I'm feeling hopeless about everything

[ariaofthesoul]

I've had a not-so-great past 4 years as an undergrad at UVA (at least compared to when I was applying to colleges in high school - 4.3 cum gpa + tons of leadership and extracurriculars). I graduated back in May with my Bachelor of Arts in Biology and minored in Psychology hoping to get into medical school but I realized, I wasted my undergrad years.

I have done a lot of extracurriculars (resident advisor for 3 years, student government/community work/advocacy/event planning all 4 years) and worked as a health promotion assistant at the wellness center for a year. Throughout the pandemic, I fell into this hole where I had a hybrid eating disorder with my limited options as a celiac and couldn't optimize my resources at the Student Disability Center because my parents refused to send me the required documents. It was to the point where they gave me a semester renewal thing where I had some accommodations due to my poor mental health and family crises for a year.

I want to become a gastroenterologist. My gpa is a 3.251 and my sGPA is a regrettable 2.802 with no valuable clinical experience/research. This feels like a sob story but I need some advice. What should I do (jobs, research, volunteer) ? Like what MCAT score should I reach for and what do you think a "post-bac best-case scenario," would do to my sGPA and my chances in general?

Hoping to do post-bac record enhancer program but there are very few since a lot focus on "career changers."
- Applying to UCLA Public Health Scholars Summer Program in November (if anyone knows or have gotten accepted, please let me know)

Here are my hopes for medical schools (virtually impossible with my stats right now but I want to look into programs/opportunities to get hands-on)

UCLA
Cornell
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
NYU New York University
University of Toronto
University of Pennslyvania
Columbia University
Stanford
University of Chicago
USC University of Southern California
UC Berkeley
Harvard
UVA
VCU Virginia Commonwealth University
Howard University
George Washington University
University of British Columbia
Jefferson University
Brighton and Sussex Medical School
American University

Thank you for reading, I appreciate being able to vocalize my experience.

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[gyngyn]

You need clinical experience (many wellness centers are not considered clinical).
You definitely need a sustained period of academic excellence in the sciences. That could come from a programmatic post bac or DIY.
Graduate grades (except SMPs) are not considered a measure of academic prowess at MD schools, though DO schools do average in those grades.

With regard to your list, it's too early to make one.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Start with your fundamentals. Shadow and work in proper clinical settings. Get your non-clinical community service (no tutoring). Then seek the academic suppoort you need to excel with your science courses. The MCAT is irrelevant if your grades aren't solid, and without the MCAT, a school list is not realistic.

 

[ariaofthesoul]

So I shouldn’t even be considering public health programs or post bac until I have some clinical experience? Any examples of some jobs that are accepting to people who don’t have any?

 

[gyngyn]

So I shouldn’t even be considering public health programs or post bac until I have some clinical experience?

Public Health is a crucial aspect of our nation's health. The experience gleaned from its study can provide context for the practice of medicine. It does not, however, strengthen an application whose weakness is academics. Only a strong showing in upper div sciences will do that.

Clinical experience and shadowing are how we know that applicants are aware of the day to day experience that they are signing up for. It is a long (expensive) road. It is an amazing career for the right person. It is unimaginable misery for the wrong one.

 

[chilly_md]

Your past grades aside, the list that you came up with contains several unrealistic options. These include UC Berkley and American University (the DC one) as they do not have a medical school and the Canadian and UK schools, which are meant for their citizens or students who attended undergrad in those countries and intend to practice there (particularly for the UK). If you dug up the Caribbean medical school AUC, then you really should avoid whatever resources led you to that as you would likely end up with 500k in debt and either no degree or no residency match.

Clinical experience and shadowing should be done first before both spending the money on a post-bacc or any more time looking at schools.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

So I shouldn’t even be considering public health programs or post bac until I have some clinical experience? Any examples of some jobs that are accepting to people who don’t have any?

We have a Public Health forum here where you can ask questions about what that career entails. I'm not sure you have seriously considered Public Health as an academic or career endeavor (because you haven't posted more than 2 times so far). I can point you to the Public Health schools websites that publicize careers in public health. You should shadow people in public health offices and compare with your hospital shadowing.