Low GPA, great extra curriculars, promising MCAT - SMP or Ugrad?

[Neurogeec]

Hi Everyone,

Currently enrolled in Orgo II at a difficult 4 year university. Scored 15 points above class avg on first exam and have generally high overall scores. I'm 24 and on my parent's health insurance until I turn 26. Then things are gonna get a lot more logistical.

2.97GPA - ( 2.63 sci gpa cumulative) - retook some classes for a 2.92 sci gpa.
GchemI - C+
GchemII- D+, B-
OChem - B
OChem II - TBD
BioI - C+
BioII- D+, B-
PhysicsI - A-
PhysicsII - A
Anatomy Phys I/II - A-,A
Statistics - D, C+

It hurts my feelings to openly report these grades and have my name attached to them. Always struggled with math, never took calculus or anything like that. Got tons of Ds at my first college when I was an under-prepared bio major for a year. I thought I could be an athlete, student, and social. I also thought that I could study for tests starting the night before the exam.

Took my first practice mcat to get a 503. I'm taking princeton review's 140 hour mcat prep course this winter. I think with enough hard work and practice that my MCAT will be stellar.

Extra curricular: DIII Student-Athlete, 18th in country at track and field event before getting seriously injured. Continued to train obsessively to no avail and only got worse over the years. For this reason my studies were not really the best. I would work so hard, then pass out after practice only to do homework for a few hours before having to go to bed. I transferred colleges and spent a lot of time commuting from parent's home (15 mins/way) as a student-athlete because I thought not getting a meal plan would help save my mom some money. While my grades were better, it wasn't by much, because again, I spent a ton of time on sports. Even better, at new school X, we had morning practice and 2 practices a day twice a week. This meant lots of eating and more exhaustion. I quit during my fifth and final year of college and got pretty much all As. That spring, I won a steroid free bodybuilding competition in men's physique. Looking to earn pro title before I matriculate to med school and am on to bigger and better things. 24 year member of american legion, come from a family that does a lot of community service.

Related work: I have well over >1000 hours of shadowing between neurology and neurosurgery. Was a Shepard for IRB paperwork involving numerous research projects. Handled live brain tissue and couriered it to a lab performing novel work on adhesion proteins and human tissue epilepsy models; I earned many certifications to attend surgeries and have the permissions that I did. Performed cadaver studies with my own personal bucket of brains. Did my thesis with a neurosurgeon. Currently first-authoring a textbook chapter for a psychiatry textbook. I worked on other innovative brain-computer interface related research projects but did not produce any publications. This is still not the full extent of work that I did at the respective locations. When in these environments, I adapted quickly and passionately to my surroundings and was very interested in learning, thus, I learned very quickly. Soon I was performing cranial nerve exams on patients and guessing treatments/diagnoses based on their reported symptoms and imaging. Currently I work, paid, in a psychiatric hospital, got nominated employee of the quarter within my first two months.

I know that my GPA is no indicator of my aptitude as a student, but rather a fluke resulting from my over commitment to sports and my undercommitment to medicine and my intellectual abilities. It was a very long uphill battle since I started down this career path. I failed a lot of really stupid classes too.. D public speaking, D religion... when I first tried majoring in biology and being a student athlete. I never had a strong history as a good student in highschool, so it wasn't something I had much practice at.

Would you advise an SMP, other related masters, or undergrad coursework? I got off the phone with an admissions officer at a very competitive MD program who advised that I go ahead and continue taking undergraduate coursework at a community college (money is a bit of an issue, ya know?) and get my cum / sci gpa above a 3.0 to allow myself within the range for acceptance. Are allopathic totally shot? My heart isn't really broken about not being able to go allo because as a natural bodybuilder and someone who is writing a textbook chapter on integrative cognitive medicine, I really resonate with the DO approach. I have no interest in going Caribbean however. I've met people who got through it but the statistics are too far against me and it is too much of a financial risk, plus i'm not interested in family med. The most successful person i know who went carrib (an interventional radiologist) transferred out from carrib and thanks the heavens above for aligning so perfectly for him. That is not a very well calculated risk for me to be taking.

I am really hoping to shoot out an application for this cycle.
I'm thinking of taking Microbiology, Pathophysiology, and maybe genetics at community (hopefully only 2 courses, 3 labs would be challenging to have As while maintaining a job and nice body )

During the application cycle I will take biochemistry, probably online, through NEU.edu PCOM sent an email saying that they'll accept regionally accredited online coursework. I learn by studying the book so this is fine.

Medicine is my dream, my passion, and I am willing to work for it. Thank you for reading this long wall of text and I warmly greet all constructive criticisms. If you are going to post negativity, please take it elsewhere as I would not write to you in such a manner.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ERinspired]

Are the gpas reported above with or without grade replacement? You may already be aware that AACOMAS allows that, but I can't tell if you are calculating based on all your credits or dropping the replaced ones from the calculation. I would retake C/D/F coursework and wait to apply until next cycle. Below 3.0 (some even below 3.25) you run the risk of being auto screened out without a secondary. I think DO is your best option. You will likely be unable to raise your gpas enough without grade replacement.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[sjcha]

It's great that you have found the things that have been holding you back over the years. Now that you are focused, you need to destroy your future classes (which I am sure you will do). It takes some courage to post what you are ashamed of, but major props to you.

To my knowledge, AMCAS doesn't do grade replacement and instead average the grades that you received for the class (e.g. F and A = C), but AACOMAS does. I could be wrong, but this is what I was told. Depending on how many credits you have, you may have a better shot at DO schools given your stats. I wouldn't give up on the MD dream though! 🙂 Keep in mind that I am no expert on this situation and haven't even applied yet to med schools, so I'm speaking strictly from observations.

Like the reply above, I would wait until next cycle to apply. You need to make the best app that you can put forth. Don't rush it.

OP, keep pushing! Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. It may take some time, but it's definitely possible.

 

[Neurogeec]

Are the gpas reported above with or without grade replacement? You may already be aware that AACOMAS allows that, but I can't tell if you are calculating based on all your credits or dropping the replaced ones from the calculation. I would retake C/D/F coursework and wait to apply until next cycle. Below 3.0 (some even below 3.25) you run the risk of being auto screened out without a secondary. I think DO is your best option. You will likely be unable to raise your gpas enough without grade replacement.

Hey,

The 2.97 /2.9sci are with replacement. All D science is replaced. An admin officer told me to not worry about Cs and just let them be, to take new coursework and push forward. I don't see much advantage, except for grade replacement, to re-taking bio1 or chem1 at this point in the game. I could probably get the replaced GPA to a 3.1/3.2 sci after taking 2 or 3 science classes next semester

 

[Alienman52]

Hi Everyone,

Currently enrolled in Orgo II at a difficult 4 year university. Scored 15 points above class avg on first exam and have generally high overall scores. I'm 24 and on my parent's health insurance until I turn 26. Then things are gonna get a lot more logistical.

2.97GPA - ( 2.63 sci gpa cumulative) - retook some classes for a 2.92 sci gpa.
GchemI - C+
GchemII- D+, B-
OChem - B
OChem II - TBD
BioI - C+
BioII- D+, B-
PhysicsI - A-
PhysicsII - A
Anatomy Phys I/II - A-,A
Statistics - D, C+

It hurts my feelings to openly report these grades and have my name attached to them. Always struggled with math, never took calculus or anything like that. Got tons of Ds at my first college when I was an under-prepared bio major for a year. I thought I could be an athlete, student, and social. I also thought that I could study for tests starting the night before the exam.

Took my first practice mcat to get a 503. I'm taking princeton review's 140 hour mcat prep course this winter. I think with enough hard work and practice that my MCAT will be stellar.

Extra curricular: DIII Student-Athlete, 18th in country at track and field event before getting seriously injured. Continued to train obsessively to no avail and only got worse over the years. For this reason my studies were not really the best. I would work so hard, then pass out after practice only to do homework for a few hours before having to go to bed. I transferred colleges and spent a lot of time commuting from parent's home (15 mins/way) as a student-athlete because I thought not getting a meal plan would help save my mom some money. While my grades were better, it wasn't by much, because again, I spent a ton of time on sports. Even better, at new school X, we had morning practice and 2 practices a day twice a week. This meant lots of eating and more exhaustion. I quit during my fifth and final year of college and got pretty much all As. That spring, I won a steroid free bodybuilding competition in men's physique. Looking to earn pro title before I matriculate to med school and am on to bigger and better things. 24 year member of american legion, come from a family that does a lot of community service.

Related work: I have well over >1000 hours of shadowing between neurology and neurosurgery. Was a Shepard for IRB paperwork involving numerous research projects. Handled live brain tissue and couriered it to a lab performing novel work on adhesion proteins and human tissue epilepsy models; I earned many certifications to attend surgeries and have the permissions that I did. Performed cadaver studies with my own personal bucket of brains. Did my thesis with a neurosurgeon. Currently first-authoring a textbook chapter for a psychiatry textbook. I worked on other innovative brain-computer interface related research projects but did not produce any publications. This is still not the full extent of work that I did at the respective locations. When in these environments, I adapted quickly and passionately to my surroundings and was very interested in learning, thus, I learned very quickly. Soon I was performing cranial nerve exams on patients and guessing treatments/diagnoses based on their reported symptoms and imaging. Currently I work, paid, in a psychiatric hospital, got nominated employee of the quarter within my first two months.

I know that my GPA is no indicator of my aptitude as a student, but rather a fluke resulting from my over commitment to sports and my undercommitment to medicine and my intellectual abilities. It was a very long uphill battle since I started down this career path. I failed a lot of really stupid classes too.. D public speaking, D religion... when I first tried majoring in biology and being a student athlete. I never had a strong history as a good student in highschool, so it wasn't something I had much practice at.

Would you advise an SMP, other related masters, or undergrad coursework? I got off the phone with an admissions officer at a very competitive MD program who advised that I go ahead and continue taking undergraduate coursework at a community college (money is a bit of an issue, ya know?) and get my cum / sci gpa above a 3.0 to allow myself within the range for acceptance. Are allopathic totally shot? My heart isn't really broken about not being able to go allo because as a natural bodybuilder and someone who is writing a textbook chapter on integrative cognitive medicine, I really resonate with the DO approach. I have no interest in going Caribbean however. I've met people who got through it but the statistics are too far against me and it is too much of a financial risk, plus i'm not interested in family med. The most successful person i know who went carrib (an interventional radiologist) transferred out from carrib and thanks the heavens above for aligning so perfectly for him. That is not a very well calculated risk for me to be taking.

I am really hoping to shoot out an application for this cycle.
I'm thinking of taking Microbiology, Pathophysiology, and maybe genetics at community (hopefully only 2 courses, 3 labs would be challenging to have As while maintaining a job and nice body )

During the application cycle I will take biochemistry, probably online, through NEU.edu PCOM sent an email saying that they'll accept regionally accredited online coursework. I learn by studying the book so this is fine.

Medicine is my dream, my passion, and I am willing to work for it. Thank you for reading this long wall of text and I warmly greet all constructive criticisms. If you are going to post negativity, please take it elsewhere as I would not write to you in such a manner.

Quickest route to becoming a physician will be to retake all D/C coursework to get gpas to at least 3.3 c and s. Get 505+ MCAT and apply June 1st next cycle (or whenever that may be as your app's strength is heavily contingent upon your ability to survive sub 3.0 and sometimes sub 3.25 screening at schools). IMO, SMP is very risky as you're basically out of luck and won't fare well at all in any cycle if you don't do well.

Edit:
I would not apply this cycle in your current standing and would apply when your app is at its strongest. It is already too late in the cycle for your stats to survive auto screen cutoffs. Best of luck to you OP. Retaking undergrad coursework and going DO is your fastest route to becoming a physician.
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Neurogeec]

Quickest route to becoming a physician will be to retake all D/C coursework to get gpas to at least 3.3 c and s. Get 505+ MCAT and apply June 1st next cycle (or whenever that may be as your app's strength is heavily contingent upon your ability to survive sub 3.0 and sometimes sub 3.25 screening at schools). IMO, SMP is very risky as you're basically out of luck and won't fare well at all in any cycle if you don't do well.

Edit:
I would not apply this cycle in your current standing and would apply when your app is at its strongest. It is already too late in the cycle for your stats to survive auto screen cutoffs. Best of luck to you OP. Retaking undergrad coursework and going DO is your fastest route to becoming a physician.
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Thanks Alienman,
I was planning on applying this spring, I'm glad to hear you agree. I'm meeting with more admissions officers to get a hand on what the general consensus is on these Cs. Would you suggest retaking classes that are now way below me ie: bio1/chem1 even though I currently have that information completely mastered (just no grade to show for it)?
on the spaces i posted 2 grades, the higher one is the replacement. Or are you saying retake religion and public speaking and replace those arguably-unnecessary Ds?

 

[Alienman52]

Thanks Alienman,
I was planning on applying this spring, I'm glad to hear you agree. I'm meeting with more admissions officers to get a hand on what the general consensus is on these Cs. Would you suggest retaking classes that are now way below me ie: bio1/chem1 even though I currently have that information completely mastered (just no grade to show for it)?
on the spaces i posted 2 grades, the higher one is the replacement. Or are you saying retake religion and public speaking and replace those arguably-unnecessary Ds?

Retake ANY D/C coursework, preferably starting with easiest science courses (sGPA matters more) balanced with non science courses. I repeat however that you should NOT apply this cycle (this spring) as you will not fare well with a very late app and low stats. Apply with a sgpa and cGPA of at least 3.25 (preferably 3.35+) and try your best to kill the MCAT next cycle or the one afterwards.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Shotapp]

I agree with the above posts. Replace all C/D/F grades. Fastest bang for your buck. I would also advice you to apply spring 2018. From my observation, you seem a little impatient and you want to apply asap (cycle 2017). Apply with the strongest app you can build. Replacing your low grades are within your control (picking easy/good profs via rate my prof and studying hard). Mcat is unpredictable. You could see an increasing trend in your practice test, but come test day you could bomb because of test nerves, lack of sleep, your exam is interrupted due to technical issues, brain farts, hard exam or no luck on test day etc. Mcat is not fully in your control. So heed the advice that is provided to you.

 

[femmegoblue]

This matters: What is your state of residence?

 

[Neurogeec]

This matters: What is your state of residence?

New Jersey

I agree with the above posts. Replace all C/D/F grades. Fastest bang for your buck. I would also advice you to apply spring 2018. . Apply with the strongest app you can build. Mcat is unpredictable. . Mcat is not fully in your control. So heed the advice that is provided to you.

I will work really hard on the MCAT, all my peers at school seem to have scored in the 80th percentile. I definitely can get in that range. I go to TCNJ and it seems that students who take their science courses here perform very well on MCAT, as we generally score well above national average in ACS exams. I will heed your advice while also remaining optimistic and keeping a strong internal locus of control.

So you are literally saying that I will get into better DO schools from going to community college and spending a year re-taking whatever ridiculous course I got a D or C in? Maybe I can use a calculator to figure out how to be most economical about this. My sci gpa will already be >3.00 after this semester of OrgoII because I'm currently murdering it.

 

[Shotapp]

I am confident that you will do very well on your Mcat. I am currently doing grade replacement for DO schools as well. I understand your dissatisfaction of having to redo classes you have already completed/seen before. However, going the retake route is honestly the fastest path to becoming a physician. Are your extracurricular activities on point for apps next cycle 2017? Do you read Berserker (your avatar gave it away)?

Edited: nvm your ECS are on point. Do you have your shadowing/clinical experience in?

 

[Neurogeec]

Are your extracurricular activities on point for apps next cycle 2017? Do you read Berserker (your avatar gave it away)?

Do you have your shadowing/clinical experience in?

Tons of shadowing / clinical experience. And I work at a hospital. Still need to shadow a DO though, some schools want that letter.

Yea, i love berserk. The storyline is terrible and its so hypermasculine and really doesn't pay women much equal respect but the artwork is phenomenal and nothing is really as nice as waiting a year for the next 24 page chapter. Apparently he is going to start publishing 1x/wk in January.

 

[ERinspired]

Hey,

The 2.97 /2.9sci are with replacement. All D science is replaced. An admin officer told me to not worry about Cs and just let them be, to take new coursework and push forward. I don't see much advantage, except for grade replacement, to re-taking bio1 or chem1 at this point in the game. I could probably get the replaced GPA to a 3.1/3.2 sci after taking 2 or 3 science classes next semester

Once you make a list of schools to apply to, be sure to look into their pre req requirements. Some state all pre few course work must be graded above a C. But otherwise, you'd be fine to leave it.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile