I need help!!!

[ar88888]

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Hi there,

I am quite confused on what I should be doing. I graduated college in May of 2018, with a BS in Neuroscience. my cgpa was. 3.35 and sgpa was 3.1. I took the MCAT at the end of August, 2018, and got a 506. I wasn't happy with it, so I decided to retake in January, and just received my score, 517. My way through college has been quite a weird one. I did my first year of college at a state college, where my GPA was a 3.8. I then applied to transfer out, because I was told that I need to go to a better college if I want to get into medical school. So, I applied to a good private college that accepts Sophomore transfers. I got accepted as a Spring admit. I spent the Fall semester taking classes at my local community college, which is when I got sucked into the party scene, and pretty much gave up on trying in school, so my gpa for that semester was a 2.9. I transferred to my new school for the second semester of Sophomore year, where I decided to take 18 units, which absolutely destroyed me. So, my gpa for this semester was a 2.7. I then started junior year and got a 3.56, and a 3.5 for that year. Senior year came around and I got a 4.0 first semester, and then I took the second semester of physics during my second semester, after taking the first semester of it my first semester of college, and got destroyed. I ended up with a 2.9 that semester (so, there goes my upward trend). Thus, my GPA ended up being absolute trash.

Extracurriculars: I have about 300 hours of volunteering with children in a hospital for under served children from the poorer areas and Mexico. I also have about 150-200 hours of shadowing at the same hospital. I volunteered at this hospital for 4 years, and really enjoyed it. The hospital is Shriners, and is pretty well known. I also worked at Kumon math and reading center as a tutor for a year. I did 2.5 (1000 hours) years of Neuroscience research at my college, but I was not published on anything. I have been volunteering in this project where we make boxes of food and distribute the boxes of food to homeless people around the area (I am the lead volunteer of this project). I have also been volunteering at a homeless shelter on the weekends for the past 3 years for about 4 hours each weekend. As for leadership experience, I do not have that much. I was the lead undergraduate in the research lab at my college, and had to train the new undergrads entering the lab, but that was about it.

Current Situation: I am currently working at my local UC (in California) as a lab technician in an Alzheimer's Research Lab. I am working on multiple projects, and will have my name on at least one paper by the end of the year. I will also have my name on a presentation at a conference in Japan this coming July. I am also taking some upper division science classes at the UC to help boost my GPA and Science GPA. The school I am at only allows non UC students to take 2 bio classes each quarter, so I have only been able to take 2 classes each quarter, which hasn't done really anything to my GPA. I have been getting A's in everything, while working full time, and also studying for the MCAT retake that I took in January. I also am shadowing a DO one day a week, and an MD on the weekends, while also still volunteering at the homeless shelter. I feel like my extracurricular activities are great, but my GPA is lacking, which is going to screw me over when I apply. By the time I apply, I will not have finished my last quarter of classes, so my cGPA would be a 3.4, and my sGPA a 3.19. I am not exactly sure what to do here. I could take another year off and just take more classes, but it is a lot of money, and I am not sure how beneficial that will be to me, as the more classes I take, the less impact on my GPA it has. I would apply to both MD and DO, and don't really care where I go, I just want to go to medical school.

So, my question is, should I do an SMP, or a masters program after I finish this year of DIY post bacc, or should I apply this next cycle with my 3.4cgpa/3.2sgpa/517 MCAT, and see what happens?

 

[907914]

Hi there,

I am quite confused on what I should be doing. I graduated college in May of 2018, with a BS in Neuroscience. my cgpa was. 3.35 and sgpa was 3.1. I took the MCAT at the end of August, 2018, and got a 506. I wasn't happy with it, so I decided to retake in January, and just received my score, 517. My way through college has been quite a weird one. I did my first year of college at a state college, where my GPA was a 3.8. I then applied to transfer out, because I was told that I need to go to a better college if I want to get into medical school. So, I applied to a good private college that accepts Sophomore transfers. I got accepted as a Spring admit. I spent the Fall semester taking classes at my local community college, which is when I got sucked into the party scene, and pretty much gave up on trying in school, so my gpa for that semester was a 2.9. I transferred to my new school for the second semester of Sophomore year, where I decided to take 18 units, which absolutely destroyed me. So, my gpa for this semester was a 2.7. I then started junior year and got a 3.56, and a 3.5 for that year. Senior year came around and I got a 4.0 first semester, and then I took the second semester of physics during my second semester, after taking the first semester of it my first semester of college, and got destroyed. I ended up with a 2.9 that semester (so, there goes my upward trend). Thus, my GPA ended up being absolute trash.

Extracurriculars: I have about 300 hours of volunteering with children in a hospital for under served children from the poorer areas and Mexico. I also have about 150-200 hours of shadowing at the same hospital. I volunteered at this hospital for 4 years, and really enjoyed it. The hospital is Shriners, and is pretty well known. I also worked at Kumon math and reading center as a tutor for a year. I did 2.5 (1000 hours) years of Neuroscience research at my college, but I was not published on anything. I have been volunteering in this project where we make boxes of food and distribute the boxes of food to homeless people around the area (I am the lead volunteer of this project). I have also been volunteering at a homeless shelter on the weekends for the past 3 years for about 4 hours each weekend. As for leadership experience, I do not have that much. I was the lead undergraduate in the research lab at my college, and had to train the new undergrads entering the lab, but that was about it.

Current Situation: I am currently working at my local UC (in California) as a lab technician in an Alzheimer's Research Lab. I am working on multiple projects, and will have my name on at least one paper by the end of the year. I will also have my name on a presentation at a conference in Japan this coming July. I am also taking some upper division science classes at the UC to help boost my GPA and Science GPA. The school I am at only allows non UC students to take 2 bio classes each quarter, so I have only been able to take 2 classes each quarter, which hasn't done really anything to my GPA. I have been getting A's in everything, while working full time, and also studying for the MCAT retake that I took in January. I also am shadowing a DO one day a week, and an MD on the weekends, while also still volunteering at the homeless shelter. I feel like my extracurricular activities are great, but my GPA is lacking, which is going to screw me over when I apply. By the time I apply, I will not have finished my last quarter of classes, so my cGPA would be a 3.4, and my sGPA a 3.19. I am not exactly sure what to do here. I could take another year off and just take more classes, but it is a lot of money, and I am not sure how beneficial that will be to me, as the more classes I take, the less impact on my GPA it has. I would apply to both MD and DO, and don't really care where I go, I just want to go to medical school.

So, my question is, should I do an SMP, or a masters program after I finish this year of DIY post bacc, or should I apply this next cycle with my 3.4cgpa/3.2sgpa/517 MCAT, and see what happens?

I do not believe you are a super strong candidate for an SMP as everything except your GPA seems solid. If you apply super broadly, particularly DO schools, you should have a pretty solid app. You don’t mention how you are doing on your post bacc?

 

[965978]

Alright let’s tackle this piece by piece:

MCAT:
You’re good on the MCAT. Yes, there are some schools who strictly average so your MCAT will effectively be around a 512. However, most schools will see the dramatic improvement and likely won’t count it against you. Some schools will even ignore the 506 altogether.

EC:
Your EC’s are quite strong! No problems there.

Your GPA:
Now this is where the blow comes. The first problem is that the total GPAs by themselves are bad. Now what makes it even more lethal is the fact that you’re GPA has been dangerously dipping every time you challenged yourself by taking harder classes, or by taking more units. With the sincerest form of tough love, I have to tell you that your GPA trend is dangerous.

What’s your state of Residence? And are you URM?

If you live in an unlucky state, or if you are ORM, the GPA trend might seriously sink you down at the MD schools. But I’d ask @Goro if you are competitive for DO schools.

 

[965978]

I too remember the party scene. I had my moments. I joined a frat for a single semester. Accidentally kicked a hole in the wall. Somehow managed to get a 3.7 that semester. Didn’t feel like going into the party scene anymore. Matured up a lot. Made me a better person.

 

[ar88888]

@ClamShell I am in California, and the thing is my hardest classes were my Junior year, which is where I did okay. I also took 18 units both semesters of Junior year, it was just me getting used to a new school and living away from home during the first semester after I transferred that really hit hard. I also had a really weird living situation in which my roommate ended up kicking me out of the apartment, and I had to live at home and commute to school (which was an hour and 45 min away). I have no excuses for my last semester of college, as I was just being an idiot. I didn't remember any of physics from the time I took the first semester of Physics, and that ended up biting me in the butt. Also, I am not a URM.

@samualjhatfield I have taken 4 classes so far, and gotten A's in all of them in my post bacc. The fact that I have so many units is why the classes aren't doing anything to my GPA.

 

[ar88888]

@Goro Could you please give me some input on what I should do?

 

[Goro]

Hi there,

I am quite confused on what I should be doing. I graduated college in May of 2018, with a BS in Neuroscience. my cgpa was. 3.35 and sgpa was 3.1. I took the MCAT at the end of August, 2018, and got a 506. I wasn't happy with it, so I decided to retake in January, and just received my score, 517. My way through college has been quite a weird one. I did my first year of college at a state college, where my GPA was a 3.8. I then applied to transfer out, because I was told that I need to go to a better college if I want to get into medical school. So, I applied to a good private college that accepts Sophomore transfers. I got accepted as a Spring admit. I spent the Fall semester taking classes at my local community college, which is when I got sucked into the party scene, and pretty much gave up on trying in school, so my gpa for that semester was a 2.9. I transferred to my new school for the second semester of Sophomore year, where I decided to take 18 units, which absolutely destroyed me. So, my gpa for this semester was a 2.7. I then started junior year and got a 3.56, and a 3.5 for that year. Senior year came around and I got a 4.0 first semester, and then I took the second semester of physics during my second semester, after taking the first semester of it my first semester of college, and got destroyed. I ended up with a 2.9 that semester (so, there goes my upward trend). Thus, my GPA ended up being absolute trash.

Extracurriculars: I have about 300 hours of volunteering with children in a hospital for under served children from the poorer areas and Mexico. I also have about 150-200 hours of shadowing at the same hospital. I volunteered at this hospital for 4 years, and really enjoyed it. The hospital is Shriners, and is pretty well known. I also worked at Kumon math and reading center as a tutor for a year. I did 2.5 (1000 hours) years of Neuroscience research at my college, but I was not published on anything. I have been volunteering in this project where we make boxes of food and distribute the boxes of food to homeless people around the area (I am the lead volunteer of this project). I have also been volunteering at a homeless shelter on the weekends for the past 3 years for about 4 hours each weekend. As for leadership experience, I do not have that much. I was the lead undergraduate in the research lab at my college, and had to train the new undergrads entering the lab, but that was about it.

Current Situation: I am currently working at my local UC (in California) as a lab technician in an Alzheimer's Research Lab. I am working on multiple projects, and will have my name on at least one paper by the end of the year. I will also have my name on a presentation at a conference in Japan this coming July. I am also taking some upper division science classes at the UC to help boost my GPA and Science GPA. The school I am at only allows non UC students to take 2 bio classes each quarter, so I have only been able to take 2 classes each quarter, which hasn't done really anything to my GPA. I have been getting A's in everything, while working full time, and also studying for the MCAT retake that I took in January. I also am shadowing a DO one day a week, and an MD on the weekends, while also still volunteering at the homeless shelter. I feel like my extracurricular activities are great, but my GPA is lacking, which is going to screw me over when I apply. By the time I apply, I will not have finished my last quarter of classes, so my cGPA would be a 3.4, and my sGPA a 3.19. I am not exactly sure what to do here. I could take another year off and just take more classes, but it is a lot of money, and I am not sure how beneficial that will be to me, as the more classes I take, the less impact on my GPA it has. I would apply to both MD and DO, and don't really care where I go, I just want to go to medical school.

So, my question is, should I do an SMP, or a masters program after I finish this year of DIY post bacc, or should I apply this next cycle with my 3.4cgpa/3.2sgpa/517 MCAT, and see what happens?

As of right now, you have two problems, and the fact that you're lethal for MD and circling the drain for DO isn't one of them.
Your GPA profile is very irregular and undulating. That telegraphs that you can't handle med school. You can handle some of med school, but I'm not confident that you can survive it academically.
Your 517 doesn't remediate your GPA history either.
Finish the year of your post-bac, and then either find a different school that will let you take more credits for a DIY post-bac, or better yet, do an SMP, preferably one at a med school with linkage. Be prepared to relocate.

 

[ar88888]

@Goro By the end of this DIY post bacc my gpa will be 3.42 and science gpa will be 3.25, after taking 20 semester credits of classes. I can take more classes over the summer, with no limits on the number of classes I can take. If I do another year of DIY post bacc at a school that allows me to take more classes, my overall gpa will go up to a 3.5 maybe, and science gpa to a 3.45. Would that benefit me more than just applying now to DO schools?

 

[Goro]

@Goro By the end of this DIY post bacc my gpa will be 3.42 and science gpa will be 3.25, after taking 20 semester credits of classes. I can take more classes over the summer, with no limits on the number of classes I can take. If I do another year of DIY post bacc at a school that allows me to take more classes, my overall gpa will go up to a 3.5 maybe, and science gpa to a 3.45. Would that benefit me more than just applying now to DO schools?

Upward trends are always goo. But at this point in time, it's less about the GPA, and showing that you can handle med school.
read this:

• Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

 

[ar88888]

@Goro so, the two classes I am taking each quarter, plus 3 this coming spring quarter, while working 40 hours a week, and shadowing and volunteering won’t help anything because I am not taking enough classes at the same time? So, next year I have found a school that’s about 2 hours from me that I can take as many classes as I want, without being a student. Should I quit my job, move there, and take as many classes as I can? I would have to stop all my volunteering and shadowing as well

 

[candbgirl]

OP- just a FYI - you have way more than enough shadowing. So stop that. And as far as taking” as many classes as you want” be careful. Don’t overload yourself and do poorly. Your unevenness as a student is one of your biggest problems. You haven’t been able to string together a series of semesters (quarters) of full time work that prove to anyone you can be successful in medical school.

 

[ar88888]

@candbgirl I’m only taking 2 or 3 science courses each quarter at the moment, and I’m finding them super easy. I was just an idiot during my undergrad, and had the mindset of “I would rather drink, then study.” I had to force myself to change for the MCAT, and I changed the way I study as well, which has been working for classes as well as the MCAT. I stopped drinking as well, which is probably a part of it too. Not sure what I should be doing. I am shadowing a DO at the movement just to get a recommendation letter from him. I will probably stop the MD shadowing. Honestly I’m not sure what I could do to prove to medical schools that I have the ability to hang with them other than doing an SMP, which is way too expensive for me. What do you think I should do? I have received A’s in all the classes I have taken so far, and at the moment I’m scoring at the top of the classes I am taking right now.

 

[ar88888]

OP- just a FYI - you have way more than enough shadowing. So stop that. And as far as taking” as many classes as you want” be careful. Don’t overload yourself and do poorly. Your unevenness as a student is one of your biggest problems. You haven’t been able to string together a series of semesters (quarters) of full time work that prove to anyone you can be successful in medical school.

@candbgirl I’m only taking 2 or 3 science courses each quarter at the moment, and I’m finding them super easy. I was just an idiot during my undergrad, and had the mindset of “I would rather drink, then study.” I had to force myself to change for the MCAT, and I changed the way I study as well, which has been working for classes as well as the MCAT. I stopped drinking as well, which is probably a part of it too. Not sure what I should be doing. I am shadowing a DO at the movement just to get a recommendation letter from him. I will probably stop the MD shadowing. Honestly I’m not sure what I could do to prove to medical schools that I have the ability to hang with them other than doing an SMP, which is way too expensive for me. What do you think I should do? I have received A’s in all the classes I have taken so far, and at the moment I’m scoring at the top of the classes I am taking right now.

 

[Goro]

@Goro so, the two classes I am taking each quarter, plus 3 this coming spring quarter, while working 40 hours a week, and shadowing and volunteering won’t help anything because I am not taking enough classes at the same time? So, next year I have found a school that’s about 2 hours from me that I can take as many classes as I want, without being a student. Should I quit my job, move there, and take as many classes as I can? I would have to stop all my volunteering and shadowing as well

You're in a marathon now, not a sprint.

I suggest working for a few years and saving some money, volunteering part-time, taking 1-2 classes part time, and then going whole hog into the SMP or DIY post-bac.

 

[Stellaartwa]

If you look up the AAMC GPA/MCAT grid (https://www.aamc.org/download/321508/data/factstablea23.pdf) with a ~3.2/517 you're at 46-57% acceptance rate. Not great but not horrible. You could go for it and apply this year. You need to consider, however, that a lot of those people with those stats have either great trends or post-baccs or come from friendly states. Cali, as you know, is NOT a friendly pre-med state.

I think your best plan of action is to either apply for an SMP this year (with linkage!!) or take the next two years to do full time ~60 credit hours (20 classes) of DIY post-bacc at a 4 year university. Only As and only "hard" sciences (BPCM). The SMP might be a more attractive answer because if you find one with linkage then you won't have to retake the MCAT like you would have to with the PB. I would hate for you to retake an expired 517 and have your third MCAT decrease.

ETA: I took an extended break between undergrad and med school due to HORRIBLE uGPA (much worse than yours). Feel free to PM me if you want to hear about my comeback! 🙂