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- Jul 1, 2016
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I'm currently in the process of mentoring & tutoring a junior pre-med student through my college's academic resource center. She is a transfer from a community college. She had some extenuating circumstances while at community college and did not take school as seriously as she should have, so her community college GPA is horrible. She has a decent upward trend starting with her first semester at a 4 year university.
Currently, her cGPA is 2.66 and her sGPA is 2.55. The sGPA is so low because she took stats twice at the CC, receiving a F and then a D. She also has ~6 W's from her time at community college. She took stats again at my undergrad university and received an A, but the F & D are seriously tanking her sGPA, and with the removal of the grade replacement policy for DO applications, there's no easy way to fix it.
I mapped out her classes to graduation for her during our last appointment. She will graduate May 2018 with all of her pre-reqs. I also recommend she take some elective upper level science classes while she finishes the pre-reqs so that she can continue demonstrating an upward trend and repair her sGPA a little bit. I suggested she study for the MCAT over the summer of 2018 after graduation and take it in September, and use that score to apply in summer 2019. Since she'll have a heavy course load Spring 2018, prepping for the MCAT simultaneously would be a bad idea as she seriously needs to ace it to have any chance. When I realized today exactly how low her GPA is after calculating it, I also mentioned the possibility of looking into a SMP after she graduates undergrad before even applying to med school, since she needs to seriously demonstrate she can handle medical school after her poor grades in community college. I also told her DO schools would be a better bet than MD, as her GPA will not be competitive for MD.
I also told her she needs to build up a strong application in the time until she applies by gaining research experience, clinical hours, and volunteer hours. She currently works 20 hours a week as a patient transporter at a local hospital. Essentially, the job entails moving patients from unit to unit in the hospital. I also was unsure if this would be able to be counted as clinical experience, so some clarification would be super helpful.
I have made sure to be very clear that the path to medical school will be a significant uphill battle for her because I don't want to mislead her, but at the same time I'm trying not to crush her hopes of ever being able to get in. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Currently, her cGPA is 2.66 and her sGPA is 2.55. The sGPA is so low because she took stats twice at the CC, receiving a F and then a D. She also has ~6 W's from her time at community college. She took stats again at my undergrad university and received an A, but the F & D are seriously tanking her sGPA, and with the removal of the grade replacement policy for DO applications, there's no easy way to fix it.
I mapped out her classes to graduation for her during our last appointment. She will graduate May 2018 with all of her pre-reqs. I also recommend she take some elective upper level science classes while she finishes the pre-reqs so that she can continue demonstrating an upward trend and repair her sGPA a little bit. I suggested she study for the MCAT over the summer of 2018 after graduation and take it in September, and use that score to apply in summer 2019. Since she'll have a heavy course load Spring 2018, prepping for the MCAT simultaneously would be a bad idea as she seriously needs to ace it to have any chance. When I realized today exactly how low her GPA is after calculating it, I also mentioned the possibility of looking into a SMP after she graduates undergrad before even applying to med school, since she needs to seriously demonstrate she can handle medical school after her poor grades in community college. I also told her DO schools would be a better bet than MD, as her GPA will not be competitive for MD.
I also told her she needs to build up a strong application in the time until she applies by gaining research experience, clinical hours, and volunteer hours. She currently works 20 hours a week as a patient transporter at a local hospital. Essentially, the job entails moving patients from unit to unit in the hospital. I also was unsure if this would be able to be counted as clinical experience, so some clarification would be super helpful.
I have made sure to be very clear that the path to medical school will be a significant uphill battle for her because I don't want to mislead her, but at the same time I'm trying not to crush her hopes of ever being able to get in. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.