Need some advice.

[Boros]

First things first, some background info.

• Year in school: Graduated
• Region: Northeast
• Cumulative GPA: 2.9 (Upward trend, 3.9 final semester GPA, but I understand that its still bad overall)
• Science GPA: 2.6
• MCAT Score: 507
• Research – 1 semester
• Clinical Volunteering: 0 hrs
• Physician shadowing: ~20 hours ER
• Non-clinical volunteering: 3 Years of a Big Brother/Big sister program, was promoted to coordinate the program. 1 yr English tutor. 1 Semester after school elementary tutor. Total: 250-300 hrs
• Employment history: Librarian (3 yrs), Janitor(1 yr), Research Assistant (1 semester), Counselor (5 months), Resident Assistant (2 yrs), Science Teacher (current)
• URM (AA Male)
  

My question now is which route would be the most efficient way to remediate my GPA.

Option #1: Apply to a 1 yr Postbacc Program. (BU, Cornell, Drexel, UConn, UVA)

Option #2: Apply to a 1 yr Medical Masters Program/SMP. (BU, Drexel, GU, EVMS)

Option #3: Apply to a regular Masters program.

Ideally, I'd be applying to these programs around January, with hopes to be accepted into one and start in the fall of 2017. That being said, I'm still going to try to apply to medical school in the summer of 2017 even if I have already been accepted into one of my aforementioned options by then. I see no reason to at least try my luck since I qualified for the FAP. Worst case scenario, I get rejected everywhere, but still have a program to go into in the fall. Best case scenario, I get in somewhere, and just finish up my postbacc/SMP/masters regardless. My GPA is calculated with the AMCAS averaging of two repeated courses. On my transcript with repeat forgiveness its just over a 3.0.

Final question. When I apply, would schools be able to see that I am currently in a postbacc/SMP/masters, and based their offer of an interview on my subsequent performance.

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[Dr.FelA]

So, I think that there are more areas other than your GPA that you can improve on. Admissions boards like to see well rounded applicants. I see that you have volunteered and done some extra curricular stuff BUT I do not think that that will be enough for admissions boards because it is not necessarily in the medical field. They are going to think, okay yes this person did do other things with his time but what here tells me that he is actually passionate about healthcare and becoming a physician. You have to show them that you pretty much live and breath not only science but the healthcare field. So I would increase volunteer experiences within the healthcare field definitely and do some more shadowing if you can. Go volunteer at your local hospital or clinic or something.

Second, I would do a SMP program over all of those choices. Your performance in the SMP is the closer comparison when compared to the other programs for a MD review board to say hey, okay he can compete with 1st year med students. I mean doing a regular masters would be a waste of time because it wouldn't necessarily add anything to your application since the grades wont be added to your undergraduate GPA (SMP wont either, but atleast you are showing that you can handle MD level courses). If you can't do SMP then do Postbacc. There are also pathway programs which are good for URM, Drexel pathway to medical school is a good one for example. IT IS BEST IF YOU DO THE POSTBACC OR SMP AT A MEDICAL SCHOOL.

Last part, when you apply, you list the courses of your SMP/postbacc as in progress and make sure to include the name of the program. Then some schools let you update them as the grades come out. You would have to look that up when you figure out what schools you want.

-hope this helps.

 

[Boros]

Thanks for your input Dr.FelA.

 

[bonedoc82]

First things first, some background info.

• Year in school: Graduated
• Region: Northeast
• Cumulative GPA: 2.9 (Upward trend, 3.9 final semester GPA, but I understand that its still bad overall)
• Science GPA: 2.6
• MCAT Score: 507
• Research – 1 semester
• Clinical Volunteering: 0 hrs
• Physician shadowing: ~20 hours ER
• Non-clinical volunteering: 3 Years of a Big Brother/Big sister program, was promoted to coordinate the program. 1 yr English tutor. 1 Semester after school elementary tutor. Total: 250-300 hrs
• Employment history: Librarian (3 yrs), Janitor(1 yr), Research Assistant (1 semester), Counselor (5 months), Resident Assistant (2 yrs), Science Teacher (current)
• URM (AA Male)

My question now is which route would be the most efficient way to remediate my GPA.

Option #1: Apply to a 1 yr Postbacc Program. (BU, Cornell, Drexel, UConn, UVA)

Option #2: Apply to a 1 yr Medical Masters Program/SMP. (BU, Drexel, GU, EVMS)

Option #3: Apply to a regular Masters program.

Ideally, I'd be applying to these programs around January, with hopes to be accepted into one and start in the fall of 2017. That being said, I'm still going to try to apply to medical school in the summer of 2017 even if I have already been accepted into one of my aforementioned options by then. I see no reason to at least try my luck since I qualified for the FAP. Worst case scenario, I get rejected everywhere, but still have a program to go into in the fall. Best case scenario, I get in somewhere, and just finish up my postbacc/SMP/masters regardless. My GPA is calculated with the AMCAS averaging of two repeated courses. On my transcript with repeat forgiveness its just over a 3.0.

Final question. When I apply, would schools be able to see that I am currently in a postbacc/SMP/masters, and based their offer of an interview on my subsequent performance.

Your no clinical hours would concern me. A lot of schools have a requirement of clinical experience before applying. And I'm biased about post bacs. I did the Georgetown post bac program and matriculated into the med school right after. But any graduate type program will look good. Consider cost when applying and also look into schools with direct admit after the program.
Hope this helps!

AJW
www.antoniowebbmd.com