Interesting gpa predicament

[fibonacci11235]

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Hello everyone.

I am a working 20-something engineer right now, however I am motivated to become a medical doctor.

I have an interesting situation. I did my BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at a reputable university, and finished a few years ago. However, I was not very motivated while I was doing my undergrad, and my overall gpa was not very good at all (~2.5).

Fast forward to now; I have been working full time as an engineer for the past couple years. About a year ago I decided I wanted to change my career, and I started taking some of my medschool prereqs at local junior colleges by taking night classes. I have been doing very well in these classes.

Starting September, I will be cutting back a bit at work, and taking classes through an informal post-bac program offered by a state school in the area. I will also be volunteering at a local hospice starting shortly. My plan is to start med school in Fall 2009, and take classes until then.

If I do fairly well in my classes, I have figured out that my science gpa and cumulative gpa around the time of the application process (4 quarters from now) will respectively be around 3.2 and 2.8. (My cumulative gpa will be lower than my science gpa due to many electrical engineering classes and computer science classes that I did not fair very well in.)

With numbers this low, will I be automatically weeded out by the system? I have heard that if my gpa is lower than a cutoff most med schools have, my application would not even be looked at by the admissions committee, regardless of how well I did in my Post-Bac, on my MCAT, etc.

I am aware of other options to American medical schools (i.e. DO school, Caribean Medical school, etc.) and I have been looking into these.

However I would like to get an honest, objective opinion as to whether or not I have a realistic shot at getting in to an American Medical school if I do well in my classes, and on my MCAT, and additionally have the necessary volunteer experience and recommendation letters.


I am also unclear as to exactly how many quarters of grades would show up on my application. (I assumed that my grades through only December 2008 would count in my calculations.)

I would appreciate any thoughts.

Thank you very much.

 

[RunShare]

Your primary application will be due in October of 2008, so you won't be able to count fall 08 grades initially. You could send an update letter in December 2008 including those grades if you'd like.

I'm only applying now myself, so I don't want to give you advice on things I know nothing about, but good luck to you. I was an engineer myself.

 

[drizzt3117]

Hello everyone.

I am a working 20-something engineer right now, however I am motivated to become a medical doctor.

You already posted this in PA, but the answer is the same. You need to raise your GPA to 3.0 or over, and probably apply to a SMP unless you can raise your GPA to over 3.2 with a stunningly high MCAT. Starting in Fall 09 will be essentially impossible unless you are going to a DO school or to the Carribean, even then you would need a high MCAT and probably need to improve your GPA considerably.