I messed up this year. Do I still have a chance?

[blockle]

Hello, right now I'm a 4th year and I plan on taking summer school and a fifth year. However, I have messed up my senior year by getting a D and 2 withdrawals in two quarters, and my gpa dropped to a 3.25. Can I still make it up by doing well for my next 1+ year or should I consider other alternatives? If I still have a chance, what course of action should I take?

Help would be appreciated.

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[Mobius1985]

If you do the math, you'll see that three semesters of 4.0 GPA won't get your low cGPA close to the mean of accepted students (3.65) at allopathic medical schools. My rough calculation says you'd potentially be at 3.47. You would, however, be in the ballpark for acceptees at osteopathic (DO) med schools (3.45), so you could consider that route to becioming a physician. AACOMAS, the DO school application service, will substitute a retaken grade for the original one, allowing your application GPA to rise faster if you take that D class over again.

If you are committed to the MD route, a very high MCAT score might get you in after you repair your GPA (AMCAS, BTW, will average a retaken grade with the original rather than replace it). Most would enhance their chances by doing an SMP (Special Masters Program) to redeem their low GPA if they get a decent MCAT score. Last option might be to go to the Caribbean for an MD degree (and this is a very poor last option).

 

[flip26]

Hello, right now I'm a 4th year and I plan on taking summer school and a fifth year. However, I have messed up my senior year by getting a D and 2 withdrawals in two quarters, and my gpa dropped to a 3.25. Can I still make it up by doing well for my next 1+ year or should I consider other alternatives? If I still have a chance, what course of action should I take?

Help would be appreciated.

What did your GPA "drop" from? Even before the D, you were in trouble on GPA, right?

I second everything Mobius said.

Have you taken the MCAT? MCAT is critical for all of us, but especially for you. You will need a "med school worthy" score for SMPs...with a decent MCAT (30+), you will be a prime candidate for an SMP...

 

[blockle]

What did your GPA "drop" from? Even before the D, you were in trouble on GPA, right?

I second everything Mobius said.

Have you taken the MCAT? MCAT is critical for all of us, but especially for you. You will need a "med school worthy" score for SMPs...with a decent MCAT (30+), you will be a prime candidate for an SMP...

Thank you for the responses. Yes, my GPA was around 3.35 which was still not good enough, but my first D this year really lowered my GPA. I'm just worried that a D and 2 W's on my senior year would really hurt my chances.
I'm planning to apply after my fifth year which is next year. So should I start studying for MCATs now and take it next year?

 

[flip26]

Thank you for the responses. Yes, my GPA was around 3.35 which was still not good enough, but my first D this year really lowered my GPA. I'm just worried that a D and 2 W's on my senior year would really hurt my chances.
I'm planning to apply after my fifth year which is next year. So should I start studying for MCATs now and take it next year?

Don't worry too much about the Ws.

What was the D in? Hopefully not a pre-req or a science class (will really slam your BCPM).

Have you taken all the pre-reqs? Yes, you should do some serious prep for the MCAT. You will need it for an SMP admission.

 

[airca12]

Hello, right now I'm a 4th year and I plan on taking summer school and a fifth year. However, I have messed up my senior year by getting a D and 2 withdrawals in two quarters, and my gpa dropped to a 3.25. Can I still make it up by doing well for my next 1+ year or should I consider other alternatives? If I still have a chance, what course of action should I take?

Help would be appreciated.

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2008/mcatgpa-grid-3yrs-app-accpt.htm

This shows applicant vs acceptee data for 2005-2007 to hopefully give you an idea of acceptance based on certain GPA and MCAT scores. However, this data is purely objective and doesn't take in account other parts of the application (URM status, ECs, etc).

I think you should try to improve your GPA to 3.4 and above, score as well as you on the MCAT, then apply very broadly. If that doesn't work then I'd consider the SMP route. If you look at mdapplicants.com you'll see that people do get accepted with less than 3.5, it just isn't the norm. What is your state of residence? That could help or hurt you as well.

Best of luck to you.

 

[JennaQ]

OP can you try changing the grade on those two courses to Pass/Fail? And preferably having the D count as a "pass" rather than a "fail." Then it won't be calculated into your GPA when you apply for admissions and you can explain to adcoms what happened once you get your foot in the door.

I know for my college you need "x" amount of credits for one pass/fail alteration.