How do I overcome a 2.5 undergrad GPA (non science major)?

[Vain Brother]

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our paths are pretty different but as a successful fellow non-trad i can give you a bit of advice:

1) figure out why you really want to do medicine. i don't doubt your sincerity but you're going to need a better answer, for your personal statement and interviews, than what you've given in this thread. read some books about medicine (any of atul gawande's stuff for starters), do some clinical volunteering, shadow if you can swing it, etc. deciding to go into medicine is not going to be easy, especially given the hole you've dug yourself, so you have to convince YOURSELF that you're ready for it before you start convincing med schools

2) do a post-bac, and you have to be ready to do stellar, not just pretty good. ideally you would do this at a reputable institution where you could take a full courseload. i'm not familiar with the west coast but you'll have to do some more research to see where this would best be done. if you're really serious about med school i would look into going out of state for the post-bac too, since your chances of getting into med school anywhere in CA are pretty low. i disagree with those who've said take it slow -- not sure how good it would look to get a 2.5 undergrad and then take your sweet time fulfulling the prereqs. the good news for you is that your BCPM GPA is probably salavagable at this point, even for MD schools, since you've only taken 2 science courses. obviously you'll have to take the MCAT too

3) when the time comes, apply broadly, to low-tier MD and DO. one thing that i havent seen anyone mention that you'll want to take advantage of is your URM status -- there are several HBCU med schools that your reinvented self may be competitive at. but this is all a few years away

 

[Vain Brother]

one thing i would stress is that you have to realize how hard this is going to be. it's not un-doable, but the odds are pretty against this being successful. it's going to require significant sacrifice in terms of finances and lifestyle, and the science coursework is going to be difficult for someone who majored in the humanities. just make sure you're mentally ready for this. which is why #1 above was "make sure you understand why you want to do medicine"

 

[moop]

OP will not be able to handle prereqs or med school. OP is directionless and does not want to admit that investigative research without experience doesn't mean jack **** in medicine.

OP thinks he has tough skin and can hack it even though he has not proven to anyone that he can hack anything beyond high school. A 2.5 GPA across 4 years of college in a non-STEM field is a complete academic failure, regardless of how intense the institution is. There is no evidence that he can hack anything in college at all, but OP continues to believe so, and it is not a crime to be myopic.

OP has a long road ahead and will waste a lot of time pursuing an academic-heavy field when he has not proven he is academically capable. But we have done what we can for him here on SDN. OP will be forgotten as one of many nameless SDN soldiers, and this thread will also be forgotten and buried.

If OP is smart, OP will start exploring other career options concurrently and recognize that he is IN NO POSITION to be picking professions based on how challenging/satisfying they are. If OP is smart, he will stop this path and save his money as soon as his first Cs and Ds come in from community college.

If OP is smart, he will look at this post and realize the sh*tstorm that's about to come. OP will learn where to draw the line and stop. He damn well should still give it a try, but OP needs to know that thousands before him have failed, and there is no evidence so far to believe he is an exception.

 

[premedbrah]

OP will not be able to handle prereqs or med school. OP is directionless and does not want to admit that investigative research without experience doesn't mean jack **** in medicine.

OP thinks he has tough skin and can hack it even though he has not proven to anyone that he can hack anything beyond high school. A 2.5 GPA across 4 years of college in a non-STEM field is a complete academic failure, regardless of how intense the institution is. There is no evidence that he can hack anything in college at all, but OP continues to believe so, and it is not a crime to be myopic.

OP has a long road ahead and will waste a lot of time pursuing an academic-heavy field when he has not proven he is academically capable. But we have done what we can for him here on SDN. OP will be forgotten as one of many nameless SDN soldiers, and this thread will also be forgotten and buried.

If OP is smart, OP will start exploring other career options concurrently and recognize that he is IN NO POSITION to be picking professions based on how challenging/satisfying they are. If OP is smart, he will stop this path and save his money as soon as his first Cs and Ds come in from community college.

If OP is smart, he will look at this post and realize the sh*tstorm that's about to come. OP will learn where to draw the line and stop. He damn well should still give it a try, but OP needs to know that thousands before him have failed, and there is no evidence so far to believe he is an exception.

Discouraging, but ultimately correct. You need to recognize and be aware of the challenges ahead, but it is possible to turn things around. I sure as hell have coming from a horrendous GPA into straight A's every semester. OP stated that they had issues in college that were non-academically related that effected their performance. If he/she has truly overcame these faults, then it is possible they will perform to their greatest potential in Pre-req courses. Some people need a wake up call before they realize what they truly want to do with their lives, and this may or may not be OP's case. I sure as hell did, and I believe it set me on the right path even with my "lack" of academic evidence. Plenty of people have doubted me before when I set on this journey, but I kept it going.

For what it's worth I have faith in you OP, goodluck.

 

[Northstar208]

OP will not be able to handle prereqs or med school. OP is directionless and does not want to admit that investigative research without experience doesn't mean jack **** in medicine.

OP thinks he has tough skin and can hack it even though he has not proven to anyone that he can hack anything beyond high school. A 2.5 GPA across 4 years of college in a non-STEM field is a complete academic failure, regardless of how intense the institution is. There is no evidence that he can hack anything in college at all, but OP continues to believe so, and it is not a crime to be myopic.

OP has a long road ahead and will waste a lot of time pursuing an academic-heavy field when he has not proven he is academically capable. But we have done what we can for him here on SDN. OP will be forgotten as one of many nameless SDN soldiers, and this thread will also be forgotten and buried.

If OP is smart, OP will start exploring other career options concurrently and recognize that he is IN NO POSITION to be picking professions based on how challenging/satisfying they are. If OP is smart, he will stop this path and save his money as soon as his first Cs and Ds come in from community college.

If OP is smart, he will look at this post and realize the sh*tstorm that's about to come. OP will learn where to draw the line and stop. He damn well should still give it a try, but OP needs to know that thousands before him have failed, and there is no evidence so far to believe he is an exception.

I agree. I am in no position to demand the confidence of anybody based on my past academic history. Although this post was hard to read, given the circumstances... everything about it is true.

 

[MrLogan13]

Make no mistake, you have a lot of work ahead of you. But don't let it discourage you, find the motivation and will to reach your goal. I dropped out of my first attempt at college and had ~1.0 GPA after 1.5 years of coursework. Ended up enlisting in the Army. Went back to school 6 years later and started from the bottom, with 4 years at a CC and then 2 years at a UC. From a 1.0, I graduated with a UC GPA of 3.77. While my previous poor performance ended up dragging my cGPA way down, and while the odds were against me, I was still successful this cycle.

If you want to do this, be prepared for a long journey and a lot of hard work. The odds may be against you now, but they're not insurmountable.

 

[Northstar208]

Thought this might be appropriate

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/the-low-gpa-what-do-i-do-thread.827879/

 

[Northstar208]

Make no mistake, you have a lot of work ahead of you. But don't let it discourage you, find the motivation and will to reach your goal. I dropped out of my first attempt at college and had ~1.0 GPA after 1.5 years of coursework. Ended up enlisting in the Army. Went back to school 6 years later and started from the bottom, with 4 years at a CC and then 2 years at a UC. From a 1.0, I graduated with a UC GPA of 3.77. While my previous poor performance ended up dragging my cGPA way down, and while the odds were against me, I was still successful this cycle.

If you want to do this, be prepared for a long journey and a lot of hard work. The odds may be against you now, but they're not insurmountable.

Wow, congratulations.

 

[MrLogan13]

Wow, congratulations.

lol...thanks. That was really for your benefit though.

 

[Northstar208]

lol...thanks. That was really for your benefit though.

Well it succeeded in its intended purpose. Your story is inspirational to say the least. In the midst of all that is discouraging, one persons success story can go a long way. I do understand that the odds are not in my favor, but I also understand that I am responsible for the hand that I've dealt myself. That being said, I will take the inspirational and discouraging input of this forum seriously. I will pursue clinical hours as I DO understand that I have a very vague understanding of what practicing medicine actually entails. I will also enroll in the necessary prerequisite courses. Only time will tell the outcome. If I fail, then so be it. Failure I can handle. It's allowing outside influences to dictate my decisions that I can't live with. So, I am going to go for it.

 

[Northstar208]

I am not sure if I should make a new post for this. I forgot to mention that before attending UCLA I attended multiple community colleges. I was a transfer student at UCLA. I'm pretty sure I had all A's with the exception of one B when I transferred. I would have to try and access my grades from each school to know for sure as it was some time ago. The original post that emphasizes my 2.5 gpa was the cumulative GPA from the coursework I took at UCLA (about 95 quarter units). UCLA did not calculate the grades from my community college coursework into the cumulative gpa that I graduated with. The units and classes from community college were listed on my transcripts but with no grade, just the units and class tittles because when you transfer to UCLA they give a clean start in terms of gpa (if that makes any sense). Now my question is, is my cumulative gpa a combination of all of the classes I took before transferring to UCLA added to the cumulative gpa on my UCLA transcripts? Or do medical schools only consider the cumulative gpa calculated by the school that I received my degree from?

 

[MrLogan13]

I am not sure if I should make a new post for this. I forgot to mention that before attending UCLA I attended multiple community colleges. I was a transfer student at UCLA. I'm pretty sure I had all A's with the exception of one B when I transferred. I would have to try and access my grades from each school to know for sure as it was some time ago. The original post that emphasizes my 2.5 gpa was the cumulative GPA from the coursework I took at UCLA (about 95 quarter units). UCLA did not calculate the grades from my community college coursework into the cumulative gpa that I graduated with. The units and classes from community college were listed on my transcripts but with no grade, just the units and class tittles because when you transfer to UCLA they give a clean start in terms of gpa (if that makes any sense). Now my question is, is my cumulative gpa a combination of all of the classes I took before transferring to UCLA added to the cumulative gpa on my UCLA transcripts? Or do medical schools only consider the cumulative gpa calculated by the school that I received my degree from?

Your cumulative GPA will be calculated based on every course you have ever taken at any college. You'll need to access your transcripts and figure out what your actual GPA is; if you had mainly A's and B's before transferring, your GPA is higher than you think. You're going to have to kill every course you take from here on out.

 

[LizzyM]

I am not sure if I should make a new post for this. I forgot to mention that before attending UCLA I attended multiple community colleges. I was a transfer student at UCLA. I'm pretty sure I had all A's with the exception of one B when I transferred. I would have to try and access my grades from each school to know for sure as it was some time ago. The original post that emphasizes my 2.5 gpa was the cumulative GPA from the coursework I took at UCLA (about 95 quarter units). UCLA did not calculate the grades from my community college coursework into the cumulative gpa that I graduated with. The units and classes from community college were listed on my transcripts but with no grade, just the units and class tittles because when you transfer to UCLA they give a clean start in terms of gpa (if that makes any sense). Now my question is, is my cumulative gpa a combination of all of the classes I took before transferring to UCLA added to the cumulative gpa on my UCLA transcripts? Or do medical schools only consider the cumulative gpa calculated by the school that I received my degree from?

When it comes time to apply, you are going to need a copy of every one of those transcripts. Fortunately, there is a list of the CCs on your UCLA transcript and you can just go down that list and contact each school. The good news is that every one of those A's you've already earned will boost your gpa just as well as A's you might earn in the future!

 

[Northstar208]

Wow, that's great. I don't know why I did not think to ask about this in the first place. Thank you, I will contact the schools.

 

[medic86]

Wow, that's great. I don't know why I did not think to ask about this in the first place. Thank you, I will contact the schools.

Congrats! Looks like you might have a GPA over 3.0 now.