Med School Potential?

[maroula]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi all,

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong forum, I'm new. Just tell me and I will gladly move the post. I'm really eager to apply to medical school but unsure of my potential to get in. I have a Bachelors degree in Counseling Psychology and Human Development (my overall GPA was 2.98) . I have an Associate degree in Nursing (3.8 gpa). I have done volunteer work at a nursing home, served on student boards, and have been employed at a psychiatric hospital for about 3 years now, working with kids on the autism spectrum. I also did really well with my MCAT. I'm nervous because my Bachelors GPA isn't that good, but I got mostly A's and some B's in ALL of the med school pre reqs (I completed these pre reqs in the associate nursing program). I don't know if my other qualifications are good enough to outweigh my low undergrad gpa. Thoughts?

Thank you for reading! Any suggestions are welcome!

 

[Donald Juan]

This thread belongs in the pre-allo forum.

For clarification, is 2.98 your total GPA? (i.e., your psych plus your nursing)
What did you make on your mcat?
No offense, but are you sure you did all the med school prereqs? I don't know anywhere that they would be covered by a nursing curriculum; not a bachelor's and especially not an associates.

 

[samac]

Mods want to move to WAMC?

If 2.98 is your cumulative GPA then you have an uphill battle.
I really doubt you took 2 semesters of gen chem with lab, 2 semesters of organic with lab, biochemistry (becoming required at more and more places), calculus, 2 semesters of English, and 2 semesters of bio with lab with your nursing associates degree.

 

[el_duderino]

You need to figure out your total, overall GPA counting every college you've ever taken.

Also, define "really well" for the MCAT.

 

[Moko]

To improve your cumulative GPA, look into SMPs to make it more competitive. It'll still be an uphill battle though, especially if you've taken a significant number of credits already.

 

[Winged Scapula]

1) yes you posted it in the wrong forum; I'll move it for you

2) to the seasoned posters, please do not post "Mods please move this". Use the Report function at the bottom of each post; that way we'll see it and take action. We don't patrol the forums so posts in thread an easily get missed.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Quit wasting your vacation!

Ha ha...just waiting for my bro to get out of the shower so we can walk into town to poke around. I promise I won't waste it!

 

[Mad Jack]

Hi all,

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong forum, I'm new. Just tell me and I will gladly move the post. I'm really eager to apply to medical school but unsure of my potential to get in. I have a Bachelors degree in Counseling Psychology and Human Development (my overall GPA was 2.98) . I have an Associate degree in Nursing (3.8 gpa). I have done volunteer work at a nursing home, served on student boards, and have been employed at a psychiatric hospital for about 3 years now, working with kids on the autism spectrum. I also did really well with my MCAT. I'm nervous because my Bachelors GPA isn't that good, but I got mostly A's and some B's in ALL of the med school pre reqs (I completed these pre reqs in the associate nursing program). I don't know if my other qualifications are good enough to outweigh my low undergrad gpa. Thoughts?

Thank you for reading! Any suggestions are welcome!

Most schools have an automatic screen set up that will ensure that your app never sees the light of day. Look at Goro's "Schools that Reward Reinvention" thread for ones that look at the last X number of credits, but even there, your chances are slim. Either do a post-bacc to have the slightest chance at MD (even then, it's a long shot, but possible if you do exceptionally well- still unlikely though, as you likely have so many credits it would be hard to make a dent) or use grade replacement to give yourself a shot at DO school.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Grade replacement + A year worth of upper level of science courses: do well in this and you can become a fair DO candidate pretty fast with a solid MCAT score as well(60th+ percentile).

An MD is much more of an uphill battle and probably less realistic. That would either require 3-4 of aced upper level science courses and a 510+(really 514+ is ideal) MCAT score and even then there are hardly any guarantees you anything. Merely it just might have a chance.

An SMP gives you a better and faster chance for MD but a) you gotta get into one b) I think your GPA would cause problems at some SMPs c) Your MCAT still needs to be in the MD range to get into one of those d) those things are brutally competitive. SDN seems to ignore the hoards of people who don't do well in these programs and completely screw themselves. Many 3.0 students aren't just suddenly capable of turning on some switch to beat out the majority of first year MD students in their classes.

Things to keep in mind. You will need some form of post-bacc work. But if you do well in it and can get a little above the national average on the MCAT you can certainly be a viable DO candidate, you aren't really THAT far off for that.