I need your honest opion

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ebyokuri

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I graduated with a BS in Biochemistry several years ago. I barely graduated though, with a 2.0 GPA. One family tragedy after another. sister had a mental breakdown then things got better then my father past away, things got better again then the last year of college, my mum had a massive aneurysm that bled, suffered a stroke and ended up in a longterm care facility. So my academic career goes up and down. My professors worked with me through it all, thank goodness.

Right now, I'm working in the health care field and am taking some biology classes at the jc (and doing quite well). I'm 32 and the desire to go to med school has been with me seen I was 10 and I can't get rid of the desire.

I know with the gpa i have, there's no way any US med school will even look at me. maybe i've already answered my own question. think there's anything I can do to make myself a better candidate? i was considering a masters program. what options do I have or should I just give up the dream? Would I have a chance for PA school? I do have an opportunity to go to Pharm school. Should I just take that?

thanks for your opinions!

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Well your situation, though it is not a good one is definitely fixable. It's all a matter if your willing to spend the time in order to fix it. If you were willing to take 4 or 5 semesters of full time courses (i.e. taking pre-reqs over, repeating classes that brought down your GPA originally, upper div science classes) and obtained a 3.3 and above for those 4 or 5 semesters then you would be able to show adcoms what kind of student you have become versus what you were. In addition spend however much time necessary in order to obtain an MCAT score of 30+, as well as shadowing/volunteering. You should be able to get a foot in the door someplace. It would probably end up taking you about 2-3 years of preparing your app, plus a glide year of applications. So you would end up starting med school at 36, no big deal your still a youngster at that point. Finish Residency before/around 45, and you still have 20+ years as an attending physician. Anyone (with at least an average intelligence) can find their way into med school, if they're willing to be patient and work hard for it, regardless of their academic past. Worst case you end up taking your entire ****in undergraduate degree over again (maybe something a little easier than biochem this time), and then apply with a 120 unit post-bac program under your belt. If you keep trying and are willing to do anything for it, there's no way you can fail!
 
i was considering a masters program. what options do I have or should I just give up the dream?

A masters won't help you at all -- your undergrad GPA is what you need to fix. Your best bet is to start retaking all the classes you did poorly in for A's. DO schools will look at the retake grades rather than the originals, so your GPA can be brought up quite rapidly. (Not so for allo schools, where original and retake grades are both factored in). That is your best bet at a US degree. There are likely offshore places that will accept you with a poor GPA, but it is a much harder road and you may or may not get to your goal from there.
 
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it's going to be a long road if you decide to do medicine.

a four-year 2.0 gpa is going to be hard to fix. to raise it to even a 3.0, you will need four years of full-time classes roughly speaking. so i don't recommend you do this.

the absolutely fastest way to get into med school (in the U.S.) would be to follow a plan something like this:

~6 semesters (8 quarters) of 4.0 GPA work at a mix of JC/university (2 years including summers). this will bring your gpa to around 2.75.

obviously, a ridiculously high MCAT. 36 would be around the minimum.

a variety of ECs. you have the clincal experience, but you need to diversify your EC list. leadership experience looks very good here.

lastly, an SMP will be absolutely required. A special masters program allows you to take a few medical school classes this way you can become ranked with medical students and demonstrate your capabilities to adcoms. beware: doing mediocre (<3.5) will forever ruin your candidacy for medical school.

with your GPA, you probably won't be competitive at the most well known programs like geogetown, cincinnati, or BU. but you still have a shot at the reputable schools like EVMS and VCU.

good luck.

reference threads that might interest you:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=489913
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=114425
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=346106

and some inspiration:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=125347
 
thanks for the feedback everyone. so it is possible just a lot of hard work to get there, something i'm very used too. my brother, an ortho surgeon who just finished up, has been telling me to go to pa school instead. he's very anti-me going to med school mainly because of the long haul ahead of me.
i have a lot to think about
 
thanks for the feedback everyone. so it is possible just a lot of hard work to get there, something i'm very used too. my brother, an ortho surgeon who just finished up, has been telling me to go to pa school instead. he's very anti-me going to med school mainly because of the long haul ahead of me.
i have a lot to think about

PA School is just as much not an option as allopathic schools aren't. PA schools are hard to get into. Very difficult, remotely possible for you to get in to either MD or PA school (I know nothing about DO schools) even under the best circumstances you can create for yourself.

Your going to spend your mid 30's trying to get into med school with absolutely no guarantee of getting in, then your late 30's going through medschool if accepted and early 40's doing residency. Not a way I would want to spend the time, but y'know....to each their own.
 
At least your undergrad degree is in Biochemistry. Also, have you considered DO schools? They do grade replacement so if you retake classes your gpa will increase much faster. It will still take at least 2-3 years to bring it up enough to apply. DO schools also take into account time. If you do much better now than you did a while back they will look positively at that. It will be hard but, but not impossible. I know somebody who got in who graduated with a 2.2 with and easy degree. It took three years of informal post bacc to get there, though. Good luck.
 
well.... everything your going to hear in this thread is nothing but "opinions"... no real facts, just people's opinions

so here is mine,
There are 4 things you need to know:

#1)
I think you chances of US MD schools are very limited (very very very slim chance).... so your best bet is DO schools and here is why...

The DO application via AACOMAS (American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine) will only count the latest course of a re-take......Example, 4 years ago, you took Orgo I and got a D..... right now, you just finished re-taking Orgo I and got an A.... AACOMAS will only count the A

#2)
If I was you, I would go back on a post-bacc program, and re-take most of those classes you totally bombed (anything below a C-).... this will take you anywhere from 3-5 years (depending on how full/part time you go)... but it is defenetly doable, it can dramatically increase your GPA....

your a biochem major, so all those biologies and chemistries are not new to you, you've taken most of them before, your just gonna have to retake them and kick butt this time

#3)
your going to need a HELL of an essay explaining your undergrad performance, I am not saying that you should use this as an execuse of why you did poorly, but it is a story that can touch people (I know it did for me lol).... I think alot of adcoms will underestand what you went through

#4)
don't be shy of contacting medical schools (esspecially) in your area and talking to them.... go visit them every month.... let them know who you are and that you REALLY want to be there, talk to medical school admission advisors and develope a relationship with these people..... Volunteer at thier medical clinics (if they have any).
 
well.... everything your going to hear in this thread is nothing but "opinions"... no real facts, just people's opinions

so here is mine,
There are 4 things you need to know:

#1)
I think you chances of US MD schools are very limited (very very very slim chance).... so your best bet is DO schools and here is why...

The DO application via AACOMAS (American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine) will only count the latest course of a re-take......Example, 4 years ago, you took Orgo I and got a D..... right now, you just finished re-taking Orgo I and got an A.... AACOMAS will only count the A

#2)
If I was you, I would go back on a post-bacc program, and re-take most of those classes you totally bombed (anything below a C-).... this will take you anywhere from 3-5 years (depending on how full/part time you go)... but it is defenetly doable, it can dramatically increase your GPA....

your a biochem major, so all those biologies and chemistries are not new to you, you've taken most of them before, your just gonna have to retake them and kick butt this time

#3)
your going to need a HELL of an essay explaining your undergrad performance, I am not saying that you should use this as an execuse of why you did poorly, but it is a story that can touch people (I know it did for me lol).... I think alot of adcoms will underestand what you went through

#4)
don't be shy of contacting medical schools (esspecially) in your area and talking to them.... go visit them every month.... let them know who you are and that you REALLY want to be there, talk to medical school admission advisors and develope a relationship with these people..... Volunteer at thier medical clinics (if they have any).


post-bacc will not be enough even with the "adjusted" gpa with DO applications. while DO schools are more open to non-trads and forgive for past mediocre performance, i think it is unwise to apply to ONLY DO schools. OP needs to apply early and broadly to both MD/DO.

with a high mcat score, i strongly believe that OP should consider doing an SMP. 3-5 years of post-bacc performance is not going to improve OP's candidacy as much as 2-3 years of post-bacc plus 1 year of an SMP. equally important, i would argue, is the need to diversify OPs ECs.
 
I agree with the above. Retake the classes you didn't do so hot in. Rock the MCAT. Work on your extra-currics. Consider taking an SMP and doing well there.

And then apply broadly and early, including both MD and DO schools.

Best of luck!
 
Actually I wonder about the Caribbean in your case. I'm not sure their admissions committees have the same sort of hard and fast cut offs as mainland schools. I wonder if, with several semesters of 4.0 work and a great MCAT, they might be willing to give you a chance. It's worth calling their ADCOMs, anyway. Unlike a US ADCOM, they'll be happy to talk to you.
 
Actually I wonder about the Caribbean in your case. I'm not sure their admissions committees have the same sort of hard and fast cut offs as mainland schools. I wonder if, with several semesters of 4.0 work and a great MCAT, they might be willing to give you a chance. It's worth calling their ADCOMs, anyway. Unlike a US ADCOM, they'll be happy to talk to you.

There are offshore schools with no admissions requirements at all (other than a working credit card); there are places that would take OP with a 2.0 and no MCAT. But the further down the food chain you go, the harder it will be to get a residency even if you do well there. So conventional wisdom is that if you are looking offshore you don't want to delve too much beyond the top handful of places.
 
Sure, GPA's and MCAT's are nice, but so are references, work experience, a good essay and dedication.

Well, med schools these days want it all. And with literally 10,000 applications to choose from at many schools they can get someone who has both the numbers and some solid experiences. You want to make yourself as competitive as possible before pulling the trigger and applying. You don't hope for luck and assume you can prevail as a reapplicant if it doesn't go well. And you cannot assume that experience and age are going to make up for a low GPA. You fix the GPA as much as possible.

You line your ducks in a row first and then pull the trigger, one shot one kill.
As for the PR schools, they are LCME accredited schools (ie US allo schools, not what anyone is talking about on here when describing Caribbean schools), and as such still tend to require reasonably competitive numbers, and I believe also require a strong fluency in spanish (so not really an option for most applicants).
 
Barring URMs, legacys, and people who did SMPs, who exactly are you talking about? Average Matriculant these days has a 3.7 and 31.

Agreed. There are always exceptions to the rule - and everyone seems to know "someone" who got in with a 2.6 GPA, or 24 MCAT, or weak extra-curriculars, etc.

But for the most part, you've just got to get your application up to par to have a good fighting chance.
 
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