Need help planning my path to med school...

[CJT1983]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I will try to keep this short and simple.

I'm 26 years old.
I graduated with a non-science degree from a university in 2007.
My cumulative GPA is 2.97 (3.26 for my last 77 units there, out of 140 to graduate)
I don't have any of the Pre-Req's for Med School done, I'll need them all.

It seems that the most common path is a Post-Bacc, then taking the MCAT, and depending on how good your GPA and MCAT score is, applying to med school. If the GPA isn't high enough, people either retake courses in their Post-Bacc, or look into an SMP. Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

I would really like to stay in California for Post-Bacc, but the UC programs are for economically disadvantaged students, which I don't qualify for, and USC/Loyola Marymount both told me my GPA is too low. So far, UC Berkeley Extension has been the only program that has encouraged me to apply, knowing my GPA. Ideally, I would have loved to just return to the university I graduated from and either earn an additional degree in a science, or take the courses I'd need for med school (basically do my own informal post-bacc), but they won't let me return because of their budget/the state's budget, so that's not an option, and probably won't be for some time.

What are my options?
What Post-Bacc programs am I missing?

Thanks for any help!

 

[drizzt3117]

In ca? Probablly sfsu and Thats about it.

T1983;9844926]I will try to keep this short and simple.

I'm 26 years old.
I graduated with a non-science degree from a university in 2007.
My cumulative GPA is 2.97 (3.26 for my last 77 units there, out of 140 to graduate)
I don't have any of the Pre-Req's for Med School done, I'll need them all.

It seems that the most common path is a Post-Bacc, then taking the MCAT, and depending on how good your GPA and MCAT score is, applying to med school. If the GPA isn't high enough, people either retake courses in their Post-Bacc, or look into an SMP. Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

I would really like to stay in California for Post-Bacc, but the UC programs are for economically disadvantaged students, which I don't qualify for, and USC/Loyola Marymount both told me my GPA is too low. So far, UC Berkeley Extension has been the only program that has encouraged me to apply, knowing my GPA. Ideally, I would have loved to just return to the university I graduated from and either earn an additional degree in a science, or take the courses I'd need for med school (basically do my own informal post-bacc), but they won't let me return because of their budget/the state's budget, so that's not an option, and probably won't be for some time.

What are my options?
What Post-Bacc programs am I missing?

Thanks for any help!

 

[CJT1983]

In ca? Probablly sfsu and Thats about it.

I was also looking into the UC Berkeley Extension Post-Bacc.

With my GPA, what is my best path? Should I do a Post-Bacc and do as well as I possibly can, then take the MCAT when the Post-Bacc is done and see how I do?

Because of the price, an SMP is basically a last resort, is that correct?

I wrote the SFSU program weeks ago, and barely heard back a couple days ago. I replied to the e-mail right away with some additional questions, and still haven't heard back.

 

[drizzt3117]

I was also looking into the UC Berkeley Extension Post-Bacc.

With my GPA, what is my best path? Should I do a Post-Bacc and do as well as I possibly can, then take the MCAT when the Post-Bacc is done and see how I do?

Because of the price, an SMP is basically a last resort, is that correct?

I wrote the SFSU program weeks ago, and barely heard back a couple days ago. I replied to the e-mail right away with some additional questions, and still haven't heard back.

I've heard ucb's pb program is pretty good. You can't do a SMP without the prereqs, so I'd consider ucb, csula, or sfsu.

 

[CJT1983]

I've heard ucb's pb program is pretty good. You can't do a SMP without the prereqs, so I'd consider ucb, csula, or sfsu.

Okay, thank you. I looked into CSULA, but their requirements were a bit surprising compared to other Post-Bacc's:

An undergraduate degree in a biological science from an accredited college or university, or an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university and completion of pre-health professional required science courses with lab (two years of biology, two years of chemistry, one year of math, one year of physics).


Minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 in all Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Math courses.


Establishment of a student file in the Cal State LA Health Science Advisement Office.


Completion of BIOL 340 (General Genetics) and BIOL 380 (Cell Biology), or their equivalent.

I'm a non-science major with no pre-req's done, so I think their program is out of the question for me. So far UCB Extension is looking like my best bet.