And I haven't gone through great lengths? I retook the MCAT and spent $40,000 on two years of graduate school. The classes I took the first year of graduate school are way more applicable than any general chemistry or Biology I class which was purely ecology based.
Well, I hope I can offer you a little more advice based on the fact that I am in the same program you are in only at the UMDNJ campus. What I have been told is that if you do well in the masters program (3.5 or better) then you have a really great shot of getting into med school (at UMDNJ-SOM, this advice is speaking in terms of this particular school but you can see how it applies to other schools as well). Essentially your masters gpa will overshadow your ugrad gpa but you have to finish the program before that rule applies. Note that his only applies to hard science masters (which I know you are in but I am speaking to those that got their MPH or something or another that will try to tell you otherwise....hard science masters are looked at completely differently by adcoms).
Next, you still can't forget the ugrad gpa, many people in the program that I am in are hovering right around the 3.0 point and of course people have different circumstances as to why they did not do so hot in ugrad, but if you have a better reason than 'immaturity' then you would be sitting a little better. For me, I was a division I-A athlete, full scholarship and all, basically we were told from the get-go that academics took a back seat to athletics. I barely slept at all in ugrad, averaged about 4 hours a night only to wake up at 5am to train for 2 hours, go to class, come back in the afternoon to train for another 2+ hours and then go eat dinner, go to lab and start studying at 10pm. The rest of my classmates were either crawling into bed at that time or were still sleeping in their nice and toasty warm beds while I was awake and training the next morining (probably both). Also, I don't regret it at all, not even for a minute, I competed at the elite level and I wouldn't trade anything for that. So what I'm trying to say is that if you have another reason for doing so poorly, any other reason, I would focus on that rather than immaturity, and of course how that has helped guide you to the more 'mature' person you are today.
Basically, you still need to improve that ugrad gpa. You don't have to re-take if you don't want to but it will definitely raise your gpa a lot faster than taking another ugrad upper division science course. Honestly, how hard would it be to take freakin' gen bio over again after all the mol bio and biochem you've had? I mean....would you seriously even show up to the class outside of exams? There is a diminishing return on this in that the more retakes you have the worse it looks on your transcript, so I would try to balance it out just right. IMO having more than 3-4 retakes is like having a bad acne outbreak on prom night, you might look great in your dress/tux but your face is f&*#ing ugly and no one will notice anything but.
On a side note, I am surprised that PCOM accepted you with such a low undergrad gpa because you are going to have to fix it w/ or w/o the masters. I know how you feel. I graduated with a 2.8 and did a year of postbac to bring my overall gpa to a 2.94 (I am oh so close to that sweet, sweet 3.0) so don't take this the wrong way. It's just that they should have told you that even with the program that gaining an acceptance to even a DO school would still be a pretty big uphill struggle.
The good news is that you raised your MCAT to a competitive level so you don't have to worry about that anymore. If I were you, since you have already begun the application process, I would call the schools for which you have not submitted secondaries for and see what they think. I am willing to be that once you have your master's degree they will view you as a more favorable applicant.
So, to summarize IMO you should do the following
-Call schools for which you have not submitted secondaries
-Finish your masters with a bang (try to get as many A's as humanly possible)
-Re-take classes that you got C's or worse in to raise your gpa faster, or, just take upper division ugrad classes to raise your ugrad gpa to 3.0 (or as close as possible before next cycle).
-Find another reason for your poor ugrad academic record....everyone is immature at that age so it really is not a reason but rather an excuse
-Move some mountains on your PCOM interview or turn water to wine (impress them A LOT)
And lastly, make sure you have lots and lots of
because everyone knows this process is a crapshoot
🙂
PlAnEjaNe
