up?). But you shouldn't have to get a person to tell you what classes are the prereqs. That should be publicly available information: look for a premed advising website, and/or look at the chem, physics & bio department websites and ask those departments if necessary.

In your shoes I'd go to this appointment doe-eyed and innocent and see what other ratholes this adviser wants to drag you into. And then come back and share with us.

Edit: actually, just tell me what school you're at and I'll figure it out for you.

 

[badgpadoc]

Hi DrMidWife, I sent you a PM. Thanks for your help!