I want to apply to medical school, but due to my choices, I have dug a nice academic hole for myself and Im having difficulty seeing clearly in order to get out the hole.
To give some background on myself, I did my undergrad in science- 3.0, with the BCMP GPA lower, but managed to graduate with honors b/c of research (first author on published paper, research presented at multiple conferences). While I was undergrad ran my own business and worked a campus job 20 hours a week. Had a terrible shadowing experience but my hospital volunteering went much better. Took the MCAT and did middling (26S) and needless to say was rejected.
Joined the Peace Corps after graduation and had to leave early due to illness. Worked in academia and concluded going for a PhD or academia in general was not the right place for me. Started working 4 years ago for a start-up biotech and have flourished. The company has good educational benefits and paid for my MPH. My graduate GPA was about a 3.3 due in part to having to travel for work and working 50 hours/week. Right now am working as a clinical research associate monitoring international clinical trials, volunteer with hospice care (I enjoy working with the elderly so am considering gerontology as a focus), and manage 2 rock bands (perform in 1). I started in with the rock bands after I finished the MPH.
The reason I want to go for medicine is because despite everything else I do, I still feel the calling to do it. So my question is as follows: as someone coming from a science background and more than 5 years out from the pre-reqs and having not done so great on them to begin with, can I retake them or will I be penalized for doing so instead of taking higher level courses (ie postbac or second masters)? Im not in the financial situation to stop working, but my work schedule can be modified so Im not working insane hours and can perform better on the course work.
To give some background on myself, I did my undergrad in science- 3.0, with the BCMP GPA lower, but managed to graduate with honors b/c of research (first author on published paper, research presented at multiple conferences). While I was undergrad ran my own business and worked a campus job 20 hours a week. Had a terrible shadowing experience but my hospital volunteering went much better. Took the MCAT and did middling (26S) and needless to say was rejected.
Joined the Peace Corps after graduation and had to leave early due to illness. Worked in academia and concluded going for a PhD or academia in general was not the right place for me. Started working 4 years ago for a start-up biotech and have flourished. The company has good educational benefits and paid for my MPH. My graduate GPA was about a 3.3 due in part to having to travel for work and working 50 hours/week. Right now am working as a clinical research associate monitoring international clinical trials, volunteer with hospice care (I enjoy working with the elderly so am considering gerontology as a focus), and manage 2 rock bands (perform in 1). I started in with the rock bands after I finished the MPH.
The reason I want to go for medicine is because despite everything else I do, I still feel the calling to do it. So my question is as follows: as someone coming from a science background and more than 5 years out from the pre-reqs and having not done so great on them to begin with, can I retake them or will I be penalized for doing so instead of taking higher level courses (ie postbac or second masters)? Im not in the financial situation to stop working, but my work schedule can be modified so Im not working insane hours and can perform better on the course work.
