LOW GPA- What do I need to do?

[Sushi is good]

Hello to you all,

I was referred to this site by a colleague.

I am a non-trad, currently working in the healthcare field and taking a masters. I have the financial stability to pursue my goal of becoming a physician and I would like to start that marathon now.

uGPA- 2.8, 120 credits. Have not taken many science courses besides Microbio (67%) and Anatomy, if that counts?(78%). I received an overall GPA of 3.3 in my final year and 2.85 in third year (upward trend nonetheless).

My masters has just begun, I have another year and a half left... Do schools look at gGPA? Can this benefit me at all? I will be working to maintain a solid average throughout this degree regardless.

What should I do now? I am living in Canada for the time being, my spouse is going to school here and I managed to find work but I am planning on applying to US schools exclusively. I have some pretty decent ECs and if I med school be it DO or MD is still a viable option I will look at making time to chase some more passions that are noteworthy on an application. My GPA does not meet any cutoff as far as i'm concerned and I don't know how I would bring it up to a level that would allow me to showcase my non-trad strengths. Any help/suggestions are appreciated.

Thank you.

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[etp123]

MD schools separate undergraduate from graduate credits, but I believe DO schools will average it all together. Many schools have a 3.0 GPA screen so if you have the financial capabilities you should take more undergrad-level classes to boost your GPAs and show a strong upward trend (3.7+). You'll ideally want your cumulative and science GPAs to be above 3.0 and I'm not sure what kind of masters program you are in, but some med schools don't consider them very heavily in admissions because it's assumed most grad programs are a bit grade-inflated... If you're in a rigorous SMP-type thing, that's a different story and they will weight those heavily.

I'm not sure how it works in Canada but in the US a lot of universities have ways to take classes as a non-matriculated student, a la carte (commonly referred to as DIY postbac). Much cheaper, and you can tailor your own classes, but drawbacks are you usually get last pick of classes from the normal undergraduates so seats can fill up... There are formal postbac programs but those are pricey (I've seen a lot around $50k) so you should consider that carefully.

Additionally, you should read through Goro's guide to reinvention: Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

Regardless, you do have a path forward and it's going to be difficult but not impossible. MD schools will be really tough, but DO schools can be slightly more forgiving. Good luck!!

 

[Sushi is good]

So taking courses a la carte until I hit a 3.0 from 2.8 is my best option? Hoping they see upward trend? I will also try to score high on MCAT obviously

Appreciate your time

 

[etp123]

So taking courses a la carte until I hit a 3.0 from 2.8 is my best option? Hoping they see upward trend? I will also try to score high on MCAT obviously

Appreciate your time

It may not be as simple as just hitting 3.0, you'll want to ideally show excellent academic performance over a sustained period of time (1+ years at least) because just as people can have bad random bad semesters, you wanna show your recent good performance isn't a fluke and you're committed to surviving the rigor of med school. I would think you should do a year of postbac classes (prereqs if you still need them + some upper divs), make sure you get all A's/A-'s, take as close to a "full" courseload as you can (i.e. not just 1 class/semester).

Other than grades and MCAT, make sure you've got adequate hrs in the "typical" ECs (shadowing, volunteering, yadda yadda...) some schools may vary on how importantly they weigh certain ECs such as research. Get your letters of rec in early! They were a serious unexpected headache for me lol, profs are so awful at responding sometimes . When you're ready to apply, apply early and broadly!!

 

[Goro]

Hello to you all,

I was referred to this site by a colleague.

I am a non-trad, currently working in the healthcare field and taking a masters. I have the financial stability to pursue my goal of becoming a physician and I would like to start that marathon now.

uGPA- 2.8, 120 credits. Have not taken many science courses besides Microbio (67%) and Anatomy, if that counts?(78%). I received an overall GPA of 3.3 in my final year and 2.85 in third year (upward trend nonetheless).

My masters has just begun, I have another year and a half left... Do schools look at gGPA? Can this benefit me at all? I will be working to maintain a solid average throughout this degree regardless.

What should I do now? I am living in Canada for the time being, my spouse is going to school here and I managed to find work but I am planning on applying to US schools exclusively. I have some pretty decent ECs and if I med school be it DO or MD is still a viable option I will look at making time to chase some more passions that are noteworthy on an application. My GPA does not meet any cutoff as far as i'm concerned and I don't know how I would bring it up to a level that would allow me to showcase my non-trad strengths. Any help/suggestions are appreciated.

Thank you.

Read this:

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

 

[Sushi is good]

Read this:

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

Hey, thanks for this resource- it was encouraging and insightful. Out of curiosity I have been looking into random schools and checking their admission reqs... I have noticed some seem to appreciate the non-trad applicant and don't have a set GPA for admission standards, instead they really stress the "holistic" approach. Should I make note of the schools that do this and put them high on my list for potential options? Bringing a 2.8 to a 3.0 may take a lot of time but I am confident in my ability to succeed now, especially if I give myself a 2-3 year window to add classes to the equation and show an upward trend.

 

[Goro]

Hey, thanks for this resource- it was encouraging and insightful. Out of curiosity I have been looking into random schools and checking their admission reqs... I have noticed some seem to appreciate the non-trad applicant and don't have a set GPA for admission standards, instead they really stress the "holistic" approach. Should I make note of the schools that do this and put them high on my list for potential options? Bringing a 2.8 to a 3.0 may take a lot of time but I am confident in my ability to succeed now, especially if I give myself a 2-3 year window to add classes to the equation and show an upward trend.

Holistic is a magic totem for some pre-meds that to them means "we have no standards"

All med schools have standards, even LUCOM.

As I have mentioned there are lots of MD (and all DO) schools that reward reinvention.

 

[Sushi is good]

Holistic is a magic totem for some pre-meds that to them means "we have no standards"

All med schools have standards, even LUCOM.

As I have mentioned there are lots of MD (and all DO) schools that reward reinvention.

Understood. Well I know what needs to be done. Thanks @Goro and @etp123