I want to know what more I can do to get accepted into a medical school. I already graduated with a BS in Biochemistry (along with a Chemistry minor), but with an extremely low GPA (2.5). I currently have a full-time job working as a Med Tech, and I am volunteering at a free clinic once a week. I also am going to take undergraduate level courses at another university in hopes of getting better grades (and possibly another BS degree). I feel really down right now because I know I should have worked harder for my Biochemistry degree, but it's also motivating me to study harder. My family has money issues, so post-bacc school is pretty much out of the question, and so is not working. Please let me know if you have ANY advice. Thanks.
Need Advice...
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It would take you two years of full-time coursework, getting straight As, to raise your undergrad GPA to a 3.0. With four years and another degree, it would only rise to a 3.25, still far short of the average accepted MD student's stats.
If you can get up to a 3.0 GPA and do well on the MCAT (30ish) you'd be a candidate for an SMP or for DO school acceptance. With a 40+, you might get into an MD school without an SMP (Special Masters Program, which overrides a low GPA if you do very well, but is expensive).
An easier path, especially if you have isolated low grades dragging down your GPA, would be to retake coursework and take advantage of the DO school grade-forgiveness policy. This could be a fast way to raise your GPA, as the low grades wouldn't be included in the application GPA calculation, provided the retake has the same or greater credit hours.
If you can get up to a 3.0 GPA and do well on the MCAT (30ish) you'd be a candidate for an SMP or for DO school acceptance. With a 40+, you might get into an MD school without an SMP (Special Masters Program, which overrides a low GPA if you do very well, but is expensive).
An easier path, especially if you have isolated low grades dragging down your GPA, would be to retake coursework and take advantage of the DO school grade-forgiveness policy. This could be a fast way to raise your GPA, as the low grades wouldn't be included in the application GPA calculation, provided the retake has the same or greater credit hours.
Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it. If only I had worked harder in undergrad! But I can't change that now, so I will probably continue with what I am doing now (take more courses to boost my GPA), and go with your suggestion for the DO grade-forgiveness policy.
Is there anything else you guys suggest I should do (like research, shadowing, or other activities)?
Is there anything else you guys suggest I should do (like research, shadowing, or other activities)?
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Does your work as a med tech give you patient exposure? Presumably, the free clinic volunteering does? Besides that, you'll eventually need physician shadowing, and it's good to have some nonmedical, noncampus community service too. Any teaching or leadership strengthen your application. Consider also if you can get in some research time (not essential, but helpful). Maybe you have some of this from your undergrad years?
Right now, though, don't get distracted with ECs so much. First, nail down your study strategies and spend whatever time is needed to get straight As. Once you have that down, add in additional activities.
Right now, though, don't get distracted with ECs so much. First, nail down your study strategies and spend whatever time is needed to get straight As. Once you have that down, add in additional activities.
Actually, neither of them give me direct patient exposure (I volunteer at the free clinic pharmacy). I'm in the process of finding a DO to shadow, but I would need to do a lot of rescheduling. Also, when you mentioned that it would take 2 years of full-time coursework to raise my GPA to 3.0, how many credits did you take into account per year? I only registered for 6 credits during this fall, since I am studying for the MCATs, volunteering once a week (4 hours), and have a full-time job. I'm also planning on taking classes during the summer. Right now, I feel as if I would not be a competitive applicant at all if I were to apply for medical school in two or three years, following this plan. Chances are already really low for someone with a 3.0 GPA. Around what percent chance would I have? Most likely less than 25%? I know it's not something you can really calculate, but I guess an estimate would be nice. And thanks again, Catalystik, for taking your time to help me!
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My rough calculation assumed you would further complete the number of credit hours that would equal half of what you completed in order to graduate. So for example, if you took 120 credit hours to graduate, a further 60 credit hours would give you the overall 3.0 GPA I suggested. Of course, if some of those courses were repeat classes, then using the AACOMAS system of grade forgiveness, your GPA would be higher.]
You can see from this AMCAS data what your chances for an MD school acceptance would be under various GPA/MCAT scenarios. Unfortuantely, there is no similar published data for DO schools: http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table24-mcatgpagridall2007-09.pdf
Your time in the free clinic helping in the pharmacy would cover nonmedical community service (and is great experience if you want to consider pharmacy school), but you still would need to find a source of patient exposure to get "clinical patient experience" which all med schools expect to see.
You can see from this AMCAS data what your chances for an MD school acceptance would be under various GPA/MCAT scenarios. Unfortuantely, there is no similar published data for DO schools: http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table24-mcatgpagridall2007-09.pdf
Your time in the free clinic helping in the pharmacy would cover nonmedical community service (and is great experience if you want to consider pharmacy school), but you still would need to find a source of patient exposure to get "clinical patient experience" which all med schools expect to see.
