Looking for Advice

[McScrubs]

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Hi, like most people on here I have intentions to apply to med school. I will try to keep the background as brief as possible skipping the sob stories while still giving a complete academic background. I am currently 27 and will not be applying until I am 30-31. My first three semesters of college were horrid. I completed my first semester with a 3.0 and left college in my second semester without dropping resulting in 9 credit hours with an F. I worked for the next two years before going back to college. My third semester I again received 9 credit hours with an F from not withdrawing before leaving. I went back to work for the next 5 years. Two years ago I started taking classes at my local CC. I have maintained a 4.0 since I first started attending my current school.

Financially, I do not have time to pursue med-school right now so I have decided to complete the ADN program at my local CC and then start work as an RN and finish a BSN while taking extra science courses to apply to med school. My cGPA is currently very low. My sGPA however is a 4.0 because I did not attempt any science courses at my previous institutions.

The classes I have taken are: ENGL 1101- A
ENGL 1102- A
PSYC 1101- A
PSYC 2103- A
SOCI 1101- A
HUMN 1101- A
MATH 1111- A
CHEM 1211- A
CHEM 1211L- A
BIOL 2113- A (this is an anatomy course pre-req for ADN)
BIOL 2113L- A (this is an anatomy course pre-req for ADN)
BIOL2114- A (this is an anatomy course pre-req for ADN)
BIOL 2114L- A (this is an anatomy course pre-req for ADN)
BIOL 2117- A (this is a microbiology course pre-req for ADN)
BIOL 2117L- A (this is a microbiology course pre-req for ADN)
BIOL 2311 - A (Human Pathophysiology)
ALHS 1550 - A (Pharmacology for Health Care)


NOTE: I want to pursue a specialty in general surgery so I would prefer to go MD, but I am open to DO. I have extenuating circumstances as to why I left school both times but for the sake of brevity I have omitted my reasons. Also, I have completed all of the classes I previously took with an A (including the ones I had a B in my first semester). I am a part of the honor society (must academically be in top 10% of students), a student ambassador, tutor, and a regular volunteer at my school. My current school has the most respected and competitive RN program in the state. I also have a good work history (not in medical field).


Questions/Advice needed:

1. Should I take any other pre-req sciences course at my current school?

2. How will the classes BIOL 2113 be treated towards my GPA when applying to med school? I am unsure since they are not a universal credit in my state.

3. Is MD a realistic option given my low cGPA?

4. Will my placement into a residency be based solely on my med school course work or does my undergrad contribute as well?

5. Are there any medical school advisors, whether on here or through a school, I can talk to in order to get a better idea of what I need to do from here?

6. Any general advice?

 

[RNthenDoc]

1. Should I take any other pre-req sciences course at my current school?

2. Is MD a realistic option given my low cGPA?

3. Will my placement into a residency be based solely on my med school course work or does my undergrad contribute as well?

4. Are there any medical school advisors, whether on here or through a school, I can talk to in order to get a better idea of what I need to do from here?

5. Any general advice?

1. Probably not at a CC.
2. I don't now the math on this, I'm sure someone here or a nice online calculator might help. In *general*, you'll need >3.0, but for MD you really need to shoot for a 3.8
3. Residency is all about Board scores, research, and big-time EC work. Once you're in school nobody cares about your MCAT or your undergrad GPA.
4. Yes. (They'll comment later) There's a good thread about "reinventing" yourself that Goro has: Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

5. I did your path but at a much younger age. If I had to redo it, I wouldn't have gotten a BSN. I have enough credits for a doctorate at this point, and a lot of that waste is due to a BSN that didn't end up netting me *anything.* A lot of this comes down to which state you live in, and where you can work as an RN. For me, my hospital chain allows ADN's all the way up the management chain. At one point, a service-line manager had an ADN. (on the executive board for a CHAIN of hospitals)

That means there was no glass ceiling to be broken with a BSN degree for me. I didn't know it at the time, but getting a Pre-OD degree or generic Biology BA would have been just as useful, and would have shaved a year off my application timeline. I'm currently sitting on a few DO school acceptances, kicking myself for not doing this a while ago.

You don't learn how to be a nurse in school; you learn a very basic foundation and how to not do egregiously stupid things that kill people. The rest comes from years of on-the-job training which are infinitely more useful than most of the "shadowing" or anything else you'll read about here. I didn't have to ask for any LORs, I actually had to turn down multiple physicians because I had a glut of people willing to help me on my path. Be a good nurse, ask questions, learn, prove your competence to the physicians, work hard, let your goals be known, and people will help you. It takes time to do this route, because you're attempting to learn two very very different careers. A lot of people see doctors on TV and assume that they do all the same things that nurses do, and that nurses are somehow Jr. Doctors. Couldn't be further from the truth. The two jobs are almost entirely different. I will say that I hope my experience gives me a small leg up on the clinical aspects of medical school, but I'm sort of steeling myself, assuming that I'll be flying blind like everyone else.

 

[Lucky Day]

A lot of your questions will be small potatoes with a proper advisor. You can either get into some kind of pre-med program or potentially hire one if you can't get a consistent line of advice from someone here with actual advising/admissions experience (make sure you take advice on hard line items like these from someone reputable).

In your case, it's going to be really, really important to establish your motive to become a physician and prove that through the activities that you engage from here until application time. For non-traditional students, such as ourselves, this is absolutely required and it has been my door to everything positive. In other words, I hope you have a really great story or set of circumstances that drove you to change everything up and try to become a physician. Without that, you're gonna have a hard time with something that is already immensely hard.

Good luck!

 

[Goro]

Hi, like most people on here I have intentions to apply to med school. I will try to keep the background as brief as possible skipping the sob stories while still giving a complete academic background. I am currently 27 and will not be applying until I

Questions/Advice needed:

6. Any general advice?

Read this:
Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

 

[McScrubs]

Read this:
Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

Thanks Goro, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I read through and it seems I am already doing most of what it says. I have taken anatomy 1 and 2, microbiology, pharmacology, and pathophysiology with As at my current school.

I do have a question about your advice: "d) Thus, take 1-2 years of a DIY post-bac, or a 1 year SMP, preferably one given at a medical school. Do well in either of these programs. A 3.5+ should suffice for a DO school, while 3.7+ will be needed for an MD school". Once I am done with my RN I will still need 1 year of physics, biology, organic chemistry, and 1 semester of inorganic chemistry. Should I still look to do a SMP in addition to these if I have A's in all of these courses (maybe B's in organic) upon completion?

 

[Forever Geebs]

Thanks Goro, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I read through and it seems I am already doing most of what it says. I have taken anatomy 1 and 2, microbiology, pharmacology, and pathophysiology with As at my current school.

I do have a question about your advice: "d) Thus, take 1-2 years of a DIY post-bac, or a 1 year SMP, preferably one given at a medical school. Do well in either of these programs. A 3.5+ should suffice for a DO school, while 3.7+ will be needed for an MD school". Once I am done with my RN I will still need 1 year of physics, biology, organic chemistry, and 1 semester of inorganic chemistry. Should I still look to do a SMP in addition to these if I have A's in all of these courses (maybe B's in organic) upon completion?

What is your actual cGPA and sGPA factoring in what you've earned across all coursework and schools?

 

[Goro]

Thanks Goro, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I read through and it seems I am already doing most of what it says. I have taken anatomy 1 and 2, microbiology, pharmacology, and pathophysiology with As at my current school.

I do have a question about your advice: "d) Thus, take 1-2 years of a DIY post-bac, or a 1 year SMP, preferably one given at a medical school. Do well in either of these programs. A 3.5+ should suffice for a DO school, while 3.7+ will be needed for an MD school". Once I am done with my RN I will still need 1 year of physics, biology, organic chemistry, and 1 semester of inorganic chemistry. Should I still look to do a SMP in addition to these if I have A's in all of these courses (maybe B's in organic) upon completion?

I do not see a need for an SMP with your current post BAC work

 

[McScrubs]

What is your actual cGPA and sGPA factoring in what you've earned across all coursework and schools?

my cumulative is 2.87 science is 4.0

I have 6 F's killing my cGPA from when I left school without dropping before midterm.

 

[Forever Geebs]

my cumulative is 2.87 science is 4.0

I have 6 F's killing my cGPA from when I left school without dropping before midterm.

How many credit hours in total?


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[McScrubs]

How many credit hours in total?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure off the top of my head, but around 55

 

[deleted480308]

Not sure off the top of my head, but around 55

Then keep getting all As and you’ll be >3.3 when you are done