Looking for a little advice for an abysmal undergraduate career

[emily14]

I graduated from college in 2002 with a 2.0 GPA. I started in a full-time AAMC post-bacc program and have completed 5 quarters of classes. 4.0 GPA, but it barely makes a dent in my overall GPA (estimated 2.43 cGPA, 3.69 sGPA using AMCAS grade conversion guide). I'm about to finish organic chemistry and start into biochemistry.

Should I look at getting a second bachelor degree to continue to improve my GPA or take my chances and apply next cycle after preparing for the MCAT?

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[wgc0956]

You need to get your cgpa to a 3.0 or as close as humanly possible. As that denominator grows you’ll find it’s harder and harder to get there. Took me 3 years of classes at a 4.0 (~90 something credits) to get there (started with a 2.4 cgpa and 2.0 sgpa with a ton of credits). It looks like your first undergrad was very science-light so consider yourself lucky. Depending on your mcat score and other aspects of your application like clinical experience and research, volunteering etc you may or may not need to consider an SMP but I will say that your sgpa is helping a lot so maybe you won’t. Great job, this is a long journey to take on and you’re crushing it. I know how hard and grueling it can be. Keep doing what you’re doing and crush the mcat, after you receive your score you’ll know a lot more about which way to go.

 

[MedicallyEnthused]

I don't agree with the above. At some point, taking more undergrad isn't worth your time anymore and isn't really feasible to achieve a 3.0. That being said you have an excellent sGPA. I would aim for around ~60 credits total in your postbacc (if not done already), at which point maybe think about an SMP or straight up applying (since you have such a good sGPA), once you have a solid MCAT score under your belt.

Keep in mind not all schools screen for a 3.0 cGPA. Many look at upwards trends / your last 60 or so credits.

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

TMDSAS has a fresh start initiative that basically seals records that are >10 years old and you only have to submit recent coursework. I don’t know all of the details but that could be something to look into if you are a Texas resident or would consider applying to Texas schools (not OOS friendly though, but you’d likely have better odds of that sort of route than applying with your uGPA as it is.)

Look at schools that only consider recent coursework like LSU, Tulane, and Drexel.

 

[wgc0956]

I don't agree with the above. At some point, taking more undergrad isn't worth your time anymore and isn't really feasible to achieve a 3.0. That being said you have an excellent sGPA. I would aim for around ~60 credits total in your postbacc (if not done already), at which point maybe think about an SMP or straight up applying (since you have such a good sGPA), once you have a solid MCAT score under your belt.

Keep in mind not all schools screen for a 3.0 cGPA. Many look at upwards trends / your last 60 or so credits.

I def agree with you. Don’t just continue taking undergrad classes to get to a magical number. At this point it’s not about gpa repair, it’s about transcript repair. If you can get close to a 3.0 with a reasonable amount of credits I think it’s worth it, but once you’re approaching a postbacc of 50-60+ credits you’ve done what you need to do to reinvent.

 

[chilly_md]

TMDSAS has a fresh start initiative that basically seals records that are >10 years old and you only have to submit recent coursework. I don’t know all of the details but that could be something to look into if you are a Texas resident or would consider applying to Texas schools (not OOS friendly though, but you’d likely have better odds of that sort of route than applying with your uGPA as it is.)

Look at schools that only consider recent coursework like LSU, Tulane, and Drexel.

Fresh start is available only to Texas residents I believe. So the old grades would appear and TMDAS schools look for high stats from OOS applicants. LSU also takes nearly no OOS students and those they do probably had significant ties.

 

[gyngyn]

Look at schools that only consider recent coursework like LSU, Tulane, and Drexel.

I looked for this in the MSAR and on the websites for Tulane and Drexel (I didn't look for LSU...).
Can you help me find the information?

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

I looked for this in the MSAR and on the websites for Tulane and Drexel (I didn't look for LSU...).
Can you help me find the information?

Sure.

To start, LSU's 30 hour policy is listed here if you scroll down.

Admittedly, it was 2+ years ago when I read up on Tulane and Drexel's policies. I searched just now but did not see anything that I recall reading for those schools. But they previously had policies similar to LSU-New Orleans.

Wayne State on the other hand, seems to have an even more lenient policy considering only the 20 most recent credit hours of post-bacc work.

If I rediscover the pages outlining the prior policies at Drexel and Tulane, I'll copy them here.

 

[gyngyn]

If I rediscover the pages outlining the prior policies at Drexel and Tulane, I'll copy them here.

That would be great. I have a feeling they may have changed their policies.
Public schools in many states are lenient in this way, but I'm still looking for schools with a significant OOS component.

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

That would be great. I have a feeling they may have changed their policies.
Public schools in many states are lenient in this way, but I'm still looking for schools with a significant OOS component.

I agree that they likely changed them. Drexel in particular I remember reading clear as day on their site because I spent a lot of time reading up on their program. Although I don’t remember exactly where it was on their site, I’m unable to find anything at all on it now.