low BCPM,decently low uGPA,high graduate GPA. Chances?

[theyounganddumb]

28 Y/O female with a masters degree and DPT degree (practicing acute care setting for 2 years). I was a horrible student my first 2 years in college (not going to make excuses) and had no clue what I wanted to pursue as a major/career. Unfortunately, I took a lot of science classes that I did poorly in during my first 2 years. Once I realized I wanted to pursue medicine as a career I quickly realized my GPA was more than likely to low and need to look elsewhere. I found PT as a career and worked my tail off to raised my GPA as best I could (including masters) to be accepted into a DPT program. Now 2 years out of school I'm back on the idea of pursuing my original career choice in medicine. I know my upward trend in grades is looked at favorably, however my BCPM and is so low I'm not sure it really matters.

Should I do post bacc work to raise my BCPM? Will that really matter sense I've taken 150+ hours of graduate work with a high GPA? Any advice is really appreciated!

BCPM- 2.7
uGPA- 3.35
Last 60 of undergraduate - 3.92
masters- 4.0
DPT-3.96

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[esob]

Upward trend looks good, but without an MCAT score it's hard to say what your chances are. One thing I've learned after 130+ hrs of undergrad is that upper level classes are often easier than the lower level ones in the sciences. I'm taking 3 upper level bio's this semester and I spend less time studying (and getting A's) in those 3 classes combined than I do for my sophomore level Ochem class. I would imagine that most adcoms know that a lot of the upper level science classes are easier as well. You can't get lucky with the MCAT though; if you knock it out of the park it shows you can handle the vast expanse of info needed to master the test.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

BCP under 3.0 will definitely close doors from auto-screens to people than will just think you're scientifically weak. It would be in your best interest to get it above that mark.

 

[theyounganddumb]

Upward trend looks good, but without an MCAT score it's hard to say what your chances are. One thing I've learned after 130+ hrs of undergrad is that upper level classes are often easier than the lower level ones in the sciences. I'm taking 3 upper level bio's this semester and I spend less time studying (and getting A's) in those 3 classes combined than I do for my sophomore level Ochem class. I would imagine that most adcoms know that a lot of the upper level science classes are easier as well. You can't get lucky with the MCAT though; if you knock it out of the park it shows you can handle the vast expanse of info needed to master the test.

I am currently studying/reteaching myself the sciences for the MCAT and plan on taking it in a few months. I would agree with what you said about the upper level courses for my masters but I would disagree for my DPT. My DPT degree was ~18 hours a semester focused on anatomy, applied anatomy, neuroscience, pathology, pharmacology, etc. When looking at my BCPM, even if I retook my classes with C's and made A's I still would be just shy of 3.0. Do you think raising it from a 2.7 to a 2.9 would make that much of difference?
Thank you for the replies they are much appreciated!

 

[Unico]

I am currently studying/reteaching myself the sciences for the MCAT and plan on taking it in a few months.

Invest in an individualized MCAT study program. You need the highest score you're capable of. If you are truly invested in medicine, a few thousand bucks on individual tutoring for this thing pales in comparison to the hundreds of thousands you'll spend in medical school. Studying alone after not having seen the material for a few years gave me a false sense of security and the fact was I didn't know how to study "for the test." Give yourself the gift of a great score, just my two cents

As for the science work, the reason it's so important is because medical school is almost 95% hard science. We had one "soft science" class the first year, and it was health policy . The other first year classes were: Anatomy (a whole lot harder than undergrad anatomy), physiology, histology, biochemistry, neuroscience, genetics, and immunology. The only other soft classes during med school were behavioral health, biostats and medical law, and those were in a combined class during our short semester.

That is why some students are auto-removed when they have low science GPAs, medical school is all hard science and students need to have a good tract record to show that they can keep up.

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[esob]

I am currently studying/reteaching myself the sciences for the MCAT and plan on taking it in a few months. I would agree with what you said about the upper level courses for my masters but I would disagree for my DPT. My DPT degree was ~18 hours a semester focused on anatomy, applied anatomy, neuroscience, pathology, pharmacology, etc. When looking at my BCPM, even if I retook my classes with C's and made A's I still would be just shy of 3.0. Do you think raising it from a 2.7 to a 2.9 would make that much of difference?
Thank you for the replies they are much appreciated!

The MCAT is still the great equalizer. There is some debate about whether high MCAT trumps high GPA or vice versa (and ofc it is best to have both) but at this stage of the game, the single best feather in your hat will be a rock star MCAT score. With a low GPA you are asking an adcom to take a chance on you and no single factor better demonstrates you are CURRENTLY ready to handle the rigors of medical school better than a high MCAT.

 

[gyngyn]

Master's and professional grades do not remediate a weak undergraduate performance at MD schools (with a couple of exceptions). DO schools see things differently.

 

[bears1992]

28 Y/O female with a masters degree and DPT degree (practicing acute care setting for 2 years). I was a horrible student my first 2 years in college (not going to make excuses) and had no clue what I wanted to pursue as a major/career. Unfortunately, I took a lot of science classes that I did poorly in during my first 2 years. Once I realized I wanted to pursue medicine as a career I quickly realized my GPA was more than likely to low and need to look elsewhere. I found PT as a career and worked my tail off to raised my GPA as best I could (including masters) to be accepted into a DPT program. Now 2 years out of school I'm back on the idea of pursuing my original career choice in medicine. I know my upward trend in grades is looked at favorably, however my BCPM and is so low I'm not sure it really matters.

Should I do post bacc work to raise my BCPM? Will that really matter sense I've taken 150+ hours of graduate work with a high GPA? Any advice is really appreciated!

BCPM- 2.7
uGPA- 3.35
Last 60 of undergraduate - 3.92
masters- 4.0
DPT-3.96

I think your best bet is DO. AACOMAS would let you use your DPT and graduate courses for your sGPA and cGPA which I imagine would easily bring your sGPA over a 3.0.

Its dumb how an MD adcom would view your app as inferior to an art major with a 3.5 (no offense to the art majors out there). You think that an adcom would look at your app and say "A near 4.0 in a DPT program gives me confidence in this applicants ability to succeed with med school curriculum" but instead it seems to go "a 4.0 from a DPT program tells me nothing about this applicants ability to succeed in our program. A 2.7 BCPM gpa from 200 credits ago? They would be terrible at profession level medical course!"