Making a Plan!

[BlueFlame]

Just trying to come up with a step-by-step plan to get me back on track for medical school, and I'd really appreciate any input anyone has!

Background: I was a teenage mom (I have two kids), graduated high school, went straight to college, and initially majored in Biology with the intent to go to med school. I did pretty well (3.6 overall and 3.8 science), but somewhere along the line I got scared at the huge undertaking, lost the support of my children's father, and changed my major to Psychology and gave up on medical school completely.
Long story short, that was a total mistake. I lost all my drive and focus, primarily because I went from working toward something to working toward nothing, and I ended up dropping out of college 26 credits shy of graduating with somewhere around a 2.7 gpa, although my science gpa was still where it was before.

So, now my kids are older, I'm older (and hopefully wiser), I'm rid of the negative influences that once plagued me, and I'm seizing the day. I went back to school and I'm finishing my prereqs (with A's, if it makes any difference) , but I also suppose I need to graduate or something, at some point. And here enters my dilemma:

I can either return to my old school and spend 2 semesters finishing my degree in Psych and then go back and get my 2nd degree in Biology, or I can forget about the Psych degree and just go back and work on my Bio degree, or I can finish my degree and go on to grad school. Would it make a difference in any way? Part of me thinks it would be good to close out that chapter in my academic history to make a clear *fresh start,* part of me thinks finishing something looks better than ditching it and moving on, and part of me thinks it doesn't make a lick of difference.

Anyway, any suggestions would be awesome! I just want my fresh start to be as beneficial as possible!

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[DrMidlife]

Texas actually has a fresh start program. You have to move there & set up residency, and then apply to the program, and they wipe out your college record from 10 years ago and older. Only recognized in TX.

You don't have to major in bio. As long as you get the prereqs done (1 year each of bio/chem/ochem/phys with labs) you can major in whatever you want. Harpsichord. Art history. Biochem. Psych. Agribiz.

If med school's your goal, you won't render yourself competitive by trying to "fix" your 2.7 with more undergrad. Wander over to the postbac forum & visit the low GPA threads to see what folks do to come back and get in.

Lastly, I met a 28 year old woman a few years ago who had a 14 year old kid & a crappy GPA. She did some hard work for a few years and got herself in (not URM). Use your story to set yourself apart.

Best of luck to you.

 

[DitchDoc73]

Just trying to come up with a step-by-step plan to get me back on track for medical school, and I'd really appreciate any input anyone has!

Background: I was a teenage mom (I have two kids), graduated high school, went straight to college, and initially majored in Biology with the intent to go to med school. I did pretty well (3.6 overall and 3.8 science), but somewhere along the line I got scared at the huge undertaking, lost the support of my children's father, and changed my major to Psychology and gave up on medical school completely.
Long story short, that was a total mistake. I lost all my drive and focus, primarily because I went from working toward something to working toward nothing, and I ended up dropping out of college 26 credits shy of graduating with somewhere around a 2.7 gpa, although my science gpa was still where it was before.

So, now my kids are older, I'm older (and hopefully wiser), I'm rid of the negative influences that once plagued me, and I'm seizing the day. I went back to school and I'm finishing my prereqs (with A's, if it makes any difference) , but I also suppose I need to graduate or something, at some point. And here enters my dilemma:

I can either return to my old school and spend 2 semesters finishing my degree in Psych and then go back and get my 2nd degree in Biology, or I can forget about the Psych degree and just go back and work on my Bio degree, or I can finish my degree and go on to grad school. Would it make a difference in any way? Part of me thinks it would be good to close out that chapter in my academic history to make a clear *fresh start,* part of me thinks finishing something looks better than ditching it and moving on, and part of me thinks it doesn't make a lick of difference.

Anyway, any suggestions would be awesome! I just want my fresh start to be as beneficial as possible!

I guess the real question is what would your GPAs be if you graduated with each degree. You do not want your cumGPA to be below 3.0 (trust me, been there, done that...it's a pain in the *****!) Next you need to make a decision of which schools you plan on applying to, MD, DO, or both. I personally recommend both, and applying broadly (but that's my opinion). Make sure to calculate your GPAs based on each applications rules (AACOMAS has grade forgiveness policies). If you are not happy with your GPAs, then I would stay around a little longer and bring your GPA up. Also, you may want to take a practice MCAT to see where you are standing on that. If you have a higher MCAT, it will not be as important to get you GPA higher.

So in summary...Assess your GPA (remember to consider your GPA trends recently, you want a sustained upward trend for several semesters at least), take a practice MCAT, and see where you stand. If you are happy with where you currently stand, then finish out your BS in Psych. If you think your GPA needs to increase some, then finish your BS in Bio. Most Adcoms only care that you completed your Bachelor's degree, and that you have your pre-reqs completed. They usually do not care what the degree is in. Just my 2 cents on the whole situation. I wish you the best of luck! You can do it!

 

[ARK013]

Also, make sure that you take your prereqs again! If you took them more than five years ago or something like that a lot of schools wont count them...I think that's what I remember reading at least

 

[BlueFlame]

Texas actually has a fresh start program. You have to move there & set up residency, and then apply to the program, and they wipe out your college record from 10 years ago and older. Only recognized in TX.

You don't have to major in bio. As long as you get the prereqs done (1 year each of bio/chem/ochem/phys with labs) you can major in whatever you want. Harpsichord. Art history. Biochem. Psych. Agribiz.

If med school's your goal, you won't render yourself competitive by trying to "fix" your 2.7 with more undergrad. Wander over to the postbac forum & visit the low GPA threads to see what folks do to come back and get in.

Lastly, I met a 28 year old woman a few years ago who had a 14 year old kid & a crappy GPA. She did some hard work for a few years and got herself in (not URM). Use your story to set yourself apart.

Best of luck to you.

I'm actually a Texan, but I'm not old enough to make use of the Fresh Start program, unfortunately (or fortunately?). I'm only 25, so they'd be erasing high school grades
The only reason I'm including a Biology degree in the mix is, yes, attempting to fix my sad, sad GPA. At LEAST high enough to not get screened out when I apply. Biology is my choice because I'm already half way there and it's something I love studying and I'm good at! But, it's true...I really don't want to waste my time trying to fix something that's really beyond repair when I could be strengthening myself in other ways.

I'll definitely go look at the Post Bac forum to get some more ideas! Thanks!

 

[BlueFlame]

I guess the real question is what would your GPAs be if you graduated with each degree. You do not want your cumGPA to be below 3.0 (trust me, been there, done that...it's a pain in the *****!) Next you need to make a decision of which schools you plan on applying to, MD, DO, or both. I personally recommend both, and applying broadly (but that's my opinion). Make sure to calculate your GPAs based on each applications rules (AACOMAS has grade forgiveness policies). If you are not happy with your GPAs, then I would stay around a little longer and bring your GPA up. Also, you may want to take a practice MCAT to see where you are standing on that. If you have a higher MCAT, it will not be as important to get you GPA higher.

So in summary...Assess your GPA (remember to consider your GPA trends recently, you want a sustained upward trend for several semesters at least), take a practice MCAT, and see where you stand. If you are happy with where you currently stand, then finish out your BS in Psych. If you think your GPA needs to increase some, then finish your BS in Bio. Most Adcoms only care that you completed your Bachelor's degree, and that you have your pre-reqs completed. They usually do not care what the degree is in. Just my 2 cents on the whole situation. I wish you the best of luck! You can do it!

Yeah, the undergrad cumulative GPA is my main concern at the moment. My practice MCAT was a 30, so I'm hoping if I study I can do well in reality! I'm a complet nerd who has a spreadsheet of my grades so I can adjust them, and it looks like I'm topped out at a 3.0 if I keep a 4.0 for the last 26 hours of my degree, but I hate counting on A's because you just bdver know. So, I'm considering just finishing it and seeing where I'm at at that point. I'm just not really into spending $$$ on something that won't lead Md to anything, you know?
Definitely planning on applying to DO and MD programs...I'd actually prefer DO, but I promised my husband I would go to the closest school that would take me, and Texas isn't exactly full of DO programs!

Anyway, I definitely have some thingd to think about! Y'all are fabulous!