How do I Fix this!? Low GPA, Disaster MCAT

[IndigoLeft]

I graduated with a Biology Degree with a 3.00 GPA, Mid Bachelors I Started getting really sick (I will rather not specify) but I pushed through and managed to graduate. During my MCAT I had some severe issues related to the existing illness that affected my performance terribly (20). I have 3 family members who graduated from the Dominican Republic and have landed residencies in the US (good ones too!), so I thought it would be a great choice for me (I'm half-Dominican), fast forward a year later this School is KILLING ME, the lack of mental stimulus from their ****ty classes is driving me on the edge (but all the details I will post on a different thread I will post dedicated to the and detailed description of this hell hole). Now I don't know what to do, not sure if this goes in Pre-med (since I'm thinking of fixing my GPA and MCAT score and apply to the US) or to the medical school one. So what can or should I do?

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[MCATISEZ]

I graduated with a Biology Degree with a 3.00 GPA, Mid Bachelors I Started getting really sick (I will rather not specify) but I pushed through and managed to graduate. During my MCAT I had some severe issues related to the existing illness that affected my performance terribly (20). I have 3 family members who graduated from the Dominican Republic and have landed residencies in the US (good ones too!), so I thought it would be a great choice for me (I'm half-Dominican), fast forward a year later this School is KILLING ME, the lack of mental stimulus from their ****ty classes is driving me on the edge (but all the details I will post on a different thread I will post dedicated to the and detailed description of this hell hole). Now I don't know what to do, not sure if this goes in Pre-med (since I'm thinking of fixing my GPA and MCAT score and apply to the US) or to the medical school one. So what can or should I do?
P.S. Would also like to add I managed to publish an article while in undergrad, have clinical experience and also studied abroad (don't know if it's relevant tho).

I would do a post-bac entrance program into medical school if you find one that you can gain admissions into. Otherwise a post-bac, and MCAT retake may make applying to DO schools within reach (if the philosophy interests you). In the end, I think you have to take as much control of your situation as you can. A lot of people, including me, have likely felt the same about school at times. Remember the end goal, and stick it out. Good luck!

 

[efle]

Your status says medical student, and this:

I have 3 family members who graduated from the Dominican Republic and have landed residencies in the US (good ones too!), so I thought it would be a great choice for me (I'm half-Dominican), fast forward a year later this School is KILLING ME, the lack of mental stimulus from their ****ty classes is driving me on the edge

Do I understand correctly you are currently a medical student in the Dominican Republic and want to know if you can switch over to US MD?

 

[IndigoLeft]

Your status says medical student, and this:



Do I understand correctly you are currently a medical student in the Dominican Republic and want to know if you can switch over to US MD?

Yes. Not so much switch over, because transfers are not a thing, but starting over.

 

[IndigoLeft]

I would do a post-bac entrance program into medical school if you find one that you can gain admissions into. Otherwise a post-bac, and MCAT retake may make applying to DO schools within reach (if the philosophy interests you). In the end, I think you have to take as much control of your situation as you can. A lot of people, including me, have likely felt the same about school at times. Remember the end goal, and stick it out. Good luck!

I was thinking a regular MD School, DO does not really catch my interest, why would a post-bac not get me there?. I don't have loans, so maybe I can just sweep this mistake under the rug and start fresh. My illness is under control now, although I took a while to pin point what it was, so my performance would be much better now. It's not that me thinking that the School is bad, is that the School is Sketchy AF, they mistreat the foreign students, laugh at our faces if we dare file a complaint against a prof and the stick all the international" students with a bunch of their alumni that don't know how to give a decent class. Meanwhile the Dominican students get all the actual professionals/specialists to give them classes and as a result they excel at them better than us (plus they have properly redacted exams).

 

[efle]

The amount of grade repair you'd have to do on a 3.0, and the amount of improvement you'd need on that 20 MCAT, make this a goal that would take several years (like ~3) to even become possible, imo. Maybe @gonnif has something to say on this one.

And that's not even addressing the fact that you'd be explaining to the schools why you started and then dropped out of a dominican med school. Not a clue how that would go down.

 

[Vitani]

I was thinking a regular MD School, DO does not really catch my interest

Being a doctor doesn't catch your interest? On a day to day basis there really isn't a working difference between a DO and a MD.

 

[IndigoLeft]

Being a doctor doesn't catch your interest? On a day to day basis there really isn't a working difference between a DO and a MD.

It's the DO part, how is the whole Holistic thing integrated, does it still cover the points necessary for a successful Step and how will that affect me when I'm looking to match into something like Genetics, Endocrine, Surgery, etc. I didn't even know of the existence of DO Schools until 6 months ago when someone I know got accepted into one.

 

[IndigoLeft]

The amount of grade repair you'd have to do on a 3.0, and the amount of improvement you'd need on that 20 MCAT, make this a goal that would take several years (like ~3) to even become possible, imo. Maybe @gonnif has something to say on this one.

And that's not even addressing the fact that you'd be explaining to the schools why you started and then dropped out of a dominican med school. Not a clue how that would go down.

The MCAT score was not because I wasn't prepared, I got really sick mid exam and well... the rest is history. I'll probably do another bachelors in microbiology or something like that. Well, the school lost it's federal loans among other things, my reasons are pretty rock solid. The other option is to Change Schools in the DR, pass the Step 1 and change to a school with rotations in the US. My levels of stress and anxiety are through the roof right now, and I'm usually a pretty chill person. *sigh*

 

[efle]

The MCAT score was not because I wasn't prepared

What were your scores on the AAMC full-length practice tests preceding test day? Like if you hadn't gotten ill what were you reasonably expecting to score, like 30?

The MCAT score was not because I wasn't prepared, I got really sick mid exam and well... the rest is history. I'll probably do another bachelors in microbiology or something like that. Well, the school lost it's federal loans among other things, my reasons are pretty rock solid. The other option is to Change Schools in the DR, pass the Step 1 and change to a school with rotations in the US. My levels of stress and anxiety are through the roof right now, and I'm usually a pretty chill person. *sigh*

I know odds aren't awesome going IMG -> US residency but they are probably better than odds of a US MD admit, not to mention you're talking about extending the process by another several years just to attempt it.

If you were going to try to come back to a US med school, it really would have to be aiming mostly at DO schools

 

[efle]

It's the DO part, how is the whole Holistic thing integrated, does it still cover the points necessary for a successful Step and how will that affect me when I'm looking to match into something like Genetics, Endocrine, Surgery, etc. I didn't even know of the existence of DO Schools until 6 months ago when someone I know got accepted into one.

Yes you can still match specialties as DO, it is essentially identical curriculum to MD except for a required class that few people take seriously about "osteopathic manipulation"

Many do take only the COMLEX (their version of USMLE) but many take the USMLE and apply for the same residencies as med students do. In fact the DO and MD residency systems recently decided to merge, I believe starting in about 3 years everyone will all be merged

 

[IndigoLeft]

What were your scores on the AAMC full-length practice tests preceding test day? Like if you hadn't gotten ill what were you reasonably expecting to score, like 30?

Yeah, I was expecting a little bit more than that since my practice tests were around that range.

 

[IndigoLeft]

Yes you can still match specialties as DO, it is essentially identical curriculum to MD except for a required class that few people take seriously about "osteopathic manipulation"

Many do take only the COMLEX (their version of USMLE) but many take the USMLE and apply for the same residencies as med students do. In fact the DO and MD residency systems recently decided to merge, I believe starting in about 3 years everyone will all be merged

I'll ask my friend in DO for the details then (on the school etc..) and weigh my options. I just know I'm not staying in this School.

 

[efle]

If you retook the MCAT and scored equivalent to slightly above 30 (lets say like a 512), and did a few semesters of post-bacc with straight A grades, you would be likely to get attention from DO programs as far as competitive stats go. Again though I have no idea whether admissions would take issue with the dominican med school stint