Low GPA, strong upward trend, what should I do?

[MSMsong]

I'm graduating from undergrad this June as a biopsych major. My cGPA is 3.2, AMCAS sGPA 2.9 and AACOMAS sGPA 3.0. Not an ideal place to be, but I do demonstrate a strong upward trend in my GPA by year Fresh 2.2, Soph 2.6, Jun 3.2 and Sen 3.8. Also, my upper division major GPA is a 3.95, which is cool. Pretty much did nothing except party and be stupid my first two years. 3rd year I started getting it together and 4th year I got in heavy with a research lab in medical imaging and will be presenting some original research online in June.

In my idiocy 2nd year, I managed to fail the 2nd quarter of organic chemistry lecture twice and the chem department did not let me retake it. I'm going to be taking a full year of organic chemistry at UCLA Extension to make up for this and my totally not stellar o chem lab grades, starting this summer.

After that, what do you guys think I should do to increase my chances of getting into medical school? Here's what I thought would be the move for myself:

Year 1, UCLA Extension, take the full organic chemistry series, take the biochemistry series, then take some difficult elective courses like anatomy, genetics, virology, etc.

Year 2, record-enhancing formal post bacc, take some very specific post bacc level electives to show med schools that the me of now is not the me of then and that I can hang in difficult courses

Year 3, Apply to medical school? Have a masters program to go to as a back up? Maybe in clinical psychology or public health?

Above is what I've been thinking about for myself, but I am super curious to see what everyone has done in my situation to get into medical school and/or what you would do if you were me. It's given that during the three years I will be working, hopefully as an emergency department tech, EMT, or scribe. I'll also be teaching a very light amount of hot yoga and taekwondo. I will be shadowing doctors, both DO and MD as well as a chiropractor. I will find a non-clinical volunteering gig with the niche of people I would like to work with as a physician. Hopefully I will have time amidst all this to study for and annihilate the MCAT. I also might mess around with YouTube, Instagram and/or writing a book to create a brand for myself that's fun.

Nothing, except taking a year's worth of organic chemistry at UCLA is set in stone. I just want to hear everyone's opinion on what I should do. Should I even formal post bacc year 2? Should I SMP? Should I pick a masters in clinical psych or something else? Should I retake the pre-req courses that I got a C+ or lower in? Would love the input and feel free to PM me if you have any questions or want to chat.

Thanks!

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[DocJanItor]

I had a similar experience though with a lower GPA. The best thing that you have going for you is that your cGPA is over 3.0. This will keep you from being autoscreened at grad programs and future medical schools.

The UCLA extension sounds like a good start. A DIY post-bacc will give you a sense of how much your GPAs can be raised and if you have any problem areas that need work. If you can get your cGPA to a 3.4 then I don't think a formal post-bacc/SMP is needed. A master's degree in anything else is all but worthless for med school applications. A master's degree in the subjects you mentioned are not particularly helpful in the job market either unless you're interested in a very specific field. Generally, psych fields are looking for PhDs.

You should take your MCAT a few months after you finish redoing your prereqs. You will quickly start to forget a lot of different reactions and chemicals since you won't use it on a daily basis.

With a 3.4 cGPA and an MCAT >506 you'd be a good DO candidate. An MCAT > 510ish would make you a decent low tier MD candidate, but you'd probably have to aim even higher to compensate for the GPA.

 

[MSMsong]

I had a similar experience though with a lower GPA. The best thing that you have going for you is that your cGPA is over 3.0. This will keep you from being autoscreened at grad programs and future medical schools.

The UCLA extension sounds like a good start. A DIY post-bacc will give you a sense of how much your GPAs can be raised and if you have any problem areas that need work. If you can get your cGPA to a 3.4 then I don't think a formal post-bacc/SMP is needed. A master's degree in anything else is all but worthless for med school applications. A master's degree in the subjects you mentioned are not particularly helpful in the job market either unless you're interested in a very specific field. Generally, psych fields are looking for PhDs.

You should take your MCAT a few months after you finish redoing your prereqs. You will quickly start to forget a lot of different reactions and chemicals since you won't use it on a daily basis.

With a 3.4 cGPA and an MCAT >506 you'd be a good DO candidate. An MCAT > 510ish would make you a decent low tier MD candidate, but you'd probably have to aim even higher to compensate for the GPA.

Thanks for the insight DocJanItor, getting my cGPA to a 3.4 will be pretty tough considering the fact that my 3.2 is pretty firm from 4-years of undergrad and my GPA has not been budging in recent quarters of getting dang near straight A's. My sGPA for AMCAS and AACOMAS will definitely not be moving much from where they're at either, and they're low. So you think that I should NOT apply to a post bacc or SMP for my second year? I definitely think that I need SOMETHING to show med schools that I am ready and push for mid tier MD schools to become within reach. Should I just do well at the UCLA Extension for a couple years retaking my bad grades in pre-reqs and taking more advanced classes then study for my MCAT? Won't med schools be super sketched out at my low sGPA from undergrad? Again, thanks for the input DocJanItor. Been stressing a lot recently and it helps a ton talking it out!

 

[DocJanItor]

You'd have to have a lot of credits for it not to move with a DIY post-bacc. I had around 160 credits at a 2.5 and another 42 credits boosted me to a 2.8. If you finished your undergrad with 140 credits at a 3.2 and you took 40 credits at a 4.0 you'd end up with a 3.38. It would have an even greater effect on your sGPA since there are fewer classes there.

SMP is always something you can consider but they are risky and expensive. If you do well you can get accepted a number of schools that would've been out of reach. Unfortunately, if you do poorly it will lock you out of med school forever. Most decent SMPs cost $30k+ (and some much more) not including the cost of living. They should really be a last resort.

Don't stress out. This is a long term process and you're just at the beginning. You need to take one step at a time to make sure you do everything correctly and not place yourself in a position where it hinders your ultimate goal.

 

[MSMsong]

You'd have to have a lot of credits for it not to move with a DIY post-bacc. I had around 160 credits at a 2.5 and another 42 credits boosted me to a 2.8. If you finished your undergrad with 140 credits at a 3.2 and you took 40 credits at a 4.0 you'd end up with a 3.38. It would have an even greater effect on your sGPA since there are fewer classes there.

SMP is always something you can consider but they are risky and expensive. If you do well you can get accepted a number of schools that would've been out of reach. Unfortunately, if you do poorly it will lock you out of med school forever. Most decent SMPs cost $30k+ (and some much more) not including the cost of living. They should really be a last resort.

Don't stress out. This is a long term process and you're just at the beginning. You need to take one step at a time to make sure you do everything correctly and not place yourself in a position where it hinders your ultimate goal.

Hey DocJanItor, thanks again for the input. You’re absolutely right about the GPA and SMP. Frankly I’m not interested in an SMP and see it as a very last resort. I’ll take your advice and take it one step at a time, starting with succeeding at UCLA Extension. I’m excited to graduate and see what the future holds! Stay healthy and I send positivity your way, cheers!

 

[shouldigomd]

I was in your shoes way back when (but way worse off). I did the DIY post bacc while repeating many of the basic sciences I barely passed the first time. Like mentioned, what is more important regarding your cGPA (at this point) is meeting the screening which a 3.2 should do and the grades you got in the past 1-2 years. You have the right approach. The way you get into med school is by demonstrating you can handle the training. You do this by taking an aggressive course load of solid sciences (anatomy, biochem, organic chem, math, physics). That is essentially the same thing as those masters in biomedical science courses. It appears that you did well in your senior year (granted this is assuming it was not all easy courses). I think if you string together another 2 semesters with a solid MCAT you will be just fine. You will have a decent cGPA with a great upward trend and demonstration that you can succeed in med school. Make sure you have all the fluff for your application (volunteer, shadow, etc).

I am finishing residency and looking back I would say don't stress about the "name" of your med school. Even the lower tier programs offer access to every specialty if you invest the effort. Work hard... get into med school.... and you will be just fine.

 

[MSMsong]

I was in your shoes way back when (but way worse off). I did the DIY post bacc while repeating many of the basic sciences I barely passed the first time. Like mentioned, what is more important regarding your cGPA (at this point) is meeting the screening which a 3.2 should do and the grades you got in the past 1-2 years. You have the right approach. The way you get into med school is by demonstrating you can handle the training. You do this by taking an aggressive course load of solid sciences (anatomy, biochem, organic chem, math, physics). That is essentially the same thing as those masters in biomedical science courses. It appears that you did well in your senior year (granted this is assuming it was not all easy courses). I think if you string together another 2 semesters with a solid MCAT you will be just fine. You will have a decent cGPA with a great upward trend and demonstration that you can succeed in med school. Make sure you have all the fluff for your application (volunteer, shadow, etc).

I am finishing residency and looking back I would say don't stress about the "name" of your med school. Even the lower tier programs offer access to every specialty if you invest the effort. Work hard... get into med school.... and you will be just fine.

Hi shouldigomd, awesome to hear that you're finishing up your residency! My senior year might have arguably been one of my toughest years, packed with upper division neuroscience courses for my major and I am ecstatic about the results and changes I've made to my school-related habits. I'll be sure to do my best at the UCLA Extension program and excel in the tough elective courses. Thank you for the response, it is very reassuring to hear a success story and I wish you the best of luck in any future endeavor!

 

[Goro]

I'm graduating from undergrad this June as a biopsych major. My cGPA is 3.2, AMCAS sGPA 2.9 and AACOMAS sGPA 3.0. Not an ideal place to be, but I do demonstrate a strong upward trend in my GPA by year Fresh 2.2, Soph 2.6, Jun 3.2 and Sen 3.8. Also, my upper division major GPA is a 3.95, which is cool. Pretty much did nothing except party and be stupid my first two years. 3rd year I started getting it together; I got my EMT certification (have't done anything with it) and started teaching hot yoga. 4th year I got in heavy with a research lab in medical imaging and will be presenting some original research online in June.

In my idiocy 2nd year, I managed to fail the 2nd quarter of organic chemistry lecture twice and the chem department did not let me retake it. I'm going to be taking a full year of organic chemistry at UCLA Extension to make up for this and my totally not stellar o chem lab grades, starting this summer.

After that, what do you guys think I should do to increase my chances of getting into medical school? Here's what I thought would be the move for myself:

Year 1, UCLA Extension, take the full organic chemistry series, take the biochemistry series, then take some difficult elective courses like anatomy, genetics, virology, etc.

Year 2, record-enhancing formal post bacc, take some very specific post bacc level electives to show med schools that the me of now is not the me of then and that I can hang in difficult courses

Year 3, Apply to medical school? Have a masters program to go to as a back up? Maybe in clinical psychology or public health?

Above is what I've been thinking about for myself, but I am super curious to see what everyone has done in my situation to get into medical school and/or what you would do if you were me. It's given that during the three years I will be working, hopefully as an emergency department tech, EMT, or scribe. I'll also be teaching a very light amount of hot yoga and taekwondo. I will be shadowing doctors, both DO and MD as well as a chiropractor. I will find a non-clinical volunteering gig with the niche of people I would like to work with as a physician. Hopefully I will have time amidst all this to study for and annihilate the MCAT. I also might mess around with YouTube, Instagram and/or writing a book to create a brand for myself that's fun.

Nothing, except taking a year's worth of organic chemistry at UCLA is set in stone. I just want to hear everyone's opinion on what I should do. Should I even formal post bacc year 2? Should I SMP? Should I pick a masters in clinical psych or something else? Should I retake the pre-req courses that I got a C+ or lower in? Would love the input and feel free to PM me if you have any questions or want to chat.

Thanks!

Your major GPA is meaningless. What counts is your cGPA and sGPA during your reinvention course. The fact that you have a great SR year GPA is evidence that the you of now is not the you of then.

Read this:

• Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

 

[MSMsong]

Your major GPA is meaningless. What counts is your cGPA and sGPA during your reinvention course. The fact that you have a great SR year GPA is evidence that the you of now is not the you of then.

Read this:

• Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

Hey Goro, I included that stat just to provide more clarity of my situation and how I've succeeded in the difficult science courses. Thanks for sharing that post with me though, it was super helpful. I'll definitely be referencing the courses list when I start my DIY post bacc. Any tips on how I can increase my chances on securing a job as an emergency department tech or scribe with a low GPA? I would really like to use my EMT certification for one of the mentioned jobs, but I recognize that recruiters will be turned off at first glance by my GPA

 

[Goro]

Best to ask job questions in the preMD forum