I can't give up!

[clairehennes]

During my undergrad at a 4 year university, I took the following courses:

Gen. chem 1, bio 1, and bio 2: C
Gen. chem 2: Withdrew, attempted again, got a D

It didn't help that I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I had a lot of setbacks of what seems (to me) a lot of really unfortunate events in my personal life happening one after another. After those really bad grades, I decided to step back and reconsider my career choice. I told myself medicine was not for me, I did terrible in the sciences, I should just find something else to do. So the next two years I barely made it through college and graduated with a 2.9 overall GPA and probably around a 2.0 in the sciences.

My job at a hospital for the past 2 years has only kept my interest in medicine going and I just can't put aside this desire to be able to do what the doctors at work do.

I've been looking into my options but am totally lost. I'd like to apply at another public state university in my home state except I'm finding that I have to apply as a non-degree seeker. Not good since oftentimes financial aid isn't available for those types of students and they get less priority in registering for classes.

I recently spoke with a doctor who told me she took classes post bac but initially signed up as someone who wanted to get a second bachelors but only took classes required for med school. She never got her second degree. I have no idea if this is technically allowed.

Any help on my current situation would be great. ANYTHING. Just not the words "give up" because I truly, truly tried to but I can't

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[Hot Wheels]

I signed up as a degree seeking student just to get financial aid for my post bac. I have a BS in biology so I signed up for a BS in chemistry. I'm just kind of going through the motions with the second degree. I take 1 or 2 chemistry classes each semester to keep the chemistry advisor off of my back but I mainly focus on retakes and upper level biology courses I didn't take while I was working on the first degree. As soon as I get an acceptance I'm going to bail. Direct loans will never find out I was just kidding about the second degree.

 

[Goro]

Look into the many special master's programs which are, essentially charm school for medical school.

OR, your post-bac work will be to re-take the poor grade sciences clases to replace them with higher grades. Only the higher ones count under the AACOMAS policy.

During my undergrad at a 4 year university, I took the following courses:

Gen. chem 1, bio 1, and bio 2: C
Gen. chem 2: Withdrew, attempted again, got a D

It didn't help that I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I had a lot of setbacks of what seems (to me) a lot of really unfortunate events in my personal life happening one after another. After those really bad grades, I decided to step back and reconsider my career choice. I told myself medicine was not for me, I did terrible in the sciences, I should just find something else to do. So the next two years I barely made it through college and graduated with a 2.9 overall GPA and probably around a 2.0 in the sciences.

My job at a hospital for the past 2 years has only kept my interest in medicine going and I just can't put aside this desire to be able to do what the doctors at work do.

I've been looking into my options but am totally lost. I'd like to apply at another public state university in my home state except I'm finding that I have to apply as a non-degree seeker. Not good since oftentimes financial aid isn't available for those types of students and they get less priority in registering for classes.

I recently spoke with a doctor who told me she took classes post bac but initially signed up as someone who wanted to get a second bachelors but only took classes required for med school. She never got her second degree. I have no idea if this is technically allowed.

Any help on my current situation would be great. ANYTHING. Just not the words "give up" because I truly, truly tried to but I can't

 

[Balantidiumcoli]

ANYTHING. Just not the words "give up" because I truly, truly tried to but I can't

And I thought I was alone.

Why do you feel you got those grades? Do you think it was a lack of aptitude or bad study habits?

 

[clairehennes]

And I thought I was alone.

Why do you feel you got those grades? Do you think it was a lack of aptitude or bad study habits?

I know that the first year of college was me not taking it too seriously. But the following years was due to bad study habits due to lots of personal issues and depression. I had been treated for it so now I'm feeling much more confident about getting better grades in the future.

 

[Balantidiumcoli]

I know that the first year of college was me not taking it too seriously. But the following years was due to bad study habits due to lots of personal issues and depression. I had been treated for it so now I'm feeling much more confident about getting better grades in the future.

I see. I hope you can get a handle on that stuff man. I'm sure you've lurked on here long enough to see a lot of the other stories people presented with and people who do get in with crappy GPAs but the amount of dedication those people have is obscene and possibly psychopathic.

So yeah, back to what you were writing about, the only thing you can really do is get your app looking pretty by taking care of the shortfalls therein, be they academic or otherwise. And like Goro said, SMPs present some awesome options for people who would never be able to get into med school on the basis of their undergrad record alone.

Just as a little side note, out of all of the crazy things I've done in my life, trying to get into med-school post graduation with a mediocre GPA while at the same time having to make a bunch of personal and financial sacrifices has proven to be one of the most obnoxious thing I've ever done by far. There's still a very realistic (honestly, I lean towards probable) chance I'll never be a physician just because it is so competitive but dammit I want to. So yeah, I can relate to your post.

Good luck.

 

[HalfListic]

Look into the many special master's programs which are, essentially charm school for medical school.

OR, your post-bac work will be to re-take the poor grade sciences clases to replace them with higher grades. Only the higher ones count under the AACOMAS policy.

Great advice as always from Goro...


Also, to add to this, as I had my fair share of poor grades:

**be very honest and determine WHY the bad grades. If the reason is still around, youre probably not ready for med school...and thats ok (even if its tough). By this I mean, do you honestly think you could get an A (at least B+) in all those classes...while taking 2-3 other science courses at the same time? If you can, great...take Goro's advice and keep moving forward.

But, if you are getting bad grades because you are currently depressed, dont have the time, dont have the study skills, bad at the course...you might want to consider the possibility that youd be MUCH happier pursuing a different field. Plenty of good jobs in healthcare, etc.

**If you decide that med school is for you, and you are good to go with putting in the years it might take just to get in, and then the other years it will take to get through, and the other years it will take to get trained....GO FOR IT!

I had a good amount of time to sit and think about if I really wanted medicine...I came out of it more determined than ever, retook a bunch of classes, and got a 4.0 in about 40-50 credit hours.

Either a Community College if your broke like me, or a post bacc program if you are wanting something secure and structured, and put your head down, commit the time and effort, and get the grades!

good luck whatever you choose...

 

[ACOM2017]

I dont know if you should retake all of those courses or do an SMP. Osteopathic schools offer grade replacement so you can prove how committed you are now. I would contact an admissions office at a school your interested in and seek the best advice.

What is your overall undergraduate GPA? I began my post-bac with a 2.5 ugrad GPA. I knew that I had no room for error in completing my post-bac, MCAT, etc...

You do not have to actively take courses to finish up your proposed major. I never had intentions of getting a biology degree but being labeled degree seeking allows you access to the classes. If you are a good student, the advisors do not care. Once I achieved two A's taking GChem 1 and Physics 1 in a condensed summer session the advisors knew I was serious and enjoyed helping me get into the classes I needed.

Best of luck.

 

[darklabel]

During my undergrad at a 4 year university, I took the following courses:

Gen. chem 1, bio 1, and bio 2: C
Gen. chem 2: Withdrew, attempted again, got a D

It didn't help that I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I had a lot of setbacks of what seems (to me) a lot of really unfortunate events in my personal life happening one after another. After those really bad grades, I decided to step back and reconsider my career choice. I told myself medicine was not for me, I did terrible in the sciences, I should just find something else to do. So the next two years I barely made it through college and graduated with a 2.9 overall GPA and probably around a 2.0 in the sciences.

My job at a hospital for the past 2 years has only kept my interest in medicine going and I just can't put aside this desire to be able to do what the doctors at work do.

I've been looking into my options but am totally lost. I'd like to apply at another public state university in my home state except I'm finding that I have to apply as a non-degree seeker. Not good since oftentimes financial aid isn't available for those types of students and they get less priority in registering for classes.

I recently spoke with a doctor who told me she took classes post bac but initially signed up as someone who wanted to get a second bachelors but only took classes required for med school. She never got her second degree. I have no idea if this is technically allowed.

Any help on my current situation would be great. ANYTHING. Just not the words "give up" because I truly, truly tried to but I can't

A lot of schools have hard 3.0 cut offs for undergrad GPA. Realize that you HAVE to retake these classes and raise both GPA to AT LEAST above 3.0 (and you usually want to go above and beyond minimums). DO allows you to replace grades so you can raise your GPA rather quickly.

You could get a 4.0 GPA for SMP and human eyes may not even look at your app since your undergrad GPA is just so low. I'm afraid retaking classes is your only option right now along with rocking the MCAT.

Good luck because any way you dice it, you have a lot of work to do.

 

[clairehennes]

I dont know if you should retake all of those courses or do an SMP. Osteopathic schools offer grade replacement so you can prove how committed you are now. I would contact an admissions office at a school your interested in and seek the best advice.

What is your overall undergraduate GPA? I began my post-bac with a 2.5 ugrad GPA. I knew that I had no room for error in completing my post-bac, MCAT, etc...

You do not have to actively take courses to finish up your proposed major. I never had intentions of getting a biology degree but being labeled degree seeking allows you access to the classes. If you are a good student, the advisors do not care. Once I achieved two A's taking GChem 1 and Physics 1 in a condensed summer session the advisors knew I was serious and enjoyed helping me get into the classes I needed.

Best of luck.

I think I may benefit from re-taking the courses that I did take. I didn't understand a lot of the concepts due to poor study habits and I would like to actually take the time to learn it.

My overall undergrad GPA is a 2.9. I'm currently looking into post-bac programs but most have a cutoff at 3.0 GPA so I don't qualify. I'm trying to decide if I should look into taking classes at a state university or a local community college.

Actually I just learned that the CC is now a state college, although I'm not quite sure if this is better.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

Do a post-bac. There are plenty of my posts floating around about my subpar undergrad performance.

I did an MPH which ended up not costing me anything (Grad Research Associate). That may be something you want to look at.