Mistakes

[premed disaster]

So I'm not really sure if this is the place for this, I'm sorry in advance if it's not! I was one of the kids in high school that never had to study to get As and thought it would be the same thing in college. My first semester went great, but then I had to work 40 hour weeks and thought I could juggle that plus a full school loan. Needless to say that didn't work out and I was dismissed. I petitioned for immediate reinstatement and it was granted, and had to shadow someone for a paper and decided to shadow a doctor and that's when I decided I eventually wanted to go to medical school. I know I'm in for a rough road, and know that my semester of Fs will really hurt me. If I get an A in every class until graduation I will only have a 3.2 cumulative. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what I could do to become a stronger applicant? Would I need to go to grad school or what? On my MCAT I scored a 36 and am currently a junior so I don't have much time to make a lot of improvements. Any help would be appreciated!

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[Mavs88]

You made a 36 on an official MCAT? My best advice to you is to retake those classes you made F's on and apply to DO schools since they do grade replacement.

 

[deleted480308]

You made a 36 on an official MCAT? My best advice to you is to retake those classes you made F's on and apply to DO schools since they do grade replacement.

+1, this is the answer

 

[premed disaster]

+1, this is the answer

Yes I did! And thank you guys so much, I really appreciate the advice!

 

[NeuroNYC]

Yes I did! And thank you guys so much, I really appreciate the advice!

Or do an SMP / postbacc and apply MD.

 

[occams_razor]

So I'm not really sure if this is the place for this, I'm sorry in advance if it's not! I was one of the kids in high school that never had to study to get As and thought it would be the same thing in college. My first semester went great, but then I had to work 40 hour weeks and thought I could juggle that plus a full school loan. Needless to say that didn't work out and I was dismissed. I petitioned for immediate reinstatement and it was granted, and had to shadow someone for a paper and decided to shadow a doctor and that's when I decided I eventually wanted to go to medical school. I know I'm in for a rough road, and know that my semester of Fs will really hurt me. If I get an A in every class until graduation I will only have a 3.2 cumulative. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what I could do to become a stronger applicant? Would I need to go to grad school or what? On my MCAT I scored a 36 and am currently a junior so I don't have much time to make a lot of improvements. Any help would be appreciated!

Try to get that GPA up to a 3.3 which is the 10th percentile for a good number of MD schools (buy MSAR to find out which ones). Apply early and broadly to both MD and DO. Congrats on the 36! And good luck!

 

[Mavs88]

My answer changes a bit with the 36 on the MCAT Very well done on that! SMP will cost you a lot more than just retaking that first semester's batch of classes at your UG, but really even a 3.3-3.4 with that MCAT, significant upward trend, stellar EC, and applying broadly gives you good MD chances as well.

 

[Jennyfishy]

that's a great MCAT score though, OP! Everyone else already made the suggestions I would (look into post-bac or SMP, or apply to some of your top schools + within your ranges and DOs).

Schools that do more holistic views of your app may forgive the earlier bad grades with retake + a strong upward trend. Good luck

 

[Goro]

This will be the easiest course of action. If OP is committed for MD, then a post-back or SMP is in order

You made a 36 on an official MCAT? My best advice to you is to retake those classes you made F's on and apply to DO schools since they do grade replacement.