Need help to cope up with my career....

[Norkick13]

I need help deciding what do with my career

I am an international, struggling premed student. Spent one semester in CSU Fresno and 5 Semesters in Nassau Community College NY. This fall I m going to SUNY Stony brook.
I have one F in math algebra and trigonometry and D in bio 1 and C+ in bio2 and D in general chem 1 and c in cal1. I retook these classes and replaced F with B+ and bio D and C with A and chem D with B+ and cal 1 c with B . I was in depression because of some personal life problems which demotivated me. I know this sounds so loser.
I had an eye opener experience this week. I was seeing prehealth adviser and she told me how hard it is for an international student from India is to get in med school in US. I showed her my transcripts and she said its not good for premed students because I had so many classes repeated and also I spent like 5 semesters at community college. I was not aware that med schools differentiate applicants on the bases of community college. But this sounds as another lame excuse...I should have known these facts not done blindly.... now I have to spent like 3 years at Stony Brook. I am majoring in Bio concentration in neuroscience.
My present GPA is 2.8 including all grades.
I am not gonna ask that what are my chances. I know I need a miracle.
I need to know what options should I consider ,like

Should I consider enrolling in postbacc program? , which will postpone my application till 2016.
change my carrier to Masters in neuroscience and later prob phd?
Apply to Caribean or DO?
Feel free to be honest and tell me what would you do if you would have been in my shoes?


Also, about my passion regarding being doctor is very high not only because my cousin motivated me when I was in high school but also I love Biology. I really want to explore human body. I like to help people and really want to change thinking in my community. My real purpose coming to US for medicine is to get into top tier world class med school. But my carrier crashed and I should have acted strong and motivated.....
all comments are welcomed.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Irish Football]

First I would change the name of this thread. Honestly, I thought u had problems with your cell phone carrier, now I realize you meant "career."

Seriously though, your GPA is way too low to apply anytime soon. I think you should definitely look into doing a post-bacc. This is not really an area I know a lot about so I will let other posters talk about more specifics.

 

[Norkick13]

lol thanks did nt realize....( ESL student)

 

[Norkick13]

At this point it's going to be really difficult to get an acceptance to a US school, and it sounds like you don't have the study skills necessary to improve your GPA. Not to mention you will get killed on MCAT verbal.

So it really depends, could you be as happy in research as you would be in medicine? That (and other healthcare careers) are other ways to use science to help others. Is there any other career besides being a physician that would interest you? If the answer is definitely no, then DO with grade replacement, a decent MCAT score, and an extra year or two in college to raise your GPA is still possibly. If you're dead set on MD, you could do an SMP, but that's a long shot right now. On top of that, getting into a US school in general is going to be extremely difficult as an international student. You really need to take all these things into consideration before you decide to keep going down the premed path.

For now, if going to medical school is really what you're motivated to do and is the only thing you can see yourself doing, then you need to put all your time and energy into doing well in school, especially since you're transferring to a 4 year university. Don't even start thinking about the MCAT or applications yet, just work on getting all A's and then go from there.

I think I ill be happy in doing research also but still I want to try because it's my dream. I have consider research as second option. On the other hand, I will be happy in DO school also. I would be more happy to be in MD school. I really want to work on improving study skills. How do I do that?and also how do I improve verbal skills?

Thanks for your suggestion though...

 

[Norkick13]

Someone else will definitely be able to give you a better overview of what you need to do to get into a DO or MD school than I can.

For verbal skills, you'll have to practice. For now, read science and news articles (some people suggest things like The Economist) and get used to the convoluted language and unfamiliar ideas presented. There are a lot of verbal tips posted in the MCAT forum that you should follow, like how to read for the main idea and the author's tone. When you're close to the MCAT, you'll have to practice verbal passages, but for now don't use them. Actually I guess if you really want the more MCAT-like practice you could use something like the Berkeley Review verbal since it won't be very good for practicing later, but I don't know if that would help you or hurt you more.

For your study skills in general, what holds you back in your classes? Do you feel like the exams are difficult, or that the material is confusing, or that you aren't studying enough?

I have this habit of studying like two days before the exam. I do not study long enough daily. I think I need to improve my study capacity...
Thanks

 

[Catalystik]

I need help deciding what do with my career

I am an international, struggling premed student. Spent one semester in CSU Fresno and 5 Semesters in Nassau Community College NY. This fall I m going to SUNY Stony brook.
I have one F in math algebra and trigonometry and D in bio 1 and C+ in bio2 and D in general chem 1 and c in cal1. I retook these classes and replaced F with B+ and bio D and C with A and chem D with B+ and cal 1 c with B . I was in depression because of some personal life problems which demotivated me. I know this sounds so loser.
I had an eye opener experience this week. I was seeing prehealth adviser and she told me how hard it is for an international student from India is to get in med school in US. I showed her my transcripts and she said its not good for premed students because I had so many classes repeated and also I spent like 5 semesters at community college. I was not aware that med schools differentiate applicants on the bases of community college. But this sounds as another lame excuse...I should have known these facts not done blindly.... now I have to spent like 3 years at Stony Brook. I am majoring in Bio concentration in neuroscience.
My present GPA is 2.8 including all grades.
I am not gonna ask that what are my chances. I know I need a miracle.
I need to know what options should I consider ,like

Should I consider enrolling in postbacc program? , which will postpone my application till 2016.
change my carrier to Masters in neuroscience and later prob phd?
Apply to Caribean or DO?
Feel free to be honest and tell me what would you do if you would have been in my shoes?


Also, about my passion regarding being doctor is very high not only because my cousin motivated me when I was in high school but also I love Biology. I really want to explore human body. I like to help people and really want to change thinking in my community. My real purpose coming to US for medicine is to get into top tier world class med school. But my carrier crashed and I should have acted strong and motivated.....
all comments are welcomed.

First prove that you can consistently get As while taking a full course load, particularly in upper-level Bio and Biochem, from this time forward. Consider taking advantage of AACOMAS DO med school grade forgiveness when you apply, as they only count the most recent grade when you retake for the same credits or greater. Figure out what your cGPA and sGPA would be for their purposes:

Also, there are med schools in India where US students with family roots there are able to matriculate. Would you be able to attend there also?

Resources for you:
AACOMAS grade forgiveness policy: Each class that one retakes must have the same credit hours as the original course, or greater. The retake need not be at the same school. The course name needn't be identical so long as the course content is demonstrably similar per the course catalogs.

When one retakes, only the most recent grade is included in the calculation of your application GPA by AACOMAS. This is the fastest way to redeem a low GPA.



DO GPA calculation spreadsheet: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=450050
Newer modified version: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=839864


AMCAS BCPM GPA varies from AACOMAS sGPA, which includes no math(scroll to bottom half): http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=552026

 

[Norkick13]

First prove that you can consistently get As while taking a full course load, particularly in upper-level Bio and Biochem, from this time forward. Consider taking advantage of AACOMAS DO med school grade forgiveness when you apply, as they only count the most recent grade when you retake for the same credits or greater. Figure out what your cGPA and sGPA would be for their purposes:

Also, there are med schools in India where US students with family roots there are able to matriculate. Would you be able to attend there also?

Resources for you:
AACOMAS grade forgiveness policy: Each class that one retakes must have the same credit hours as the original course, or greater. The retake need not be at the same school. The course name needn't be identical so long as the course content is demonstrably similar per the course catalogs.

When one retakes, only the most recent grade is included in the calculation of your application GPA by AACOMAS. This is the fastest way to redeem a low GPA.



DO GPA calculation spreadsheet: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=450050
Newer modified version: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=839864


AMCAS BCPM GPA varies from AACOMAS sGPA, which includes no math(scroll to bottom half): http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=552026

I m not sure how does med schools in India work with US education system but I do know the recent law that states a doctor from India cannot work in USA for first ten years due to shortage of doctors. Also, if they have to come for Specialization in US they cannot wok, they have to go back to India. But its only applicable on Indian citizens, which I am. I will do little more research on this.
Also, thanks for the links . This will really help me and hopefully keep me on track.
I have to improve my studying skills and seating capacity. Hopefully, it works out
Thanks lot....