- Recently graduated with a B.S. in Actuarial Science
- Low GPA due to issues in the past years (below 3.0)
- Want to become a surgeon
- Haven't taken any bio, chem, physics classes since high school
- Confident that I can excel in all classes
I want to know, what options do I have?
If you lurk long enough on this website you'll realize that no situation is hopeless, and numerous people in similar circumstances have had enormous success and achievement.
HOWEVER, it takes incredible dedication, because you'll likely need to make huge sacrifices for years at a time to even have a hope at medical school. This includes moving in with family, working multiple jobs, doing long hours of volunteer work, taking new classes, etc...
Medical schools, both MD and DO, require the following for admission:
--Solid sGPA (above 3.5 ideally), specifically in pre-reqs
--Solid MCAT scores
--Demonstrated knowledge of a physician's practical job functions (through things like clinical shadowing/work/volunteerism)
--Demonstrated altruism (through volunteering)
--Demonstrated ability to succeed and sustain mental health under heavy course-load and time constraints (what you have to deal with for 8+ years through med school and residency)
Ask yourself if you can accomplish the above. You probably can. Your major hurdle I assume will be your GPA. As SailorHG said above:
You'll likely read this elsewhere on SDN, but your fastest route to becoming a doctor is to retake all F/D/C coursework and apply to D.O. schools. You can become a surgeon with a D.O. degree. If you want to go M.D., you are looking at years of undergrad gpa repair and possibly an expensive and useless master's degree that guarantees you nothing (search "SMP" on here).
This is accurate. Keep in mind however that sGPA is more important than cGPA, although cGPA is not ignored. So with this in mind, complete or retake all medical school pre-requisites, take the MCAT, volunteer/shadow, and apply. This will take a couple of years. (FYI I am at the beginning of this road and am looking at optimistically 3+ years before beginning med school--and I'm already 28). Remember what you'll read elsewhere--THIS IS A MARATHON, NOT A SPRINT!!!
After the hurdle of getting into med school, you also want to be a surgeon. Not impossible. An important thing to keep in mind is that your path to surgery does not necessarily depend on what medical school you attend. Surgery is a competitive specialty, meaning it depends on excellence in
med school performance, meaning you've gotta score very well on your STEP exams. You'll also have to make good friends with surgical faculty at your med school and get some good rec letters.
