Make the move for Academic Fresh Start or try where I'm at

[SirTangy]

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I'll list my stats first so people don't got to go very far.

AMCAS cGPA: 2.44
AMCAS sGPA: 2.49
AACOMAS cGPA: 2.44 (3.03 if a school keeps grade replacement)
AACOMAS sGPA: 2.56 (3.12 if a school keeps grade replacement)
MCAT: 09/15 511 (128/126/127/130) 11/14 - 22 (6/10/6)

So here's my story. I went to school for three years out of high school and floundered due to multiple issues (lack of maturity, lack of support group, family issues). After spending a year back home and realizing I had no chance of going back to school if I stayed there I joined the military. I tried doing something that was relevant in the military to what I had gone to school for, and what I wanted to go back to school for at the time (engineering), after getting disqualified due to being color blind I ended up becoming a medic in the military.

Went through basic and my job training and although I wasn't passionate about medicine I was getting paid to do a job so figured I would do the best I could do at my job. After a few months at my duty station I got paired to work with a PA that had just returned from Afghanistan. She say the importance of having competent medics when in country, whether they're out on patrol or at a hospital, and made it her job to train us. After working with her for about a year and a half I came to enjoy my job and enjoyed the patient interactions. I started thinking that a career in medicine could be for me.

Once I figured I wanted to do something in medicine I switched gears from taking engineering prereqs part time, to figuring out what I needed to go to PA school. I worked towards my degree in psychology (which I finished most the requirements while I was in) and started taking the prereqs for it. After a year of good grades I thought maybe I didn't have to limit myself to PA, I could try for med school. I started taking those prereqs and a continued to take them for a year after I got out.

I've completed my prereqs and am married to a RN who I started dating while in the service. Yet I'm at a cross road and not sure what to do. I want to be a physician cause that's what I've been working for last couple years, but am also torn by the time commitment. Due to my wife being a nurse we constantly have 3-4 days off together and do trips and just spend time with each other. If I go PA or NP I could work similar schedule as her and we'd always have time with each other and or kids when we have them. But reading on this forum I'm thinking moving to Texas would erase my bad grades and boost my GPA (cGPA: 3.30 and sGPA: 3.39) to competitiveness for Texas schools. Or I just stay where I'm at and go to the local private university and grind out one or two years of good grades.

TL;DR
Options simplified: 1. Stay where I'm at and raise GPA modest amount one year (40 units) would raise me to (cGPA: 2.65, and sGPA: 2.85).
2. Go NP/PA for so would have more time in my mid-thirty's to spend with my wife and future kids
3. Move to Texas, do Academic Fresh Start, go to school for one year (30 units) and raise GPA to cGPA: 3.41 and sGPA: 3.56

Thanks for any open and honest input in advance.

 

[akuko2]

Why MD/DO as apposed to going to PA or nursing school? Just curious because medical training is a long and hard road and unless you have a solid reason why you wouldn't want to live with out being a doctor I find it hard to justify increasing your training by almost a decade along with the added debt burden and responsibilities. This is coming from a medical student who is married to a nurse.

 

[SirTangy]

Debt burden shouldn't be an issue as I have GI Bill and am applying for VocRehab which, if accepted for, would pay for my tuition. The main reason is I don't want to feel like I hit a ceiling professionally. There is a thread about a PA thinking of going back for MD cause they feel like they hit the peak of their career and have no where else to go. I don't want to feel that 4-5 years after practicing as a PA or NP. I think MD, even DO, would open up more possibilities. And wouldn't increase training by a decade, more like 4-6 years depending on specialty.

 

[shouldigomd]

I don't think you can really erase anything. You should look at each semester and each opportunity as a fresh start. That is something I wish I was able to do earlier. Whether you go to texas and start elsewhere or string together 1-2 years of good grades ... it will be noted that you have made a change. The raw GPA is important but when you have various issues, trends become just as if not more important. I had an unfixable GPA but strung together 1.5 years of solid work to show I was changed and ready.

MD v PA v NP v etc. You can be happily married in any of these but depends on what you want in life. If you want to spend a ton of time with family than it wouldn't make sense to be a surgeon. You could become a hospitalist and work 1 week on 1 week off.... You could be a family practitioner who works like an absolute animal as well. Having a partner this early in your decision making process puts pressure on you to establish your family goals and what you want. If you choose to be a NP and spend all this time with your partner but become unhappy because you feel unfulfilled .... thats another thing.

 

[SirTangy]

I don't think you can really erase anything. You should look at each semester and each opportunity as a fresh start. That is something I wish I was able to do earlier. Whether you go to texas and start elsewhere or string together 1-2 years of good grades ... it will be noted that you have made a change. The raw GPA is important but when you have various issues, trends become just as if not more important. I had an unfixable GPA but strung together 1.5 years of solid work to show I was changed and ready.

MD v PA v NP v etc. You can be happily married in any of these but depends on what you want in life. If you want to spend a ton of time with family than it wouldn't make sense to be a surgeon. You could become a hospitalist and work 1 week on 1 week off.... You could be a family practitioner who works like an absolute animal as well. Having a partner this early in your decision making process puts pressure on you to establish your family goals and what you want. If you choose to be a NP and spend all this time with your partner but become unhappy because you feel unfulfilled .... thats another thing.

My issue was that I was not prepared for college the first time around. Since then my GPA has been around a 3.4. My fear is that my application will get auto filtered out even before I get to secondary due to my previous 1.1 GPA bring it down. What was your GPA when you started repairing it and what was it when you sent your app in?

 

[AnotherLawyer]

I'll list my stats first so people don't got to go very far.

AMCAS cGPA: 2.44
AMCAS sGPA: 2.49
AACOMAS cGPA: 2.44 (3.03 if a school keeps grade replacement)
AACOMAS sGPA: 2.56 (3.12 if a school keeps grade replacement)
MCAT: 09/15 511 (128/126/127/130) 11/14 - 22 (6/10/6)

So here's my story. I went to school for three years out of high school and floundered due to multiple issues (lack of maturity, lack of support group, family issues). After spending a year back home and realizing I had no chance of going back to school if I stayed there I joined the military. I tried doing something that was relevant in the military to what I had gone to school for, and what I wanted to go back to school for at the time (engineering), after getting disqualified due to being color blind I ended up becoming a medic in the military.

Went through basic and my job training and although I wasn't passionate about medicine I was getting paid to do a job so figured I would do the best I could do at my job. After a few months at my duty station I got paired to work with a PA that had just returned from Afghanistan. She say the importance of having competent medics when in country, whether they're out on patrol or at a hospital, and made it her job to train us. After working with her for about a year and a half I came to enjoy my job and enjoyed the patient interactions. I started thinking that a career in medicine could be for me.

Once I figured I wanted to do something in medicine I switched gears from taking engineering prereqs part time, to figuring out what I needed to go to PA school. I worked towards my degree in psychology (which I finished most the requirements while I was in) and started taking the prereqs for it. After a year of good grades I thought maybe I didn't have to limit myself to PA, I could try for med school. I started taking those prereqs and a continued to take them for a year after I got out.

I've completed my prereqs and am married to a RN who I started dating while in the service. Yet I'm at a cross road and not sure what to do. I want to be a physician cause that's what I've been working for last couple years, but am also torn by the time commitment. Due to my wife being a nurse we constantly have 3-4 days off together and do trips and just spend time with each other. If I go PA or NP I could work similar schedule as her and we'd always have time with each other and or kids when we have them. But reading on this forum I'm thinking moving to Texas would erase my bad grades and boost my GPA (cGPA: 3.30 and sGPA: 3.39) to competitiveness for Texas schools. Or I just stay where I'm at and go to the local private university and grind out one or two years of good grades.

TL;DR
Options simplified: 1. Stay where I'm at and raise GPA modest amount one year (40 units) would raise me to (cGPA: 2.65, and sGPA: 2.85).
2. Go NP/PA for so would have more time in my mid-thirty's to spend with my wife and future kids
3. Move to Texas, do Academic Fresh Start, go to school for one year (30 units) and raise GPA to cGPA: 3.41 and sGPA: 3.56

Thanks for any open and honest input in advance.

You have a solid MCAT but your GPA is just too low. I think you can cross option 1 off the list. Deciding between 2 & 3 comes down to what you want and what you can live with. If you'll be satisfied as a NP/PA, you can obviously have a financially successful life especially with your wife working as an RN. But if you will never be able to get over the desire to go MD/DO, then you know what to do: Move to TX! The downside is you'll need to retake the MCAT.

 

[WGSgrad]

No matter which choice you make, I would begin mining the following threads if you already haven't:

The Low Gpa--What Do I Do Thread
DrMidlife's reapplication dissertation
A Compilation of Essential SDN Wisdom
LOW GPA/MCAT Success Stories (Posts by Nontrads Already Accepted to Med School)

ETA: I say this as someone who also started the premed journey with a sub 3.0 GPA and who sent PMs to DrMidLife and other folks asking the same questions your asking. Just trying to figure out how to do it.

Best of luck to you!

 

[WGSgrad]

Duplicate post

 

[shouldigomd]

My issue was that I was not prepared for college the first time around. Since then my GPA has been around a 3.4. My fear is that my application will get auto filtered out even before I get to secondary due to my previous 1.1 GPA bring it down. What was your GPA when you started repairing it and what was it when you sent your app in?

Everyone gets secondaries... even those who are well below any supposed auto filter. They cost $$ and you better believe they will have you pay them. What I am saying is that your GPA doesn't matter as much as your trend but either way it is semantics. Admissions aren't stupid and they see the work you do. Think about it logically. Who does a med school want? They want someone who will succeed. They will take someone with a 3.2 GPA with a rocky start who smoked 2 years of hard sciences over a 3.4 GPA filled with easy classes strung out at CC over the course of 5 years.

 

[blissfulmarmot]

Im actually living in Texas now...Would there be an option for me to take advantage of this? The first classes I took were in 2008, so technically my coursework is 10 years old. Or are they saying there HAS to be an unimpeded ten year gap between when you last took your classes and the day you want to sign up for classes to qualify for the "Fresh start" program?

In that case i'd have to wait until 2026

 

[esob]

Fresh start in Texas works like this for TMDSAS:

1. You apply to a public institution and once accepted you formally declare to the admissions office that you wish to exercise your option to enroll under the academic fresh start program.
2. The date you start classes is now a marker in time, from which any grades that are > 10 years old from that date will not be included in your TMDSAS GPA.
3. When you fill out TMDSAS app, you select AFS and submit either your official transcripts which should denote the date you opted for AFS or, alternatively, submit a certified letter mailed from the university registrar denoting that you enrolled under AFS, specifying the date for which you did.
4. TMDSAS then removes any grades from you app that were > 10 years old from the date indicated that AFS was invoked.
5. Schools receive the application, know that you used AFS but have no idea if you got all B's or all F's.
6. While I'm not entirely sure at this point, I'm fairly certain they can see which institutions you attended and may or may not be able to see the courses you took but they will for sure not see what grade you received.