I need guidance please

[asplor]

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Hey guys,

So I'm currently a senior at a small state school. I'm extremely passionate about medicine, I literally could not imagine myself doing anything else, but due to some life circumstances I find myself with an extremely weak GPA. I'm talking low 2's here. Throughout college I've had to work between 30-60 hours a week depending on my needs and my family. I also had a very significant personal event happen early on in my college career that destroyed my GPA (basically failed all my classes my first semester), as well as being a caretaker for my mother who has had various health issues through the years. Afterwards my grades improved but not really by much, still B/C range with a few A's.

Now medical schools have an average acceptance GPA of 3.7. I'm way below that. I'm planning on taking 2 gap years for research. I've taken two practice MCATs, I scored 511 on one and 515 on the second. Do I have any chance at making it into a decent (or any) MD school?

Additional info:
I'm an underrepresented minority
I have 200+ volunteer hours at a hospital
I was on the board of two clubs on my campus

What do I need to do to get into medical school?

 

[ArteryStudyPainting]

Hey guys,

So I'm currently a senior at a small state school. I'm extremely passionate about medicine, I literally could not imagine myself doing anything else, but due to some life circumstances I find myself with an extremely weak GPA. I'm talking low 2's here. Throughout college I've had to work between 30-60 hours a week depending on my needs and my family. I also had a very significant personal event happen early on in my college career that destroyed my GPA (basically failed all my classes my first semester), as well as being a caretaker for my mother who has had various health issues through the years. Afterwards my grades improved but not really by much, still B/C range with a few A's.

Now medical schools have an average acceptance GPA of 3.7. I'm way below that. I'm planning on taking 2 gap years for research. I've taken two practice MCATs, I scored 511 on one and 515 on the second. Do I have any chance at making it into a decent (or any) MD school?

Additional info:
I'm an underrepresented minority
I have 200+ volunteer hours at a hospital
I was on the board of two clubs on my campus

What do I need to do to get into medical school?

I'm going to say what I was always taught:

There are five pillars needed to get into medical school:

1. Grades (given)
2. MCAT (given)
3. Research
4. Leadership
5. Something special (like an NCAA athlete)

You need 1 and 2 to be adequate, bar none. Your grades need to come up, or you won't be in any wheelhouses. Statistically, with your grades now, it wasn't done at all last year. https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf. If you bring those grades up to a 3.00, with a good MCAT, chances jump to around 30%. These are stats, not representative of an individual (though, there is merit in an ocean being a multitude of drops).

In terms of 3 and 4, if you're doing things just to check boxes to medical school, it's always been my opinion to stop, reevaluate, and do something that teaches you, but matters to you too. You should be able to effectively talk about an experience or what you did, how it taught you, and what it did to your character. So an EMT for example. "I did this because I needed patient care to feel like I was breaking into medicine in an important way. I had my own pts. I learned [BLANK]. It shaped me and my thoughts on medicine by [BLANK]." Like that. Research is always a plus, and is becoming a norm to medical schools. You don't need it, but most people accept that having good research experiences are necessary. Your leadership sounds good, but dig a little further I'd say. Find unique things to do, even inside those clubs.

You being an URM will help, but not much. It will push you into schools if they're on the fence. And you have a compelling story to tell. You need to prove to these schools that you're set academics-wise. Then comes time to talk about the experiences that you concurrently are building alongside a strong academic side.

 

[chemdoctor]

Regardless of your MCAT score, you're going to need to bring that GPA up. Look into SMPs or Post-Baccs and raise that GPA. Once you bring it to around a 3.2-3.3, you're a bit more on track. I think your MCAT score may expire by the time you bring it up, if your GPA is in the low 2.0s. So, you'd have to take it again anyway. Work on a post-bacc at a CC or at a four year institution, try to get that GPA >3.7 and you should be fine. I think @Goro mentioned that there were schools that reward reinvention even if your cGPA isn't as high. Get some clinical experience, maybe volunteer in Hospice, or a soup kitchen? Perhaps try to get a job in a clinical experience as well? Maybe you could also volunteer at an orphanage or something.

Sorry to hear about your situation. However, medical schools LOVE come from behind stories and you can really factor this into a strong essay and inspiring interview points. Not saying it is good that it happened to you, just looking on the bright side at how you can take a negative and turn it into a positive.

I don't think doing research for these next two years will be a very good idea honestly. Just fix the GPA and get some extracurriculars at the side. Research and the MCAT can wait for a little bit. Leadership is fine I guess, but it would be cool if you just showed your altruism. Either way good luck to you! I'm sure you will be able to do it!

Are you okay with applying to DO schools too?

 

[CandH23]

Do a concentrated post-bacc at all As
and bring up the GPA as much as mathematically possible to where you are comfortable that you’ve shown a lengthy credit track that shows you are a reinvented student. Get it to at the very least a 3.0 , the higher the better obviously. Use the aamc table based on the URM community you come from and see what you need to have stat wise to be a comfortable at a good chance of acceptance. Also research schools that have the mission of accepting people from the community you come from. Take the MCAT soon because it sounds like you’re ready to me. Once that’s the done you only have to focus on A’s which is nice! In terms of research if you can do that and the post bacc at the same time then that’s cool, but grades are of more importance right now.
Good luck you can do this.

 

[Goro]

Hey guys,

So I'm currently a senior at a small state school. I'm extremely passionate about medicine, I literally could not imagine myself doing anything else, but due to some life circumstances I find myself with an extremely weak GPA. I'm talking low 2's here. Throughout college I've had to work between 30-60 hours a week depending on my needs and my family. I also had a very significant personal event happen early on in my college career that destroyed my GPA (basically failed all my classes my first semester), as well as being a caretaker for my mother who has had various health issues through the years. Afterwards my grades improved but not really by much, still B/C range with a few A's.

Now medical schools have an average acceptance GPA of 3.7. I'm way below that. I'm planning on taking 2 gap years for research. I've taken two practice MCATs, I scored 511 on one and 515 on the second. Do I have any chance at making it into a decent (or any) MD school?

Additional info:
I'm an underrepresented minority
I have 200+ volunteer hours at a hospital
I was on the board of two clubs on my campus

What do I need to do to get into medical school?

Read this:

• Goro's Advice for DO Applicants in Absence of Grade Replacement (2016-17 cycle)