I need some advice on getting accepted into med school

[Galen12]

Hello,
I recently completed my undergraduate studies, and I am hoping that someone will give me some advice on how to get accepted into medical school.
About me:

• GPA: 3.04
• Research: No
• Volunteer-work: No
• Shadowing: No
• Pre-med classes: Yes, all of them
• MCAT: No

My biggest questions are:

• Do I have to do research, volunteer-work, or shadowing? Would it help if I do research?
• It's been more than five years since I took my last pre-med class, so do I have to enroll in a post-bacc pre-med program? Would it help?
• Is my GPA too low? Do I have to work toward a master's? Would it help?

Edit:
It honestly took me 7.5 years to complete my degree (a double major in physics and math). The reason why it took me so long was that I got sick during my sophomore year and it took me years to fully recover. So, after my sophomore year, I took 1.5 years off. During that time, I only saw different experts. After that, I was encouraged to return to school, but I struggled from the Spring of 2019 until the Spring of 2022.
I want to make it clear that I wasn't poorly prepared for college. I got a 1480/1490 on the SAT (Math + Reading) and I was accepted into NYU and Macaulay Honors College. Also, I took 47 credits my first year, and I had a 3.66 GPA by the end of the first year.

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[Rapsidy]

Is that your cGPA or your science GPA? If it’s science it’s way to low, and even cGPA is fairly low as well.

Yes you will need volunteering and shadowing, how do you even know if you want to be a doctor if you have never shadowed one? Also having such a long gap between the pre med classes you will definitely need to spend extra time studying for the MCAT to brush up on the material and learn how to take the test.

What happened that made the undergraduate courses take so long? You said it’s been more than 5 years so how long did it take to get your degree? Was there struggles or withdrawals in there? Did you do it part time and had another career?

There is too little info to really give you any gauge on where to go or if something like a SMP might help.

 

[M&L]

you need ALL of it - shadowing, volunteering, research. Good solid hours in all of those, especially several hundred hours of patient care/clinical experience, because you will need to convince them that you know what you are getting into, vs having idealistic view of what medicine is based on a TV show or ambitions of your parents.

GPA is very low. undergraduate and graduate GPA is separated in the application, so getting a graduate degree wont help boost undergrad GPA. ideally you need 3.5 + to be competitive in modest state schools.

what is your state of residency? are you URM?

 

[Galen12]

Is that your cGPA or your science GPA? If it’s science it’s way to low, and even cGPA is fairly low as well.

Yes you will need volunteering and shadowing, how do you even know if you want to be a doctor if you have never shadowed one? Also having such a long gap between the pre med classes you will definitely need to spend extra time studying for the MCAT to brush up on the material and learn how to take the test.

What happened that made the undergraduate courses take so long? You said it’s been more than 5 years so how long did it take to get your degree? Was there struggles or withdrawals in there? Did you do it part time and had another career?

There is too little info to really give you any gauge on where to go or if something like a SMP might help.

Thank you for your reply, Rapsidy.

• By GPA I meant my combined GPA
• It honestly took me 7.5 years to complete my degree (a double major in physics and math). The reason why it took me so long was that I got sick during my sophomore year and it took me years to fully recover. So, after my sophomore year, I took 1.5 years off. During that time, I only saw different experts. After that, I was encouraged to return to school, but I struggled from the Spring of 2019 until the Spring of 2022.
• I want to make it clear that I wasn't poorly prepared for college. I got a 1480/1490 on the SAT (Math + Reading) and I was accepted into NYU and Macaulay Honors College.

 

[Galen12]

you need ALL of it - shadowing, volunteering, research. Good solid hours in all of those, especially several hundred hours of patient care/clinical experience, because you will need to convince them that you know what you are getting into, vs having idealistic view of what medicine is based on a TV show or ambitions of your parents.

GPA is very low. undergraduate and graduate GPA is separated in the application, so getting a graduate degree wont help boost undergrad GPA. ideally you need 3.5 + to be competitive in modest state schools.

what is your state of residency? are you URM?

Thank you for replying M&L.
I live in NY, and I'm not an URM.
Given what you wrote about getting a master's, do you think that it's ultimately worth it? What about the post-bacc program?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

To be blunt about this:
Zero shadowing :: Practically no shot.
Zero clinical experience :: No shot.
Zero community service/volunteering :: Practically no shot.
Zero research: not as important as the above, but you will need to set your sights on lower-tier MD and all DO schools. Which isn't the end of the world. But you need the shadowing, clinical, and volunteering experiences.

Did you graduate with an honors notation (you're pushing that "gotten into an honors program" line a lot, and that doesn't matter to me given the length of time you took)? How many prerequisites for medical school have you taken, and what are those grades? How about that MCAT?

You have a number of options with postbac programs in NYC. I'd ask around to get their opinions, noting they may have their financial incentives to try to enroll you.

 

[M&L]

Hello,
I recently completed my undergraduate studies, and I am hoping that someone will give me some advice on how to get accepted into medical school.
About me:

• GPA: 3.04
• Research: No
• Volunteer-work: No
• Shadowing: No
• Pre-med classes: Yes, all of them
• MCAT: No

My biggest questions are:

• Do I have to do research, volunteer-work, or shadowing? Would it help if I do research?
• It's been more than five years since I took my last pre-med class, so do I have to enroll in a post-bacc pre-med program? Would it help?
• Is my GPA too low? Do I have to work toward a master's? Would it help?

Edit:
It honestly took me 7.5 years to complete my degree (a double major in physics and math). The reason why it took me so long was that I got sick during my sophomore year and it took me years to fully recover. So, after my sophomore year, I took 1.5 years off. During that time, I only saw different experts. After that, I was encouraged to return to school, but I struggled from the Spring of 2019 until the Spring of 2022.
I want to make it clear that I wasn't poorly prepared for college. I got a 1480/1490 on the SAT (Math + Reading) and I was accepted into NYU and Macaulay Honors College. Also, I took 47 credits my first year, and I had a 3.66 GPA by the end of the first year.

ok let me ask you think - WHY do you want to go to med school?

 

[gyngyn]

• Do I have to do research, volunteer-work, or shadowing? Would it help if I do research? All of these are necessary except research.
• 
  
• It's been more than five years since I took my last pre-med class, so do I have to enroll in a post-bacc pre-med program? Would it help? Most schools do not have an expiration date for classes (even pre-req's). However, given your gpa and trend, a sustained period of academic excellence in the sciences will be necessary. There are many ways to accomplish this. A Post-bac program is only one of them.
• 
  
• Is my GPA too low? Do I have to work toward a master's? Would it help? Your gpa is quite low and below the minimum at most places. Master's grades do not significantly remediate undergrad performance at MD schools. An SMP may change minds at places familiar with their graduates. DO schools do average Masters grades into the overall gpa.

 

[Rapsidy]

To add on to what others have said as well, this will be a several year process, likely around 2-4 years minimum to build an application for medical school. A SMP in New York may be the route to go, but do your research and see if you are willing to commit the finances to it.

I am sorry about the sickness that is rough, but hopefully you are better now because something like a SMP will be extremely fast paced and there won’t be extensions granted for extra time to complete it. Doing a SMP is like doing an audition to medical schools showing you can handle the pace and higher level content, which may be a large issue if the illness is not well under control.

 

[M&L]

i dont know about all SMPs but some are BRUTAL. i tutored some students going through SMPs and the pressure on them is crazy. They have to be in certain top of the class, or have certain grades in med school courses (they take same courses as med students, except med students have pass/fail, but these guys have claw their way up). Its ROUGH. And if you do bad in SMP it goes on your academic record and that will make your future attempts at being accepted MUCH MUCH MUCH harder. so, SMP is not a "perfect way out". They are HARD. Just personal opinion, - i personally would rather just get in myself even if it took longer.

so, CHECK reputation of SMP, find out if it is a direct gateway into their med school, or this is just to boost the grades. be careful.

 

[chilly_md]

Agree with the above. If you were still struggling with classes the past few years after you recovered from your sickness, I would recommend taking a class or two at a local 4-year university to see if you can adjust and start doing well going forward.

 

[Goro]

OP, read my post on reinvention for premeds

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Thank you for your reply, Rapsidy.

• By GPA I meant my combined GPA
• It honestly took me 7.5 years to complete my degree (a double major in physics and math). The reason why it took me so long was that I got sick during my sophomore year and it took me years to fully recover. So, after my sophomore year, I took 1.5 years off. During that time, I only saw different experts. After that, I was encouraged to return to school, but I struggled from the Spring of 2019 until the Spring of 2022.
• I want to make it clear that I wasn't poorly prepared for college. I got a 1480/1490 on the SAT (Math + Reading) and I was accepted into NYU and Macaulay Honors College.

It doesn't matter how prepared you were for college or how sick you got. Everyone's got excuses. The only thing that matters now is that you prove that you can make it in medical school. You'll need all the things you listed: rebuild GPA, volunteer, shadow, research, etc. I can't even see a reason you want to be a doctor