low science GPA, got rejected, need advice!

[spideygal711]

---

Members don't see this ad.

hello anyone,

This is my first time posting a thread like this so please bare with me. I just gradauted in Humanities, but I took most or almost all of the pre reqs for med school already. BUT, my science grades average out to 2.5 GPA. I live in SoCal and I tried applying for the post bac at SFSU but basically got rejected by Dr. Rothman who said, i have "issues that must be addressed". I tried another school and got rejected because I already had more than 15 units of science background. What should I do? Should I attempt a post bac or just retake those courses at a JC without the post bac certificate? What schools in CA do you think won't reject me based on my GPA? Do you think it's worth searching for a post bac? Or should I just do it on my own? Please anybody, I'm desperate. Help! Thanks sooo much.

Peace,
Spideygal711

 

[DrChimRichalds]

Do an informal post-bacc on your own. Take science course, and DO WELL in them. Bump that Sci GPA up to at least a 2.8, but preferably a 3.0. That will get you into a special masters program geared towards med school admission, or a formal post-bacc, or you might even try for Osteopathic schools. But you definitely want to bump that Science GPA to a 2.8-3.0 if not higher.

 

[relentless11]

hello anyone,

This is my first time posting a thread like this so please bare with me. I just gradauted in Humanities, but I took most or almost all of the pre reqs for med school already. BUT, my science grades average out to 2.5 GPA. I live in SoCal and I tried applying for the post bac at SFSU but basically got rejected by Dr. Rothman who said, i have "issues that must be addressed". I tried another school and got rejected because I already had more than 15 units of science background. What should I do? Should I attempt a post bac or just retake those courses at a JC without the post bac certificate? What schools in CA do you think won't reject me based on my GPA? Do you think it's worth searching for a post bac? Or should I just do it on my own? Please anybody, I'm desperate. Help! Thanks sooo much.

Peace,
Spideygal711

Clearly, you will have to do a unofficial post-bacc program (e.g., non-degree earning program) at some cal-state school. I wouldn't go with community college unless you have no other choice. Boosting your GPA is a must, whether it is to get into a post-bacc program or just med school in general.

Please note:

1) Retaking classes will not significantly boost your GPA in the eyes of MD schools. MD schools count ALL classes, including retakes. You are required to report all classes taken. Therefore retaking a class, and getting an A in it only improves your GPA by a small amount for obvious reasons, and it really only says you can do well when you take it the second time. On the other hand, DO schools take the best grade.

2) You are in California, quite possibly the worse place to be a pre-med, regardless of GPA. All UC med schools screen GPA (and MCAT). Their GPA cut-offs tend to be 3.0-3.2...with UCSF probably screening out those with <3.2. Therefore you have a lot of work ahead of you to even get a secondary application from a UC, however given the mean GPA at UC's is a 3.6-3.7 these days, you and I have our work cut out for us😀.

In all honesty, you will need to take Dr. Rothman's advice. A 2.5 GPA is quite low, even with 15 units of science work. Really, 15 units is 1 semester, or 1 quarter of rigorous work, so that does not say much. You have issues that need to be addressed. Ask yourself why you got a 2.5 GPA, and REALISTICALLY, how can you improve yourself.

Again, you will need to take classes, and they MUST be upper division undergraduate science classes per my discussion with our director of admissions at UC Davis School of Medicine. You will need at least 1 years worth of full-time coursework, acheiving a GPA of 3.5 or more. As DrChimRichalds stated, you should aim to get your GPA up to at least 3.0 if not more. At the very least, you'd need a 2.7-2.9 GPA to even be considered for most post-bacc programs (e.g., UC).

I had a 2.65 GPA as an undergrad, due to supporting myself and my family. No way was I going to use that as an excuse, so I spent 1.5 years doing post-bacc through UC Extension (very expensive😡), and now finishing a PhD at UC Davis. Since then, I have maintained a 3.8 in all undergrad coursework, and a 4.0 in all graduate/medical level courses. Today, my overall undergrad GPA is a 2.77-2.80. If current trends hold, I will hit 3.0 sometime by application time next June. Its possible, but you better know your issues were, and address them appropriately. Med schools expect you to do better after having reflected upon ones low GPA..like me😉

 

[spideygal711]

i just wanted to thank you both for responding back.

However, DrChimRichalds,what masters programs are there in particular that are geared for medschool admissions? And if I was to take the science classes, would i take the same pre-req ones or like what Relentless11 posted, that I should take the upper division science courses?

And Relentless11, do I only have a choice of taking the science courses thru extension? Wow, the competition's real bad in CA. I knew it, but I was in denial.

 

[relentless11]

i just wanted to thank you both for responding back.

However, DrChimRichalds,what masters programs are there in particular that are geared for medschool admissions? And if I was to take the science classes, would i take the same pre-req ones or like what Relentless11 posted, that I should take the upper division science courses?

And Relentless11, do I only have a choice of taking the science courses thru extension? Wow, the competition's real bad in CA. I knew it, but I was in denial.

Given your non-science background, you need to (1) take all pre-med pre-reqs. (2) boost your GPA by taking more science upper division classes that use those pre-med classes as pre-reqs (e.g., biochemistry, genetics, physiology, etc). There may be times when you take lower division classes so you can take an upper division class. That is OK. However try to stay away from lower division classes just to "boost GPA". The UC's are quite good at identifying that. Especially if you take them from a UC Extension.

In CA, there aren't any masters programs aimed towards medical school admission per se. Outside of CA, there are such things as "Special Masters Programs" where you take the equivilent of the first year of med school. Obviously doing well in that means you can do well in the first year of real med school. Therefore it works quite well, and you earn a masters degree. The downside for you is, these are HIGHLY competative to get into. The closest thing I have found to this program are the graduate programs through the UC med schools that are aimed for MD/PhD students...such as mine. This allowed us to take med school classes for grade. I have no idea what this has on admission to UCD for example. I just took them because I had to. Otherwise I was focusing on upper div science classes since our dir of admissions recommended that (for my case).

For the most part, UC and many other med schools in the nation have stated that graduate school GPA is weighted less than undergrad GPA. Thats straight from dean/director of admissions at several schools I talked to. Therefore in your case, graduate school may not help boost your GPA. Also most graduate programs require at least a 3.0 GPA. I was an exception since I already had 1.5 years of post-bacc prior to applying to our PhD program. So it seems your ultimate goal in rehab is to get to a 3.0, but to get there, or at least be in a better position to get there, is to get a good significant upward GPA trend in challenging classes. You may also consider retaking classes that you got an D or F in (if any).

 

[DrChimRichalds]

i just wanted to thank you both for responding back.

However, DrChimRichalds,what masters programs are there in particular that are geared for medschool admissions? And if I was to take the science classes, would i take the same pre-req ones or like what Relentless11 posted, that I should take the upper division science courses?

They are a number of hard science masters programs geared towards admission to medical school that can be completed in less than a year. Loyola has one, Tulane has one, Rosalind Franklin, etc.

Then there are one-year Masters programs which allow you to take some medical school classes alongside the medical students. You can do this to some extent at Georgetown, Boston University, University of Cincinnati, Eastern Virginia Med School, etc.

But all of the one-year Masters are geared towards admission to professional school, whether it be dental, allopathic, osteopathic, etc. You don't have to do most of the usual graduate-level crap like research (unless you want to do research) or gradute teaching in these programs, you just focus on classes.

 

[relentless11]

But all of the one-year Masters are geared towards admission to professional school, whether it be dental, allopathic, osteopathic, etc. You don't have to do most of the usual graduate-level crap like research (unless you want to do research) or gradute teaching in these programs, you just focus on classes.

For the most part, masters programs can be aimed towards professional school, e.g., the special masters programs (SMP), or the traditional masters programs. Traditional masters programs can be by thesis (e.g., research), or by exam (e.g., no research). Schools which have a medical school will often times have programs through their departments which parallel with the med school curriculim.

Masters programs tend to give you the option of doing research. Since spideygal711 is from CA, and she should be familiar with University of California, then I am certain that the UC's follow this trend since many of my classmates who are on the masters-track are either masters by thesis or masters by exam. UC Davis calls it masters plan I and II, however I forget which is which. However the keypoint is these programs, both SMPs, and graduate schools usually require a pretty good GPA (3.0 or more). Grad schools will probably need a good GRE or MCAT score too, and if you want to do research, research experience is a must as well.

 

[riceman04]

hello anyone,

This is my first time posting a thread like this so please bare with me. I just gradauted in Humanities, but I took most or almost all of the pre reqs for med school already. BUT, my science grades average out to 2.5 GPA. I live in SoCal and I tried applying for the post bac at SFSU but basically got rejected by Dr. Rothman who said, i have "issues that must be addressed". I tried another school and got rejected because I already had more than 15 units of science background. What should I do? Should I attempt a post bac or just retake those courses at a JC without the post bac certificate? What schools in CA do you think won't reject me based on my GPA? Do you think it's worth searching for a post bac? Or should I just do it on my own? Please anybody, I'm desperate. Help! Thanks sooo much.

Peace,
Spideygal711

Dont take courses at a JC after having taken courses at a 4yr