looking for some advice....

[ucdgogie]

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hey there all,
so i am in a situation where i have done really bad in my undergrad years and im done fooling around i want to get on with my life and finally get into a medical school. now i know i have a somewhat longer road ahead of me because of my mistakes so i was wondering what you all think of my plan right now and if theres anything else you would recommend.

so first some background...went to UC davis and graduated with a degree in biology. overall gpa is a 2.42 and science is about the same. took the mcat 3 years ago and received a 22.

my plan:
i am going to go to a local 4 year and enroll in open university and retake some classes. looking at doing 3 quarters and retaking most of my pre reqs that i got Cs in. so mainly g chem and ochem. then a few other upper division classes like microbio, neuro and genetics. so when i did the math...if i get A's in everything i take ( i will make this happen) i am looking to bring my overall gpa to a 2.85. i will also be retaking the MCATS and not take it until i can pull atleast 28s on practice tests. sometime in april/may.

so my question pretty much is....will retaking a year of classes and doing well be enough to give me a chance at admission to a med school, osteopathic included. i appreciate any feedback.
Thanks!

 

[flip26]

You will probably need to do more GPA rehab than you think...a sub 3.0 is deadly...research SMP programs, especially ones with linkage to a med school...even for them, you will need a 3.0 plus...your hole is very deep.

But to answer your original question: is a 2.8X good enough? - never say never, but it really is not good enough with the rarest of exceptions.

 

[Isoprop]

With a 2.8 GPA and a 28 MCAT, you have about a 20.7% chance of getting into medical school.

Let me rephrase that: 20.7% of people with a GPA and MCAT score similar to yours got accepted.

 

[deleted248403]

That number is also skewed up due to being in-state and things. If you look at LSU's Med School (Shreeveport I believe) has really low stats and is only open to in-state students. So that kicks the number higher than it should be

 

[ucdgogie]

thanks for the responses guys. i know its a slim chance but im sure im gonna try anyway. should i also then apply to SMP and formal post bacs after?

 

[DrMidlife]

thanks for the responses guys. i know its a slim chance but im sure im gonna try anyway. should i also then apply to SMP and formal post bacs after?

A formal postbac is for students who did great in undergrad but didn't take any prereqs yet. You won't be in the running for a formal postbac unless you're URM.

Your todo list:
1. Get your undergrad GPAs up over 3.0. Consider doing a second bachelors, since you need to spend multiple years in school and will need financial aid and registration priority etc.
2. Get well over 30 on the MCAT. 35+ for comfort for MD schools, 30+ for comfort for DO schools. Only take the MCAT once.
3. Make sure you believe in your own story, and that you tell it really well.
4. Apply to good SMPs. "Good" means they're hosted at a med school (MD or DO), they put you in the same classes as med students and grade you against the same curve, and they publish their stats in getting folks into med school.

You can't make mistakes from here out, so make sure you really want it.

Best of luck to you.

 

[rgerwin]

almost same stats as you. 2.97 and MCAT 28. I did have research experience. Add in DO, b/c your application will be more of who you are than some numbers.