Yikes, very bad advice. DO NOT use the little valuable space you have in your personal statement to draw attention to a less than strong aspect of your application. DO NOT explain why you did some of your prereqs at Downtown Community College because you were testing the waters before quitting your job. DO NOT explain why you went to Backwater U instead of Stanford because you didn't want to take out the loans. DO NOT explain why you had a semester with 2 C's because you were WAY into water polo. Very, very bad idea. No... one... cares... Your personal statement should be positive and portray you in a shining light. The ONLY exception to this should be if you have a truly fatal flaw that you need to address if not spin ("Boy, I learned a lot during my incarceration at Pelican Bay...").
I think we have a misunderstanding on our hands...or maybe we just disagree.
😀
I did not advise OP to write about his academics in
his PS. By "writing a blurb in your app", I was referring to addressing the matter on secondaries. In retrospect, I should have been more clear. Most secondaries these days have a surplus of space available under prompts such as "Is there anything else you would like to inform the committee about?", "If you are not entering medical school immediately after graduating from college, please explain.", "Are there any parts of your academic record that you will like to further discuss?", etc., etc.
Of the pre-meds that actually have something to write for these prompts, most don't end up using the whole character limit. The real estate is "cheap" in this neck of the woods.
And perhaps this is where we still disagree, but I feel OP would be best served by addressing (i.e. "writing a blurb about") WHY he has chosen to take his prereqs at a CC instead of his home institution or any other local university for that matter.
Today, with the way AMCAS/AACOMAS presents applicant information, the order in which he enrolled in his schools will be patently obvious (in other words, "drawing attention to it" is a moot point; the attention will already be there). With that information glaring in the face of whatever person is sifting through thousands of applications, considering which app should get an II over which app, OP would be wise to nip the suspicions in the bud... Of course, this is assuming that OP has a legitimate reason for choosing a CC at this stage (i.e. caring for family member and the closest university is 100 miles away, etc.)
OP, as others have alluded to, your GPA, as it stands, is a deal breaker. Considering the diminishing returns of improvement with 100+ credits already on your transcript, it would take many (MANY) years of straight-A's to have a decent shot at MD schools in the 50 states.
If you really, REALLY have your heart set on medical school, I'd consider looking at a special master's or post-bac program designed for folks with poor GPAs. Will this get you into a U.S. med school? No, not with that GPA. But you will either succeed or fail. If you fail, you can walk away with $25K in loans and know with confidence medicine was not for you. If you succeed (and it will take a lot of hard work), it might be enough to qualify you for one of the more reputable Caribbean schools.
"Yikes, very bad advice." I'm only half-joking. Per the Official SMP Guide,
SMPs are generally programs designed for several different populations of students
1) Those who completed their science requirements in college and need to improve their academic standings (mostly low GPA issues).
2) Those who completed their science requirements in college and will have a "gap" year(s) between graduation and their intended year of matriculation into medical school
3) Those who have graduated college a while ago who have their basic science coursework completed (either through a postbac or through their alma mater) and need to demonstrate that they can still handle the coursework years after such an academic atmosphere. These are nontraditional applicants and often, career switchers.
4) Those who have both a low GPA and a low MCAT.
It doesn't sound like OP matches any of those descriptions, nor has the science foundation in place. Furthermore, throwing 25-35k of loans in the mix with interest compounding over the next 8 years of training in hopes of matriculating to a
Caribbean school (most costly option -- add on another 300k+ in loans accruing interest through school/residency), in hopes of specializing in psych (generally-speaking lower paying option) is
not a financially sound decision...depending on his deferral of payments during residency, he could end up 400k+ in debt

. Especially disturbing, given that the original science coursework can be completely satisfied as an informal post-bac for < 8k at a state university (don't ask me how I know
😉 ) and DO schools aren't out of the question (see below*).
Also, his academics might be too low even for SMP's to begin with. Bryn Mawr's admissions page indicates "In general, accepted students have better than a B+ (3.3) average at the college level and standardized test scores consistent with that level of performance" (
http://www.brynmawr.edu/postbac/admission.shtml) Cinci states "Applicants usually have an overall GPA of
at least 3.0 and total MCAT score of at least 28." A ~2.4 GPA is way below that point, obviously...and, no, I'm not doing the research for the other programs, haha.
HOWEVER,
OP, despite what the others have said and depending on what your actual transcript looks like, DO school is
still a very real possibility a la their utilization of *"
grade replacement". For example, if you have a handful of D's and F's that are absolutely destroying your GPA, you can retake those courses today and the grade will be completely replaced in the eyes of DO schools (and to think that some people still claim magic isn't real, heh)...
If you could boost yourself up to a 3.1-3.2 overall GPA, have a
good science gpa, and a
good mcat (27+) you would have a
decent shot at many DO schools. Unfortunately, if you were a consistent C+ student longitudinally across your undergrad career, this option is less viable (I don't know any applicants that retook tons and tons of courses).
The answer to that question ("are you a prime candidate for grade replacement") will have a huge bearing on if med school is a viable path or not.
If so, your hypothetical timeline would look like this:
One year of retaking undergrad courses -> Two Years of satisfying pre-reqs -> Apply DO.
1) You will be ~28 when entering med school. Not "too late" by any stretch of the imagination.
2) You will have saved yourself a decent chunk of change (stress) by avoiding SMP's and Caribbean.
3) You will graduate with a respected medical degree and not have to worry about not matching.
The
real beauty of
this route is that it is predicated on the first step being
both the cheapest and the most important step (i.e. retaking those courses). If you cannot retake and improve your GPA to 3.1-3.2, you know that the game might be over and perhaps it's time to save yourself a lot of debt and look at other professions.
EDIT: Also, keep in mind, OP, with your standing academic record, those pre-reqs at a CC will look even more suspect and I can say with near-certainty that med schools are going to prefer
your pre-reqs done at a 4-year institution.
(
ALL as I originally claimed/advised, btw 😉 ).
OP, feel free to PM me if you want to talk more about things.