I'm in a really bad situation

[EeetQ]

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I am looking for advice as to what to do next with my life. I want to be an MD there is no question about it. I am 22, have a year left in college but my current gpa is 2.5 (4.0 for the last two years) with good semesters and bad semesters distributed all over the place before that (for some reason i fail classes, retake them and make an A).

I have little volunteer hours=50 or so
Transfered to four different colleges+universities, so that can't look good (even though it was not in my control, katrina, finances etc)
I am taking the mcat in one month but I do not expect to make over a 33.

What can I do to get into medschool? A masters program, post bacc? Who will accept me if anyone?

 

[rose786]

....

 

[EQR]

I'm not premed, but: If you retake classes and get A's in them, why not try DO schools? They take the most recent grade so that should help your gpa. That is, if you're interested in DO at all. And as with any standardized test, don't take the MCAT until you see your desired score on practice tests.

hmm..

 

[Lokhtar]

If you don't expect to get more than 26, you shouldn't be taking the MCAT.

 

[dragonfly99]

Agree with the other posters.
Do NOT take the MCAT unless you are damn ready. Even if you are damn ready, then it is a hard test. Why the rush to take the MCAT? Why don't you finish out your undergrad degree (while rocking all science courses and all other courses if possible). Then later you can worry about the MCAT.

I don't know that the attending multiple schools thing will hurt you super bad...your bad grades will (in med school admissions). Part of the reason med schools have these admissions standards is they don't want to accept people who are going to fail out. that's not fair to the student (who would end up in debt of 50-100k with no way to pay it back), the school, or the student's future patients. You have to show that you can do the work of medical school...which is hard...that you can do it consistently. The volunteer experience is important too, but you HAVE to show you are going to be able to do med school level work. Otherwise your application is going to get thrown in the trash.

Agree that DO schools may forgive some of your past bad grades.

To me, reading this thread (and others on here), it strikes me that there are a lot of people on here who keep saying how much they want to go to med school, but that they have a bad GPA, etc. The admissions committee wants you to show how bad you want to be a doctor by busting your a-- to get good grades in your premed courses. Not perfect, necessarily, but good (preferably A's, but at least B's). You say you "for some reason" get F's and then retake the courses and get A's. What is the reason for the F's? Poor study habits? Laziness? A bad fit between you and school? That you just aren't academically inclined enough to want to study hard like that for hours on end? What is the reason? Whatever it is, you need to fix it if you want in to medical school.

Dr. B

 

[EeetQ]

Agree with the other posters.
Do NOT take the MCAT unless you are damn ready. Even if you are damn ready, then it is a hard test. Why the rush to take the MCAT? Why don't you finish out your undergrad degree (while rocking all science courses and all other courses if possible). Then later you can worry about the MCAT.

I don't know that the attending multiple schools thing will hurt you super bad...your bad grades will (in med school admissions). Part of the reason med schools have these admissions standards is they don't want to accept people who are going to fail out. that's not fair to the student (who would end up in debt of 50-100k with no way to pay it back), the school, or the student's future patients. You have to show that you can do the work of medical school...which is hard...that you can do it consistently. The volunteer experience is important too, but you HAVE to show you are going to be able to do med school level work. Otherwise your application is going to get thrown in the trash.

Agree that DO schools may forgive some of your past bad grades.

To me, reading this thread (and others on here), it strikes me that there are a lot of people on here who keep saying how much they want to go to med school, but that they have a bad GPA, etc. The admissions committee wants you to show how bad you want to be a doctor by busting your a-- to get good grades in your premed courses. Not perfect, necessarily, but good (preferably A's, but at least B's). You say you "for some reason" get F's and then retake the courses and get A's. What is the reason for the F's? Poor study habits? Laziness? A bad fit between you and school? That you just aren't academically inclined enough to want to study hard like that for hours on end? What is the reason? Whatever it is, you need to fix it if you want in to medical school.

Dr. B

wow thanks for the response. I guess when re-taking classes I am more motivated to show that I am not an idiot. For instance, I took organic chemistry and failed it because i never went to class and was too busy trying to settle in my university. The second time around i wanted to prove that i could master organic chemistry and I did (i had the highest grade in my organic class) the same thing happened with bio....


I agree that i am pretty lazy, but my laziness is compounded by the fact that i cant see a way out. If i had a goal to accomplish such as "if you get As from here on out, we'll let you into medical school" then hell yes ill be working my ass off and more than likely ill get all As...but its this uncertainity of my future that is hampring any would be progress.

 

[Perrotfish]

First, as everyone else has said, don't take the MCAT until you can expect to make over a 30.

Alright, your options,

1) take more courses until your cumulative GPA is over a 3.0 (retake any premed courses you got a C or below in), do very well on the MCAT, go to an SMP, do very well in the SMP, go to a US allo medical school

2) Retake courses (with grade replacement) until you hit a 3.4, do well on the MCAT, shadow a DO to get a letter of rec, apply for a DO school, get in, go to medical school.

3) get your grades up to a 3.0 (without grade replacement), do moderately well on the MCAT, go the Carribean, be aware that there is a very high probability that you will either fail out or not match and be buried under debt for the rest of your life with no degree, don't let that happen.

As other posters have said, don't take the MCAT until you have reason to believe you can at least break a 30. If your grades are going to be way below average, something needs to be above average to compensate, otherwise why in the world would the give you a spot when there's someone witha 3.6 and a 31 (the current average matriculant) that they're turning down.

Motivation, and the question of whether or not this several year process is worth it, it up to you.

Good luck, you can do it, many have before.