My Situation - Any Advice?

[HTX]

Hi all,

I've been browsing the forums for the past few days trying to soak up all the information I can, and now that I've developed a plan I'd like to see what you all think and suggest I do...

I graduated in May 2009 with a BBA from University of Texas at Austin, which is one of the top business schools in the country. Unfortunately, my cGPA was an absolutely horrible 2.54 due to various reasons ranging from immaturity, work, and personal family medical issues. I shouldn't have let any of that affect my studies, but unfortunately I did and I take full responsibility for that. However, I have a renewed passion for medicine as I have been volunteering at the local hospital ever since graduation. I am also currently working towards my MBA in Health Care Administration (will be done in Feb. 2011), and my current GPA for those courses is a 3.5 since I've gotten my act together now. I'm planning on starting the pre-med requirements in Spring 2011 - should take me 1 to 1.5 years if I take summer classes as well.

I believe in Texas the TMDSAS uses your transcript GPA rather than the AMCAS GPA (am awaiting confirmation from the TMDSAS on this). If I get at least a 3.5 sGPA in my pre-med courses, I can bump my cGPA up to around a 3.1 (undergrad, grad, and pre-med classes).

To make a long story short, what do you think my chances are at med school with:

- cGPA of around 3.1
- sGPA of at least 3.5
- MCAT 30+
- 200+ hours shadowing physician (currently, will continue to do so)
- 100+ volunteer hours (currently, will continue to do so)
- 3 years experience working in a medical clinic during high school and college

Any advice?

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[Greyestofblue]

From what I've heard/seen, if you show a commitment and devotion then that's stands out the most to admin officers. It doesn't hurt at all to call the schools you are interested in and either make an appointment to meet with them to explain your situation or if their busy correspond with them over the phone or email. I prefer face to face but if they're very busy they may just want to talk to you over the phone. Also if you're super devoted to it do not take no as an answer. If you get turned down, so what - reapply and continue to apply yourself. And don't be too pious to look at DO schools.

 

[Catalystik]

You might look into the GPA-enhancing program affiliated with the TCOM campus.

An advantage of DO schools other than TCOM, is that they have a grade replacement policy, where they only count the most recent retake in your application GPA calculation. If you have isolated poor grades, you might make a dramatic improvement with just a few retakes in this way.

 

[HTX]

Thanks for the advice guys! I'm definitely committed and willing to do anything necessary to become a physician. I'll definitely look into retaking some courses to see if I can boost my cGPA even more for DO schools.