Making up for a past low GPA

[Playmakur42]

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good luck

 

[FLMD2B]

1.go for a post-bac and rectify your undergrad grades.
2. go for a masters.

I don't know what your major is, but if it is non-science, I would encourage you to go to a post-bac program.

If it is not, well, you can still do a post-bac program: however, it may be seen quite odd for you to repeat the pre-med courses. I suggest you look into a masters program in anatomy at medical schools which may allow you to get into their door if you do well in their program and on the MCAT.

I know USC, RFUHS, Georgetown have these master's programs. I believe also UICCOM has one also but it is not as well-known.

The master's program allows you to take courses with the med students and compete with them. If you can do well or better than they do, you might have a chance of getting into that med school.

You should remain optimistic. Also you will need to rock the MCAT. You need the complete package. I don't know about your EC's either but you should do some in this area.

I do know of others below a 3.00 GPA who have gotten into medical school. However, their MCAT score compensated for their less-than-stellar GPA.

There are many routes to get into med school. Just focus on your goal and get your work done. Do what you need to get into med school. Again, if I can do it against all odds, you can do it too.

Best wishes!
psychedoc2b

Great advice. I went through a medical hardship along with deaths in the immediate family during undergrad, which resulted in my earning a GPA of 3.2 and BCOP of 2.2. I knew there was no way in hell that any med school would take me regardless of my MCAT so I went to graduate school and just received my MPH with a 3.8 GPA. I also did poster presentations at APHA (2005 and will present again this year) and an oral presentation at the STEPS Conference. I had a Community Health Scholars Internship and am currently on fellowship at the CDC. I am aiming for a 36 on the MCAT to increase my chances of getting into a good MD school. If not, I'll do a post-bac, volunteer some more, and try again. Wish me luck!

 

[AlberttheGator]

Good Luck FLMD2B..... anyways what about labs.... are labs important to take over?

 

[FLMD2B]

Good Luck FLMD2B..... anyways what about labs.... are labs important to take over?

I think most labs are worth 1 credit (at least they are at UF, except for Organic 2 and Physics 2) so I wouldn't retake them unless I made an F. Are you a fellow Gator?

 

[AlberttheGator]

I think most labs are worth 1 credit (at least they are at UF, except for Organic 2 and Physics 2) so I wouldn't retake them unless I made an F. Are you a fellow Gator?

Yeah I went to UF from 1999-2004... I knew they were only one credit so I wasnt sure if it was worth it to retake.

Currently I am in Philadelphia... just finished the IMS program... and I am moving back to tampa on saturday... after I finish up my research this week.... I did fairly well in the IMS program... got a higher GPA than I did in undergrad.... but now I am going to retake bio and gen chem at USF..... I also want to take spanish this year so I can become fluent... How bout you.... Also cant wait for football season... 😎

 

[FLMD2B]

Yeah I went to UF from 1999-2004... I knew they were only one credit so I wasnt sure if it was worth it to retake.

Currently I am in Philadelphia... just finished the IMS program... and I am moving back to tampa on saturday... after I finish up my research this week.... I did fairly well in the IMS program... got a higher GPA than I did in undergrad.... but now I am going to retake bio and gen chem at USF..... I also want to take spanish this year so I can become fluent... How bout you.... Also cant wait for football season... 😎

I went to UF from 1999-2003 (BS) and 2004-2006 (MPH). I am in Atlanta at the CDC right now hoping to take biochemistry in the fall. I'm kinda debating on whether I should take it now or do a post-bac program. We'll see how well I do on the MCAT. I am desperately awaiting Gator football. I'm going to miss going to the home games 🙁 The best game I've ever attended had to be last season's UF vs. FSU game.

 

[AlberttheGator]

I went to UF from 1999-2003 (BS) and 2004-2006 (MPH). I am in Atlanta at the CDC right now hoping to take biochemistry in the fall. I'm kinda debating on whether I should take it now or do a post-bac program. We'll see how well I do on the MCAT. I am desperately awaiting Gator football. I'm going to miss going to the home games 🙁 The best game I've ever attended had to be last season's UF vs. FSU game.

Sweet we are the same year.... I havent been to a home game since the last FSU/UF game where we lost 38-34 with that end of the game hail mary by chris rix.... I am gonna do a year of post bac to try to raise my gpa... other than that I will be volunteering at a mexican migrant worker medical clinic. I terribly miss florida.

 

[FLMD2B]

Sweet we are the same year.... I havent been to a home game since the last FSU/UF game where we lost 38-34 with that end of the game hail mary by chris rix.... I am gonna do a year of post bac to try to raise my gpa... other than that I will be volunteering at a mexican migrant worker medical clinic. I terribly miss florida.

Oh good luck with the migrant clinic - Central Florida has a HUGE migrant population, especially in the Ocala area. You will definitely improve your Spanish that way! 👍

 

[RxnMan]

Great advice. I went through a medical hardship along with deaths in the immediate family during undergrad, which resulted in my earning a GPA of 3.2 and BCOP of 2.2. I knew there was no way in hell that any med school would take me regardless of my MCAT so I went to graduate school and just received my MPH with a 3.8 GPA. I also did poster presentations at APHA (2005 and will present again this year) and an oral presentation at the STEPS Conference. I had a Community Health Scholars Internship and am currently on fellowship at the CDC. I am aiming for a 36 on the MCAT to increase my chances of getting into a good MD school. If not, I'll do a post-bac, volunteer some more, and try again. Wish me luck!

Yeah, that's about what you'll need (see the link to my MDApps file below).

 

[AlberttheGator]

Oh good luck with the migrant clinic - Central Florida has a HUGE migrant population, especially in the Ocala area. You will definitely improve your Spanish that way! 👍

BTW when are you applying??

 

[DrFeelgoodMD]

I just read all the amazing stories and I want to say thank you to alll of you for letting me and the other SDNers get a little glimpse into your lives. All of us who are struggling to fulfill our dreams in this process should take the hard work and determination you have described to us and use it as inspiration.

Thanks again and good luck to everyone,

J

 

[BuckIApothecary]

I just want to echo the last post from UVMTrifecta. Thank you for telling your stories! I have found that a couple of the stories are similar to my situation for I too have a low GPA and low BCPM. I will be 30 in a couple of weeks and was feeling very down on my chances on becoming a medical professional in relation to my age, but your stories have given me inspiration to go out there and do my very best. At the very least I can say that I did go out there and try! Thank you for the inspiration! I feel like I can really pull my grades up and be positive about the outcome--positive or negative!


Veni. Vidi. Vici.

 

[stacys200]

Hi,
My situation is a little different than those that have been mentioned, so I thought I would ask about it.
Due to medical problems, I had to leave school during my *freshman* year of my undergrad... and the grades I got that year were AWFUL. Lots of withdrawls and just nothing good in general. On top of being sick, I was 16 or 17 (graduated high school early) and just had no idea about work ethic or maturity.
Anyway, I would like to get back into things & work towards going to either medical school or dental school (oral surgery)... I know I need to decide which.. but what would be my best move now? Just start over? It has been 6-7 years since I've been in school (I'm now 24).

I don't know if a regular state school would take me because of my bad grades... so do I start at a CC and go from there? Money isn't an issue, I mean, I'll go broke if I have to... (and I'm sure I probably will, lol)

A few posts up someone mentioned that med schools don't like community colleges or online classes...

I do have some unique life experience, as I have been battling a chronic health condition since I left school... I started a non-profit dedicated to it and really know the patient population well... I think I could also get some pretty impressive LOR. I'm guessing this might help me, but I'm not sure.

Any thoughts?
Thanks!
stacy

 

[n0chi]

hey guys,
im a rising senior in undergrad this year and i am applying to DO schools this cycle. the problem is, my current gpa is a 2.66, but im retaking 5 science classes next sem. (old grades were all D's, personal reasons). im pretty sure i can get at least B-C's in these and get my gpa above 3.0 by the end of next sem.

anyhoo, i was wondering about 2 things:

1. i have already sent in my primary aacomas, and got a few secondaries. should i hold my secondaries till jan, when i can send the secondaries along with an updated transcript with a better gpa? but then it will be pretty late in the year.... so whats the best option?

2. lets say, i get rejected all around this year (and the main reason would be the gpa so...) is it better to just continue being an undergrad at the same institution for another year and redoing more classes, or should i graduate with a 3.0 ish gpa, and find some other place to do an actual "post bac"?

thanks.

 

[Skaterbabe74]

Hi,
My situation is a little different than those that have been mentioned, so I thought I would ask about it.
Due to medical problems, I had to leave school during my *freshman* year of my undergrad... and the grades I got that year were AWFUL. Lots of withdrawls and just nothing good in general. On top of being sick, I was 16 or 17 (graduated high school early) and just had no idea about work ethic or maturity.
Anyway, I would like to get back into things & work towards going to either medical school or dental school (oral surgery)... I know I need to decide which.. but what would be my best move now? Just start over? It has been 6-7 years since I've been in school (I'm now 24).

I don't know if a regular state school would take me because of my bad grades... so do I start at a CC and go from there? Money isn't an issue, I mean, I'll go broke if I have to... (and I'm sure I probably will, lol)

A few posts up someone mentioned that med schools don't like community colleges or online classes...

I do have some unique life experience, as I have been battling a chronic health condition since I left school... I started a non-profit dedicated to it and really know the patient population well... I think I could also get some pretty impressive LOR. I'm guessing this might help me, but I'm not sure.

Any thoughts?
Thanks!
stacy

Hi Stacy - I had a similar issue way back when as well. I bombed out of my first university. This is what I did - I'm still a few years away from applying to med school so I don't know how it will turn out, but having been in a similar situation it's really the only option. I did most of my core classes at a CC, then transferred to the university. I was a biology associates major, but the only prereq I took at the CC was bio I and II - everything else I saved for the university. Get a good gpa to replace the old gpa and then apply to universities. I actually applied to both the university and the CC at the same time, but I wasn't accepted at the university at that time. When we hear that med schools look down on CC credits they are typically talking about the prereqs - the bio, chem, organic chem, and physics. Everything else - history, psychology, anthropology, english, philosophy, poli sci, lower maths (below calc), etc are perfectly ok to take at a CC. You can even do one of the prereqs (or two) at a CC so long as you're going to "prove" yourself by taking upper-division classes within the same department. I'm a biology/chemistry major with a minor in physics so that will be more than covered when I apply.

Good luck!

 

[stacys200]

Thanks, Skaterbabe. That seems like the best option money wise, too... Since I haven't been in school for a while I was planning on starting out fall semester with some easy courses (Spanish 201, even though I'm fairly fluent), Abnormal Psych (already took Pysch 101 and got an A), some Philosophy course (got an A in the 101 version) etc, just to get back into the swing of things. Really, the reason my GPA is so low is because of incompletes.... the courses I actually took semi-seriously, I did well in.
Thanks for the encouragement!!

stacy

 

[FlippinChink]

Wow, it's reassuring to know that there are people out there in similar situations. Though my situation isn't as extreme as many of the situations expressed here, do you think that a pharmacy school would accept me?

Back in 2004, I had enormous pressure from my mom to finish school. I know it may not seem like an extenuating circumstance, but under that pressure and worries about her financial situation, I felt completely overwhelmed that year trying to cram and do as many classes as i could do. But sure enough I got D's in all my classes the spring semester, a B and a D in the summer semester, and D's and mostly F's in the fall semester. If I was smart enough, I should have withdrew that semester, but I didn't. I felt completely defeated that year from my mom nagging me to finish school early so she wouldn't be so stressed financially. After that nasty year of grades, I decided it was the turning point for me to make a decision, whether or not I wanted to push further for pharmacy school. I decided to pursue pharmacy despite my 2.43 gpa at that point, and if I did horrible in my classes again that next semester, I would give up on pharmacy completely. Since the spring 2005 semester, my gpa is 3.21 over the past 46 semester hours and has been improving overall to a 2.66. I've been involved in a few extracurriculars but not many, because I didn't have to the time to be involved with many of them because of school. And helping out at church alot more in 2005 didn't make any room for the extracurriculars at school.
I took the PCAT in Oct. 2004 for the first time, and received a composite score of 72. But recently, most pharmacy schools seem to want scores that are less than 2 years old. So I retook the PCAT again this past June, and received a composite score of 85. I'll be finishing my with my Bachelor's degree in Biology in May of 2007, as I'm hoping to be accepted into pharmacy school in the Fall of 2007.

So do you guys have any suggestions for me? Someone said that I should aim for a 95 or higher on my PCAT. Even if I do well the next two semesters, the highest gpa I could receive is a 2.8 gpa. And then on if I'm really trying to get into pharmacy school I could try to take classes for another year at a community college to raise my gpa to a 3.0. But is it really worth it? Will I have a chance to get in, if I get a raise my gpa to a 3.0 and keep my 85? or raise both my gpa to a 3.0 and get a 95 or higher on my PCAT? Do you guys think I have any chance?

 

[Skaterbabe74]

You would probably get better answers from the pharmacy forum. I know I don't know anything about the stats needed for pharm. But I did want to say that I'm pulling for you. My situation is actually worse than I posted above. It's true that I did bomb out of my first school. I realize now that it was due mostly to being unprepared to live on my own and having undiagnosed depression (my first episode then). After I moved back home I couldn't get myself to do well in my academic courses - I also took a lot of dance classes/theater classes that I did fine in. At the time I was vacilating between theater/dance and premed (and stupid stuff like hotel/motel management). I did that at a community college over the next 4 years or so. Signing up for academic courses and just not going to them or doing any of the work and never dropping them.

Then I decided to make a major life change - retook up figure skating, moved to Colorado, trained until my money ran out, took a few classes but 8 months after moving out here my money ran out and I had to quit skating and drop out of school to work full-time. I did that for 4 years. About 3 years into working full-time the academic itch came back and I re-enrolled at the local CC, did well, and transferred to the university the following fall. The adjustment was harsh. I was still working 32+ hours on the weekends my first semester, and I did ok in my classes, but nothing stellar. I got laid off from work, started doing decent in classes except for a couple blatant problem areas. It took me 3 times to get thru calc I (2 D's and finally an A-), 2 tries to get thru Orgo I (C-, then C+), and then I hit another major depression. I should have withdrawn from the semester but I didn't and ended up with the C+ in Orgo I, an incomplete in biostats, a C- in genetics, and the rest F's. Then I made the mistake of trying to make up time once I was diagnosed and on medication by taking Biochem I and Orgo II over the summer. Biochem I did fine in - B. Orgo II lab I did fine in - B-. Orgo II lecture I bombed - D. By fall I was doing better. Had my life under control, but Orgo is my nemesis - this time I got a C- (but at least I wasn't on a downward gpa trend anymore). I finally got through Orgo II the following fall with a C and my grades have kept improving. My best semester yet was this summer - a 3.3 with 16 credits in 10 weeks, and I've turned out to be pretty good at physics so I've added a physics minor. Assuming things go as planned I should be up to a 2.7 by summer and still have a couple years of undergrad left.

Obviously I have a lot of ground to make up. I honestly don't know if I'll ever end up applying to med school - if I do it'll almost definitely be DO, but I also don't really want to leave Colorado. First I'll end up doing at least a masters in biophysics. After that we'll see. I'm not old yet, 31, and still dream of some day being a doctor, but I'm getting to the point that I just want to move on. Do something a bit quicker, a bit more sure, and I feel I could enjoy academia/industry in biophysics almost as much as medicine. Plus one of my reasons for wanting medicine in the first place was to help people. A lot of biophysicists work on immunology and cancer so I would still be helping people (especially if I do it through academia because then I'll be teaching people too and helping people find their paths).

Suffice it to say I wish you luck. I think you will probably be in better shape for pharm then you would be for med with your planned stats. And if pharm is absolutely the only thing you can see yourself doing definitely do whatever it takes to do it. Even if it means taking a couple more years of classes before applying (or even a second degree's worth of classes). If it's what you really really want you will make it eventually.

 

[Law2Doc]

the problem is, my current gpa is a 2.66, but im retaking 5 science classes next sem. (old grades were all D's, personal reasons). im pretty sure i can get at least B-C's in these and get my gpa above 3.0 by the end of next sem.

You really want to perhaps take fewer classes at a time, or do some major overhaul in your study methodology and schedule, and try to get these grades closer to the A range, rather than try to replace D's with B-C range. Replacing a D with a C won't really instill great confidence in an adcom, and you might be digging yourself a bigger hole.

 

[duhsue]

In addition to the previous discussions, I am seeking some advice as well. I am going into my senior year of nursing school (BSN), and have returned to my original interest in continuing on in medicine. I feel I have matured greatly in realizing my goal to continue on, but unfortunately, immaturity and a lack of foresight my freshman year of college caused me to get C+ in gen chem (with B+) in labs. I am excelling in my nursing related sciences: patho., pharm., etc., and have brought my GPA back up to about a 3.3. In my post-bacc studies, should I retake gen chem or begin with orgo?

 

[jiepper]

I graduated recently with 2.97 GPA and BCPM at around 2.4. My major was just general science degree. My grades were terrible. I got everything from A to F. I was majoring in microbiology but I didn't study in advance for the exams and I work 30-40 hours per week with 2 jobs since I'm independent. I found myself tired all the time but I had to work because I also send money to my family. Luckily I'm currently working full-time as an Associate in Research for dept. of crop and soil sciences where I was working as their hourly employee during my UG years. The appointment for this job is for a year. Do you think it's too soon for me to think about re-taking UG classes? Since I graduated with a degree in science, should I take post-bacc or master? I'm not sure of what to do. Please reply if you have any advice or suggestions.

 

[relentless11]

I graduated recently with 2.97 GPA and BCPM at around 2.4. My major was just general science degree. My grades were terrible. I got everything from A to F. I was majoring in microbiology but I didn't study in advance for the exams and I work 30-40 hours per week with 2 jobs since I'm independent. I found myself tired all the time but I had to work because I also send money to my family. Luckily I'm currently working full-time as an Associate in Research for dept. of crop and soil sciences where I was working as their hourly employee during my UG years. The appointment for this job is for a year. Do you think it's too soon for me to think about re-taking UG classes? Since I graduated with a degree in science, should I take post-bacc or master? I'm not sure of what to do. Please reply if you have any advice or suggestions.

Your situation is not that different from the various other posts in this thread and forums. Suggest doing a quick search for more details. Pretty much I would go with post-bacc in your situation. I would only suggest retaking courses where you actually received a D or F, unless you want to apply to DO programs as well.

More importantly, you may want to address why you received such grades. A GPA of <2.5 for courses required for your major can result in dismissal from some schools. Since the MCAT, and the first two years of med school involves science classes, I suggest finding out why you received such grades. Although there are people out there who had to deal with issues that prevented them from doing well in school, retaking a class can only go so far in terms of MD schools. As noted many times, all grades are considered. Additionally, you are expected to do well the second time, and thus an A the second time through is not all that impressive.

Our advisors here have told us to take more upper division undergrad classes (e.g., more advanced classes). However I am hesitant to suggest that to you since the more advanced classes may require knowledge of fundamental concepts which you may not have grasp due to your performance in science courses. Ultimately it is your call. The take home message is, its fine and dandy to have a plan, but more importantly you want to know that you can successfully execute that plan. Good luck!