I'm a Registered Nurse (RN) with low GPA, what are my chances?

[Vitalmin]

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Hello, this is my first time posting on sdn. I have recently decided that I want to pursue Medical School. I have been a RN for over a year now, working in hospital-based, medical-surgical nursing.

BCPM GPA: 2.75
Overall Undergrad GPA: 3.11

Accelerated Nursing, BSN GPA: 3.28

I still need to take Organic Chemistry I and II, and then the MCATs.

1) Hypothetically, if my GPA is this low, but my MCATs are very high, and considering my experience in the health field as a RN, am I a competitive candidate?

2) Do you think I should re-take some science courses? I got mostly C's in my Chem. and Physics courses

I am 25 years old...

Thanks all!

 

[TriagePreMed]

No, with that kind of science GPA, you're not competitive at all for MD. DO schools could look at you with the high MCAT and if you manage to break the 3.0 for science, but I think you'd still be at serious disadvantage. You'll need to do at least a year of post-bacc work with as close to a 4.0 so you can prove yourself.

Also, are you sure your chemistries and biologies work for medicine? I ask because there have been nurses here before that discovered they don't.

 

[Catalystik]

You might consider retaking any classes where you really got low grades so as to take advantage of the DO grade replacement policy. In calculating your application GPA, AACOMAS will only include the most recent grade, provided the credit hours are the same or greater. Retakes need not be done at the same school.

 

[BestDoctorEver]

Hello, this is my first time posting on sdn. I have recently decided that I want to pursue Medical School. I have been a RN for over a year now, working in hospital-based, medical-surgical nursing.

BCPM GPA: 2.75
Overall Undergrad GPA: 3.11

Accelerated Nursing, BSN GPA: 3.28

I still need to take Organic Chemistry I and II, and then the MCATs.

1) Hypothetically, if my GPA is this low, but my MCATs are very high, and considering my experience in the health field as a RN, am I a competitive candidate?

2) Do you think I should re-take some science courses? I got mostly C's in my Chem. and Physics courses

I am 25 years old...

Thanks all!

Use the DO school grade replacement as suggested by one poster above to get your sGPA to 3.0+. With a 28+ mcat, you should have a decent chance if you apply early and broadly.

 

[badb100d]

Also, are you sure your chemistries and biologies work for medicine? I ask because there have been nurses here before that discovered they don't.

👍👍👍 This can be a major disappointment/setback, definitely check on that.

 

[FuturaDocta]

The good news is that your experience as an RN is a huge plus because experience is very valuable once entering medicine.

However, you will need to get by the adcoms who will challenge your ability to handle science courses because med school is a hell of a lot harder conceptually than undergrad is. They don't want to admit someone who will fail first year. You should retake some C's and apply to DO (add a few MD schools if you can afford it).

If I were you, I would stay an RN while you retake because, as I mentioned before, experience is very valuable.