Need your help to steer the right direction!!!

[gigamax95]

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Dear SDNers,

I do need your sincere advices. I?m confused right now because I don?t know the best direction to take.

I hope that I don?t get you bored since I will write quite a long thread to clearly describe my situation which I hope to make it easier for you to give me advices. I really appreciate if you will read my whole post and give me suggestions.

First of all, I thank you all for making this such a wonderful forum which gives me so much information about Premed. I have been reading this forum everyday for the past 2 months, hoping to find someone who is in the same situation like I am now. However, I haven?t found anyone who has the exact situation like I have yet. Therefore, I hope that by answering my post you will help me and other SDNers who are in the same boat to find the right direction. Here is my story:

I always dream to be a heart surgeon someday since I was young. I came to the US 8 years ago. After I graduated from high school in 1998, I went to a Community College since I thought that I could not afford to go straight to UC Davis where I was accepted. My first year at Community College, I took Bio, Chem, Physics and Math classes, intended to major in BioChem to have good preparation for Premed. However, in my 2nd year at CC, I switched to major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science since the ?.com? industry was so good back then. Besides, I thought that I would get my engineering degree in 2 more years and would find a good job to support my family compared to a long time learning to become a doctor. I had a 3.9 GPA (mostly due to my grades in Math and Science) at my CC and was accepted to transfer to UC Berkeley in EECS major. However, there was a serious problem which I later realized.

I do not like either EE or CS at all at the beginning, but I knew that I had to choose them since I believed that I wouldn?t stay with them for a long time (I thought that after a few years of working and saving I would apply and go to medical school to fulfill my dream.) However, I had made the biggest mistake in my life. EECS major is one of the toughest major at Cal, and it is very hard to get good grades even if you love the major. I had been struggling a lot, and I have been suffering while I was there (eg: many 3 days without sleep doing projects and studying for finals knowing that I wouldn?t get good grades even though I had tried my best.) I hated it because I didn?t love what I studied. I also had personal problems with emotions involved all the time I was there. I had to drop out 1 semester, and as the result I just graduated after 6 semesters with a BS from Cal with a 3.0 GPA. I understand that virtually no medical schools will take students with that low grade even though the curriculum of their undergraduate major is very tough.

Right now I don?t know what direction I should take. I can think of 2 choices. I wish you can suggest me other choices. First: go for a MS in Electrical Engineering at California State University, San Jose (since I have low GPA so I cannot get into PhD programs in EE at UCs.) Even though I don?t like EE much, I must try my best to do well at it. I believe that the classes at SJ will be much easier than from my undergrad at Berkeley. I will have more chances to get good grades when I apply for med-schools. The other option is I will apply to study for my 2nd BS degree in BioChem at SJ and still have to get good grades too. I love Bio and Chem more than EE for sure. However, I?m afraid that the adcoms will look into my 2nd BS degree and question about it. Or should I take my MS in EE and spend some time to take some upper division BioChem classes. Then I will apply for medical school. However, I still have 1 year of Organic Chem to complete the basic requirements. So I want take the time that I will be at school to complete it, study for the MCAT and do volunteering at clinics.

What should I do? Please give me your honest advices!!! Having either an MS in EE or 2nd BS degree in BioChem will take me at least 2 more years. I don?t mind how long or how much scarify that will take to get to my ultimate goal. The problem is I don?t know what the best direction to take. I?m confused. What is done can not be undone. I can?t just make everything including the grades that I had at Cal disappeared.

I am grateful for your help. Please be critical. Apologize for such a long post.

Thank you very much,
GM

 

[Penguin Poptart]

If you hate EE why would you waste your precious life getting a MS in it?
From your post, I also don't understand why you would want to get a second BS. What would be the point of that?

how bout doing a post-bacc program?
Seems to me, that's the easiest, quickest and most obvious way to improve your GPA, have access to classes/research/EC opportunities and a premed committee letter, etc.

After a year your GPA could already be much improved, you can take the april or august MCAT and apply, and continue to take classes and otherwise strengthen your application while you're going through the application process.

 

[Sinoed]

I wouldn't waste time trying to struggle through more EE. If you had a tough time of it before and you really disliked it what makes you think that studying it for two more years is going to make you work hard enough to get perfect grades? You're still not going to like it a year or two years from now. If you want a second degree go the BS route since you love that stuff, otherwise take another year and improve your grades that way.

 

[malusport]

hi,

if you're intersted in off shore medical schools, why don't you try the main 4. sgu, auc, saba and ross?

 

[atruong1011]

Don't waste your time doing something you don't enjoy. I would agree with the post-bac idea, it's a good way to improve your gpa. I would try to do really really well on the mcats though, just to improve your chances! Good luck!!!

 

[gigamax95]

Thank you for your worthy reccomendations. However, I'm not very clear about post-bacc.

What is it? Is it like taking extra classes (upper or lower division classes) in biology... at some accredited college/university with the main purpose is to improve GPA? How long will it take to finish? How much does it cost? I'm living in Silicon Valley/CA, so where can I find those schools.

Thanks again.
GM

 

[skypilot]

http://hpap.syr.edu/LISTPB.HTM

Here's a list of post bacc programs. However, it may be easier and cheaper to just take the courses at your local state university. Try to get all A s in the courses, rock and roll on the MCAT and you are in.

 

[beanbean]

My background is in biomedical engineering (BU, 1990) and I had a very low pga (2.5) due to a chronic health problem. I never enjoyed my engineering classes as much as the bio and chem classes I had taken and my calling to medicine never diminished. As my kids reached school age I decided to return to school and fufill my post-bacc premed reqs as a continuing student at UCONN. Post-bacc merely means "after your baccalaureate degree". I started out taking general chem as a refresher and to prepeare for orgo. I gradually increased my courseload to full time andtook all of my prereqs as well as a number of upper division bio classes. I was admitted to the post-bacc program at UCONN Medical School and took part in their formal program this past year. I will start med school in 3 weeks.

You need to increase your undergrad gpa and prepare for the MCAT. Entering an MS program will give you a graduate GPA and not help your undergrad gpa at all. They are calculated separately on the AMCAS application. Your post-bacc gpa will be calculated separately on AMCAS as well, but will also be included in you overall undergrad gpa.

Taking post-bacc classes at a 4 yr. university can be done on your own or through a formal program. Some programs are somewhat restricted and accept only instate or minority applicants. Some are affiliated with med schools, others have linkages programs with various med schools and others are independent. Some programs are quite expensive, others cost no more than what taking the equivalent credit hours at that university would cost. Some are small and very competitive to be accepted at, others are less selective. Look around at the various programs and see is there is one which fits your needs and economic situation. Talk to people and find out what med school acceptance statistics the program has.

As I said it is not necessary to find a formal program. Taking classes on your own would be fine. Make sure you take your post-bacc classes at a 4 yr university (not CC). You had a very high gpa at CC and dropped to a low gpa at a 4 yr. univ - med schools will want to see that you can handle the academics at a 4 yr. school and excel. It is important to take a full-course load if you can economically handle it. If you have to work, make sure you still push yourself for a couple of semester to have a heavy workload. Med schools want to see that you will be able to handle the intense schedule and workload of med school. Don't be foolish and take all your hardest classes in one semester and do poorly. You really need to get A's in your post-bacc classes. So try to walk that fine line of pushing yourself to excel with a impressive courseload, but don't take on so much that you do poorly in your classes.

For me the advantage of the formal post-bacc program I did compared to the classes I took on my own was simply the advisors I had. As a formal post-bacc student at UCONN I had an advisor at the med school and an advisor at the main university campus. They were both invaluable in the whole process. The other students inn the program were fantastic and we pushed each other along when classes got crazy. The program did not give me a reprieve from striving for a 4.0. I knew I needed as many A's as possible to raise my GPA. Although 85-90% of UCONN post-baccs are accepted to med school, I didn't want to be in the 10-15% that are not.

Don't forget about the MCAT! Get started taking classes and finish your prereqs, but remember to factor in some serious study time for the MCAT whenever you decide to take it.

Med schools do know how hard engineering is as a major. It doesn't mean they don't look at a low gpa with skeptical eyes, but they do understand that it is a very difficult area of study. Be careful explaining that you 'didn't like' your engineering classes and that is why you did poorly. You will have to do many things in med school that you won't like and schools look for students who stick it out and do well no matter what. It is very appropriate to explain that as you got further into your major you realized that EE was not for you. Have clear answers regarding what you don't like about your current field and why you feel that medicine is where you truly belong. Plenty of people make career changes and switch to medicine - it is just important to show that you truly feel a calling to be a physician. Make sure you back up your committment to medicine with volunteer work and shadowing. Schools will want to see that you are serious about medicine for the right reasons and not just applying because you don't like engineering.


Good luck to you. Hopefully in a couple of years you will be holding an acceptance to med school.

Deirdre

 

[Penguin Poptart]

Another advantage to a formal post-bacc program (other than the accesss to counselling services/peer support mentioned above) is that it usually entitles you to a premed committee letter. Med schools claim to prefer this to individual letters of recommendation, but they also say you can explain why you couldn't get a premed committee letter, if that's the case. Also some schools won't give you access to many classes unless you are part of some formal program. On the other hand, I'm sure there are enough colleges that will let you take the classes you'd want to take, if you decide not to go with a formal program.

In any case, here's the AAMC site for post-bacc programs:

http://services.aamc.org/postbac/

Some programs may only let you take either upper level classes or lower level classes, and it seems like you would want to take a combination, so you'd probably be best off inquiring with the individual schools to find the best one for you if you decide to go that route.

 

[MDmiracle]

Just my two cents worth. But, I also have just over a 3.0 GPA and a 32 MCAT. My GPA is a result of a divorce during my Jr. year. I have applied for the 2004 entrance to 34 schools I know that I will get alot of rejections, but I am hoping that someone will give me a chance. So I suggest taking the post-bacc and getting your grades up a little. Take the MCAT in april and go for it. Providing you do well someone will give you a shot. Every year some people are admitted with less than a 3.0 average, not many, but some. do everything you can between now and then to improve and give it a shot. also check out mdapplicants.com to find people in your situation.

Good Luck!

 

[Nolan]

Hey GM,

A fellow Cal alumni here, though not EECS. You should be pround of yourself for finishing such a tough major. I peronally know tons of people who have either left the program or have graduated with a C average GPA.

My reply is no different than the previous posts. You should not continue with a MS in MechE because your heart is not in it. You are definitely capable doing well academically, as demonstrated by your acceptance into Berkeley's EECS program, which is already difficult to get in, and finishing the program with a good GPA.

Definitely look into post-bac programs, or prehaps looking into MS in bioengineering. This might be something you can try, since you like biosciences and you also have an engineering background.

Start volunteering in the clinics and shadowing physicians to see if medicine is really for you. Also start studying for the MCAT if you can, because you can make up your GPA if you do well on the MCAT.

Best of luck to you, and I hope you hear your success story in the years to come!

Nolan