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[Necr0sis713]

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Alright, well it's about that time...I'm finishing up my semester here in a month, and have one more before I can apply for medical school. My background, however, is quite a concern to me.

I'm 25 now, and already have a bachelors in psych. However, I decided a year ago that I wanted to get into medical school since it would mean just taking science classes since I took a lot of prereqs and psych courses. The thing is, I was a horrible college student up until most recently. When I first got into college, I was totally naive, hung out with the wrong crowd (can't blame them though, I know), and was totally neglectful of my school work. I wanted to be a musician, and tried to become a musician. I got wrapped up in song writing, playing at open mics, recording in the studio, mastering my instrument and vocal skills. That, combined with my immature attitude led me to fail alot of classes, get a bunch of D's and C's and what not. In short, I graduated with a 2.45 GPa.

The thing is: My last semester as a psych major I got straight A's (upper level psych classes, a writing in psych course, even a human evolution class and philosophy class). And am getting straight A's in all of my sciences: A in gen chem 1 and 2, A and B in the 100 level bios, B in physics 1 lecture and lab, A in physics II lecture and lab. This semester, i'm getting a solid A in orgo, and should expect straight A's if I really try hard these next 4 weeks, or just A's and B's in: Orgo (A for sure) Cell bio, anatomy and physiology lecture and lab, cell bio lab and orgo lab.

Let's say next semester (my last) I get A's in orgo 2 and anatomy and phys 2. Meaning, my last 60 credit hours of pretty much all the science prereqs and a few electives were all A's and like a couple B's, and I get a 500+ on the MCAT, would my past prevent me from getting into MD school? Should I apply for an SMP at the same time?

I would really like some feedback from you folks because as you know getting into medical school is a very significant and personal thing for premeds, and given the situation, is quite a concern to me.

 

[Whats up Doc!]

It all depends on your gpa, its great to take a bunch of science classes and get A's and many schools say they look at "gpa trends" but if you cant pull a bare minimum cgpa or sgpa > 3.2 then you still need allot of work. Secondly and almost more importantly given your academic situation scoring a 500 on the MCAT wont really help you, you really need to score in a higher bracket (many schools will overlook lower gpas for higher MCATs). Lastly you have to do tonsssssss of extracurricular activities to show med schools just how motivated you really are, this means tons of; volunteering, research, medical clubs, community service, shadowing, and not to mention strong letters of recommendation.

As far as what you can do now, I would recommend contacting some adcoms and asking their professional advice (dont ask pre-med advisors they are worthless!!!). Im thinking a really good SMP might help to show you can academically handle things but even then you need competitive stats to get into a good program so that might be tough as well.

 

[Necr0sis713]

Thanks! I know it won't be easy but i'm willing to do whatever it takes.

I have around 200 hrs of volunteer work that includes hospital volunteering, volunteering at an oncology center, research in cancer, and tutoring elementary school kids. Would a high science GPA perhaps make up for a low cumulative/psych gpa? My last 60 credit hours will be a high gpa, so that might help the situation but I'll probably not hit the 3.0 mark.

 

[Catalystik]

Alright, well it's about that time...I'm finishing up my semester here in a month, and have one more before I can apply for medical school. My background, however, is quite a concern to me.

I'm 25 now, and already have a bachelors in psych. However, I decided a year ago that I wanted to get into medical school since it would mean just taking science classes since I took a lot of prereqs and psych courses. The thing is, I was a horrible college student up until most recently. When I first got into college, I was totally naive, hung out with the wrong crowd (can't blame them though, I know), and was totally neglectful of my school work. I wanted to be a musician, and tried to become a musician. I got wrapped up in song writing, playing at open mics, recording in the studio, mastering my instrument and vocal skills. That, combined with my immature attitude led me to fail alot of classes, get a bunch of D's and C's and what not. In short, I graduated with a 2.45 GPa.

The thing is: My last semester as a psych major I got straight A's (upper level psych classes, a writing in psych course, even a human evolution class and philosophy class). And am getting straight A's in all of my sciences: A in gen chem 1 and 2, A and B in the 100 level bios, B in physics 1 lecture and lab, A in physics II lecture and lab. This semester, i'm getting a solid A in orgo, and should expect straight A's if I really try hard these next 4 weeks, or just A's and B's in: Orgo (A for sure) Cell bio, anatomy and physiology lecture and lab, cell bio lab and orgo lab.

Let's say next semester (my last) I get A's in orgo 2 and anatomy and phys 2. Meaning, my last 60 credit hours of pretty much all the science prereqs and a few electives were all A's and like a couple B's, and I get a 500+ on the MCAT, would my past prevent me from getting into MD school? Should I apply for an SMP at the same time?

I would really like some feedback from you folks because as you know getting into medical school is a very significant and personal thing for premeds, and given the situation, is quite a concern to me.

How many more credits of A will it take for your cGPA to exceed a 3.0? You might be able to find a true SMP that will accept you with an undergrad cGPA less than a 3.0, but that won't help you much when most MD schools have a hard cut-off of 3.0 for undergrad GPA, when you eventually apply. [Note that exceptions do exist.] Also, I agree that you will need a far stronger MCAT score than a 500.

Have you considered taking advantage of the (AACOMAS)DO grade replacement policy by retaking some of those Ds and Cs for the same credit hours, in order to raise your cGPA faster?

 

[goldy490]

You should aim for a minimum of 508 if you want A shot at MD. ~515 if you want to be competitive.

 

[arc5005]

Alright, well it's about that time...I'm finishing up my semester here in a month, and have one more before I can apply for medical school. My background, however, is quite a concern to me.

I'm 25 now, and already have a bachelors in psych. However, I decided a year ago that I wanted to get into medical school since it would mean just taking science classes since I took a lot of prereqs and psych courses. The thing is, I was a horrible college student up until most recently. When I first got into college, I was totally naive, hung out with the wrong crowd (can't blame them though, I know), and was totally neglectful of my school work. I wanted to be a musician, and tried to become a musician. I got wrapped up in song writing, playing at open mics, recording in the studio, mastering my instrument and vocal skills. That, combined with my immature attitude led me to fail alot of classes, get a bunch of D's and C's and what not. In short, I graduated with a 2.45 GPa.

The thing is: My last semester as a psych major I got straight A's (upper level psych classes, a writing in psych course, even a human evolution class and philosophy class). And am getting straight A's in all of my sciences: A in gen chem 1 and 2, A and B in the 100 level bios, B in physics 1 lecture and lab, A in physics II lecture and lab. This semester, i'm getting a solid A in orgo, and should expect straight A's if I really try hard these next 4 weeks, or just A's and B's in: Orgo (A for sure) Cell bio, anatomy and physiology lecture and lab, cell bio lab and orgo lab.

Let's say next semester (my last) I get A's in orgo 2 and anatomy and phys 2. Meaning, my last 60 credit hours of pretty much all the science prereqs and a few electives were all A's and like a couple B's, and I get a 500+ on the MCAT, would my past prevent me from getting into MD school? Should I apply for an SMP at the same time?

I would really like some feedback from you folks because as you know getting into medical school is a very significant and personal thing for premeds, and given the situation, is quite a concern to me.

Hey. I'm 26. I was in a similar boat. I graduated with a 3.1 cGPA, but including all my transfer credits I had a 2.8 cGPA and did not take undergrad seriously as an environmental science major - was not planning on med school at all prior to graduation. I took 1.5 years off, before I decided I would pursue med school. I went back to do my pre-reqs, getting straight A's for 1 full year + 2 summer courses + currently taking an online Biochem course and have boosted my cGPA up to a 3.3 and my sGPA up to a 3.6.

Study hard for the MCAT and let that score decide if you should pursue MD, DO, or a SMP.

Have you checked out the DO - Osteopathic forums yet? DO schools allow for grade-replacement, which easily allows for a faster boost in GPA. In general the matriculating GPA and MCAT scores are lower and you still can become a doc.

 

[laterbay]

Hey. I'm 26. I was in a similar boat. I graduated with a 3.1 cGPA, but including all my transfer credits I had a 2.8 cGPA and did not take undergrad seriously as an environmental science major - was not planning on med school at all prior to graduation. I took 1.5 years off, before I decided I would pursue med school. I went back to do my pre-reqs, getting straight A's for 1 full year + 2 summer courses + currently taking an online Biochem course and have boosted my cGPA up to a 3.3 and my sGPA up to a 3.6.

Study hard for the MCAT and let that score decide if you should pursue MD, DO, or a SMP.

Have you checked out the DO - Osteopathic forums yet? DO schools allow for grade-replacement, which easily allows for a faster boost in GPA. In general the matriculating GPA and MCAT scores are lower and you still can become a doc.

I don't know if letting a score decide your path is the best idea. Its smart to be practical, but you need to go for what you want (that being said, lots of overlap between MD / DO)

 

[Necr0sis713]

I really don't want to retake those classes I did bad on because I don't want to spend more time retaking psychology courses. The thing is: I dropped out after my first semester in college and went to art school to study audio engineering, but even failed the hell out of all my classes there (I was a mess). In sum, I just made some really dumb decisions. Funny thing is all of my science grades were good.

My post bacc GPA is a 3.8 right now, and by the time I finish I will have accumulated 45 credit hours. My problem is that because I changed my major alot and basically ****ed around with transferring colleges twice, I accumulated a bunch of credit hours so my GPA is stuck. Like even if I get 45 credit hours of all A's my GPA will go up to like a 2.75? I hear that grad schools look at your last 60 credit hours, which in my case would be where my 3.8 GPA would be from.

And I understand that i'm going to have to score near 510 for a competitive MCAT score. So come time for it, i'm gonna lay the law down on them books.

I never really went to college full time, it was a part time affair. I went part time to work on my music, and even failed my classes while doing part time because I just blew it off completely. I didn't really have any friends who were motivated and had high goals, so I didn't really see the importance in a good education. After going through the whole cliche maturing process I finally realized what I had been doing wrong, but my academic past is something that can't go away.

Do med schools follow the whole "last 60 credit hour thing", given I have an impressive app and good MCAT score? I mean, I'm sure having all A's on difficult science courses like orgo and orgo lab, and the fact that i'm taking full loads of difficult science courses in the same semester would be impressive to say the least. Also, maybe having a background in music and my time as a musician would at least make me stand out from some other applicants...