Need some advice on my situation.

[impossibletobepossible]

here is my story and i would like to hear from everyone.

i graduated with a bachelor degree in cell and molecular biology back in 2009. however, my g.p.a. is pretty low and here is my stat for the pre-req: cGPA: 2.7 and sGPA is even lower.

Biology 1 with lab: B
Biology 2 with lab: B

General Chemistry 1 with lab: C
General Chemistry 2 with lab: B

Organic Chemistry 1 with lab: C
Organic Chemistry 2 with lab: C

Physics 1 with lab: C
Physics 2 with lab: B

English 101: B
English 103: B

Calculus 1: C
Calculus 2: B

Speech/Public speaking: B
Psychology: A
Sociology: B

I'm currently taking Statistics/Anatomy/Physiology/Microbiology in a CC and aiming to get all As for this semester and summer semester. Hope this can help me to bring up my g.p.a. a little bit.

I did also earned 3 Ds in upper science courses such as Immunology, Endocrinology, and Bioinformatics. I earned Ds in immunology and endocrinology due to the difficulty of the materials and i didn't really know what to study for those 2 classes at that time. I would blame myself to earn D in bioinformatics because i was working so much and was not paying attention much to the course. I can guarantee that if i could re-take these again, i would have earned a much better letter grades.

I've been working volunteering in different hospitals, shadowing MD docs/PA, and planning to apply to PA school to graduate as physician assistant b/c i was kinda giving up to go for MD/DO. But as seeing what PA does at a hospital where i was volunteering, i could assure it was not what i wanted to be in the future and it was not the job i wanted to do for the rest of my life.

i really want to be in MD/DO schools no matter what it takes for me to get there. I hope that you guys here in this forum could give me some advice of what i need to do and what i can do from here. is it too late for me to pursuit my dream? i will not give up as long as it still has just a little light at the end of the tunnel.

during the last few weeks, i've been screening throughout the sdn pre-med forum, i feel like i still have hope to go for what i want even though it's still long road ahead.

my g.p.a. is so low to apply to any post-bac program. what i can do to get into any post-bac program and to take post bac upper bio division courses to improve my g.p.a., and what does "DO grade replacement?" I'm really confused of these processes and can't find any helpful information online.

thanks guy for reading my post and i look forward seeing your advice.

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[QuentinT88]

I would say your best bet would be to do grade replacement at a 4 year university and apply to D.O. However, I'm not to sure on this concept either. I actually called Midwestern University today (a D.O. school) in order to ask about their policy for grade replacement if a student needs it. (I got a C in Calculus my freshman year). I was surprised b/c the admissions rep told me at their school, grades are all averaged, and one grade does not replace another. This was surprising to me b/c on SDN a lot of people mention to take the grade replacement route. It appears this may not be accurate....

I just posted a similar question on the D.O. thread. Any one else with similar circumstances who can weigh in on the DO replacement process?

 

[NuttyEngDude]

I actually called Midwestern University today (a D.O. school) in order to ask about their policy for grade replacement if a student needs it. (I got a C in Calculus my freshman year). I was surprised b/c the admissions rep told me at their school, grades are all averaged, and one grade does not replace another. This was surprising to me b/c on SDN a lot of people mention to take the grade replacement route. It appears this may not be accurate....

I just posted a similar question on the D.O. thread. Any one else with similar circumstances who can weigh in on the DO replacement process?

The grade replacement is an AACOMAS policy, midwestern will see the grades from AACOMAS (most likely newest or whatever you designate) but when they get the transcripts all grades will be shown. They will only get the transcripts after they accept you, if that makes sense.

Try this link:
http://www.aacom.org/Documents/AACOMASInstructions.pdf

Basically it works like this, you type all your grades in to a central body (AACOMAS), including what you designate to be replaced (but you still have to follow their rules), they send a shortened form to all the schools electronically so that they can quickly evaluate the thousands of applicants.

 

[Mad Jack]

Your overall GPA is even too low for many SMPs... I would re-take everything except organic that you have a C in at a community college to try and bump your GPA up to over 2.75 sGPA and 3.0 cGPA if possible, then apply to some SMPs. Your only hope outside of the SMP path is retaking everything you've ever gotten a C in and getting As and Bs. You're in a rough spot, because you have Cs in such a wide range of courses, which would make retaking them all very time consuming to retake them all, hence the recommendation of boost just over the minimum for SMPs, then apply to them.

Your chances for MD are basically gone. DO is doable, but will take 2-3 years of hard work and a good MCAT score.

 

[DocWinter]

Quentin has misinformation. If you retake a course, the AACOMAS will take the lowest grade and throw it out. MadJack is right; but I would skip the SMP and just retake anything less than a B and get your GPA up to over 3.0s and 3.3c. I have no idea what to do with those 3 D's in upper levels...those could be a killer to you.


Sad thing is, you have to redo alot of classes. I'm a fan of the DIY postbac - Try enrolling at a CC and just retaking the courses you need; ignore a formal post-bac. Skip retaking Calculus and focus on the core prereqs.

 

[QuentinT88]

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[DocWinter]

Um no. Not misinformation. Reread my post, since you clearly were not comprehending my post or my question. Also see my post in the D.O. thread just yesterday. That information was provided by a DO admissions counselor directly. Thus why I asked the question for SDN to verify. But apparently she didn't know what she was talking about, which is alarming

Hi. Nope, got it the 1st time. What you are transferring to the OP is misinforming him. Hence, misinformation. And good thing you know now, too. Doesn't matter where it came from, and no one is condemning you.
Word of advice on SDN; if you want people to like you, engage with you, help you with advice when you come in as a newbie; try to not be an ass to people. Try the opposite of condesending, and you'll be amazed at how friendly and nice we can be.

 

[QuentinT88]

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[mhord]

"Embracing humility will ground you and learning to be less of an as*hole will take you even further"-best advice I ever got in my professional management career...I quickly learned to adjust. I'll make this easy...DocWinter said "you have misinformation", not that you are intentionally misinforming so calm down.

Now that's over and our measuring contest is sufficiently complete, let's provide some advice. I'm not so much worried about the poor grades, as I am about your admission that endocrinology and immunology were difficult courses. Without a doubt, a professor can make any course difficult-but for the most part neither of these courses are severely challenging. I would not dare question your level of intelligence, as even idiots like me can learn how to study and improve their ability to process difficult material but I don't think that's your situation. You need to have a serious conversation with yourself-a course will be difficult if you are not into it...for my postbach courses at the age of 32, I worked full time and gave everything I had for every course, every minute of research and somehow had a little time left for sleep and the occasional day off. I'm not so sure you are struggling because of the difficulty of the course, its your unwillingness to go to battle.

If this is it-if this is truly your issue and you decide to be hungry...I would advise taking a semester off, soul searching and preparing for war because you need to show the admission counselors that you actually give a damn. I'm not being mean-but someone needs to bonk you on the head-you aren't going to be able to look at a patient (MD/DO/PA/janitor) and not be able to help because you just couldn't get into the course. Again, this isn't to put you down or discourage you...I hope you see that.

 

[Darth Doc]

I did also earned 3 Ds in upper science courses such as Immunology, Endocrinology, and Bioinformatics. I earned Ds in immunology and endocrinology due to the difficulty of the materials and i didn't really know what to study for those 2 classes at that time. I would blame myself to earn D in bioinformatics because i was working so much and was not paying attention much to the course. I can guarantee that if i could re-take these again, i would have earned a much better letter grades.

I've been working volunteering in different hospitals, shadowing MD docs/PA, and planning to apply to PA school to graduate as physician assistant b/c i was kinda giving up to go for MD/DO. But as seeing what PA does at a hospital where i was volunteering, i could assure it was not what i wanted to be in the future and it was not the job i wanted to do for the rest of my life.

With those grades you won't get accepted to any PA schools, and PA schools don't do grade replacement the way DO schools do. I'm not sure what you saw a PA doing that didn't appeal to you, but it isn't that different in most cases from what MDs do. There are also almost as many different types of PA jobs as DO jobs.

If you want to be the top dog and be a doctor, you can't make excuses for bad grades. Own up to them and get them higher. With your only A being in psychology, I'm not sure you're PA school, much less medical school material. You definitely won't be accepted as is. PA school is extremely competitive (although not as competitive as medical school) and frankly you won't get even an interview at this point.

Work your way from the bottom up. Get a medical job somewhere (EMT, nursing) to get medical experience to offset your poor scores and give you some income while you retake classes. With those grades you could be accepted to a community college RN program.

 

[Goro]

Pay careful attention. When you retake a course, and the new grade is higher, then only the high grade counts. The AACOMAS' grade replacement policy does wonders for the old GPA.

Therefore, your best bet is to retake all F/D/C science coursework. You can do this DIY. Alternatively, post-bac and SMP's are a dime-a-dozen, so you'll need to do your homework to find one willing to take you. If needed, move.

my g.p.a. is so low to apply to any post-bac program. what i can do to get into any post-bac program and to take post bac upper bio division courses to improve my g.p.a., and what does "DO grade replacement?" I'm really confused of these processes and can't find any helpful information online.