Need some advice

[Member071191]

I just finished my sophomore year of college and my pre-reqs. My gpa (cGPA=3.40) is not looking so good. My sGPA(3.25) is even worse. This time next year I want to start applying for med school. I am a biochemistry major and will start Biochem I in the fall. If I do well in all my biochem courses next fall and spring semesters the max my sGPA could go is 3.27. If I wanted to make my cGPA go up to in the 3.65 region I would have to take 12 hours this summer and get A's as well as make A's all of the next school year. But the problem I am having is whether to study for the MCAT (taking this August) or raise my cGPA. There really aren't any science gpa courses available in my university this summer that would count under AMCAS BCPM. Mainly, only nutrition courses are available and 100 level courses. I have made all A's and B's in my science and pre-req courses except C's in both semester of Organic and a C in genetics.

I would tack on more microbiology courses for the fall but my advisor warned taking more then 12hours with Biochemistry I is a bad idea. Currently I have advanced cell biology and biochemistry and nutrition planned for fall. (also taking a communication and a theater course)

I don't have any past EC's during my university years. I will be volunteering in a hospital this summer and will do my best to find a doctor to shadow.

But my major problems that I want or I think I should solve this summer is my weight (5'11 270lbs) and trying to get a good score on the MCAT.

The school I want to get into had an incoming class with 3.56 sGPA and 3.64 cGPA and an average MCAT score of 30 (10,10,10,O). (These stats haven't changed much in the last 4-5 years).

What would you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

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[NeuroLAX]

I recommend focusing on GPA and ECs rather than taking the MCAT this August, unless you feel prepared and can juggle everything. You definitely need more ECs if you say you have none, IMHO. There's no sense in rushing the MCAT. You need to be as prepared as you can be.

Since you say there aren't many science courses this summer, you could try retaking a semester of Organic and/or Genetics if possible and you feel that you can manage this with a nutrition course. All of this is doable alongside making time to work out. Best of luck.

 

[Member071191]

The thing is I don't think I will get the best preparation for the MCAT if I take it later then August. I have the next 3 months till the MCAT to study. If I take it in January I get about a month before classes start.

I thought about retaking those classes that I got a C in and I am 90% sure I would make an A in them but my university has policy in which you can't retake a class you got a C in (or at least this is what my advisor told me). So I still can't decide whether to pile on courses this summer or study hard for the MCAT. I was thinking of double majoring Biochem/Psychology, I would take 12 hours of 200+ level psychology courses this summer and then finish off the major in my senior year.

 

[NeuroLAX]

You can't retake a C? That sounds like hogwash. I would make sure of this before putting all of my eggs in the advisor's basket. This has to be in your Student Manual or something of the sort. I didn't trust my pre-med advisor 100% for various reasons, but maybe yours is actually good. I have no idea.

There were some interesting courses offered through the Psychology department at my university. Sounds like a decent idea to me. Would this boost your sGPA more than retaking Organic or Genetics would, though? Either way it could definitely boost your cGPA.

 

[weezynation]

I understand that you want to apply to med school next year, but if your max sgpa is gonna be a 3.2-3.3, you should probably take another year or two to get your sgpa higher. As a college student that wants to apply, I'm sure that's probably not what you want to hear, but you don't want to rush this process because you will just be wasting money and make things more difficult for yourself.

 

[Member071191]

I read over the rule for repeating courses in my university's catalog:

"
General Repeat Policy
Unless it is otherwise specified in the course description, no course may be attempted more than three times.

• A grade of W does not count as one of the available attempts.
• Grades of C-, D+, D, D-, F, I, NC, WP, and WF are counted as one of the available attempts.
• No course may be repeated in which a grade of C or better has already been earned.
• Exceptions to the number of times a course may be repeated will be allowed only with prior written permission from the head of the department where the course is being offered and the student’s college dean or designee.
• Each course is counted only once in determining credit hours presented for graduation.

"
Maybe I am getting confused, but does this mean I can't repeat the course. The professor for the summer session of Organic is awesome and easy and I don't expect to make anything below an A.



But again, I have read on the forum that getting a few C's isn't bad?


Second, it would take about 8-10 science courses of 3 hours each for me to get to the 3.5-3.6 region. I could do that by next summer and take the MCAT in January. And if I do decide to this method, I would drop the BCMB major and major in Microbiology (slightly easier then BCMB in my univ.)


One more question. Why the hell doesn't nutrition courses count as BCPM? I looked on the AMCAS admissions instructions and nutrition was out of the BCPM box.

 

[Member071191]

I am so sorry guys, I made a few wrong entries in my excel sheet. My current sGPA is 3.30 and my cGPA (as given by the univ.) is 3.4. If I ace all me classes in the fall and spring the max sGPA I can receive is 3.49 (I don't really know how hard it is to get an A in biochemistry). So considering this do you guys think I should take some class in the summer or study for the MCAT. If I do try to raise my gpa during the summer I would take about 13 hours of classes (Stat Introductory (I actually want to take this course lol), General Microbiology,Physiology, and one other). If I ace all my classes in the summer and next year, my sGPA would be 3.56 and my cGPA higher. Of course this is considering I ace biochemistry (I hear people/even professors have nightmares about that class.)

 

[LizzyM]

No one says you have to retake organic at your school. Retake it as a summer student at a school that is ranked as highly (or higher) than the school you attend now. The point is, the retake counts in your BCPM gpa and if you apply to osteopathic schools, the replacement of the C's with A's will do wonders for your gpa.

Put off the MCAT for now particularly in that it expires after so many years. Take it next Spring or even the spring of your graduation year and plan on a gap year with work or research or full-time service (City Year, VISTA, etc) to fill your time.

 

[Member071191]

I won't be able to repeat the Organic classes as there are no other ranking as "high" as this university in the area I live in. I am hoping to apply next year in August to Med school, really don't want to do a gap year. I am going to try hard to not get a gap year.

Right now, I am leaning towards piling up 13 hours this summer with Micro,Physiology, Statistics, Nutrition maybe; this will help raise my sGPA into the region I want it.

But I have this strong urge to spend the summer studying for the MCAT and if I do good then it would help balance out my GPA. I have serious doubts about my ability to study for the MCAT and take classes during the school year.

 

[LizzyM]

With your gpa and assuming you are white, your chances of getting into medical school are as little at 10% or as great as 70% depending on how well you do on the MCAT. There is a lot riding on that one day!

Do not take the MCAT until you have prepped as long and as hard as you can. Take multiple practice tests under test-like conditions. (Be strict with yourself.) Plan to take it just once.

Don't overload yourself with summer classes if there is a chance you could earn a grade of B+ or lower in any of them as those B+ grades will pull down your gpa.

 

[robertch8]

OP, your situation reminds me a lot about what I had to go through. I had a rough sophomore year with a lower GPA than you have right now and I got a C in Orgo second semester and Orgo lab. Plus, I had some medical issues was became very overweight that year, and did not have a lot of ECs at the time.

You definitely can get yourself out of this hole, as I was able to both get into medical school and lose all the weight that I gained--I'm back to my high school weight now, which is a normal range now. But at the same time, I really hope you will follow with your urge to just focus on the MCAT this summer and not overload yourself. It was a gradual process for me to prepare for the MCAT and to lose the weight I had gained. I also had to take a couple years off too in order to build some ECs that matched my passion for medicine and this time allowed me to really get in shape (I trained and ran a half marathon) and eat right. So you can definitely pull it off; just be patient and take it step by step.

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[sector9]

Thread moved to "What are my chances"

 

[Member071191]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I am going to drop all my classes for the summer and just do MCAT/Shadowing/Volunteering. I don't know why but I have this crazy need to just focus on the MCAT and thats what I am going to do this summer.