Non-trad w/ undergrad degree in finance low gpa, followed up 2 years later w/ Post bacc ANY ADVICE

[nibhighfootballrules]

HI I am 25 y/o I graduated with a degree in finance and a non competitive GPA of 2.94 in 2016
I worked at a brokerage firm for 16 months and then decided to leave and complete a post bacc
At the post bacc I achieved a GPA of 3.97 taking all of my prereqs (except gen chem which was taken at undergrad)
My BCMP gpa is a 3.83 if my gen chem from 7 years ago is included
In January I took the MCAT and scored a 521
During the past 2 years after leaving the Finance industry I became a volunteer EMT, a big brother, a tutor for disadvantaged adults attempting to pass their high school equivalency exam
I was able to shadow ED physicians and general practitioners for over 100 hours and take part in a surgical shadow program
I also worked as a fitness instructor throughout the entire process to make some money
I am now a full time scribe

Does anyone have any experience or know of someone in a similar situation with a non competitive undergrad gpa in a non science field followed up by a competitive post bacc GPA and MCAT score? Is MD a possibility? And how should I gauge my GPA when looking at schools to apply to?

any and all advice is much appreciated

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[Kirby92]

Just another person's uninformed opinion.. but it seems like relative to the admitted MD candidate your sGPA is average, your MCAT is above average, and your EC's are well-rounded. If there are indeed schools that value re-invention, then I feel like they'd be willing to glaze over your below average cGPA. I think there was a post somewhere on here by Goro about reinvention-friendly schools. Best of luck to you!

 

[Goro]

HI I am 25 y/o I graduated with a degree in finance and a non competitive GPA of 2.94 in 2016
I worked at a brokerage firm for 16 months and then decided to leave and complete a post bacc
At the post bacc I achieved a GPA of 3.97 taking all of my prereqs (except gen chem which was taken at undergrad)
My BCMP gpa is a 3.83 if my gen chem from 7 years ago is included
In January I took the MCAT and scored a 521
During the past 2 years after leaving the Finance industry I became a volunteer EMT, a big brother, a tutor for disadvantaged adults attempting to pass their high school equivalency exam
I was able to shadow ED physicians and general practitioners for over 100 hours and take part in a surgical shadow program
I also worked as a fitness instructor throughout the entire process to make some money
I am now a full time scribe

Does anyone have any experience or know of someone in a similar situation with a non competitive undergrad gpa in a non science field followed up by a competitive post bacc GPA and MCAT score? Is MD a possibility? And how should I gauge my GPA when looking at schools to apply to?

any and all advice is much appreciated

MD definitely a possibility!! But you'll need DO schools on lists as well

 

[nibhighfootballrules]

MD definitely a possibility!! But you'll need DO schools on lists as well

Thank you for the response. Any advice on what type of schools to apply to/ how to gauge my gpa when using a service like MSAR? Any and all advice is much appreciated.

 

[Goro]

Thank you for the response. Any advice on what type of schools to apply to/ how to gauge my gpa when using a service like MSAR? Any and all advice is much appreciated.

The MSAR is pretty much worthless for reinventors in terms of stats. You can get hints at schools that might throw you some love by looking at how many matriculants have post-bac classes or post-graduate degrees.

I suggest:
Pitt
Columbia
Mayo
Mt Sinai
NYU (maybe)
Dartmouth
UCSF
Vandy
Keck (maybe)
Your state schools
Hofstra
Emory
Case
Miami
Wake
GWU
Gtown
Albany
Drexel
Netter
EVMS
Wayne State
SLU
Creighton
Any DO school. I can't recommend Nova, Wm Carey, BCOM, ICOM and LUCOM, for different reasons. MSUCOM? Read up on Larry Nasser and you decide. LMU has an accreditation warning, which concerns me. CalHS is too new and appears to be too limited in rotations sites. UIW refuses to post their Boards score, which is fishy.

 

[Chlorini]

One of my friends that I met in one of my diy post-bacc classes got in with a pretty low undergraduate gpa (I think it was below a 2.5?) She had a very high MCAT to offset her low gpa (which it looks like you have). She got into a Texas MD school (one of the lesser desired ones, but still an MD school). If you have ties to Texas, apply to them. Good luck!

 

[nibhighfootballrules]

One of my friends that I met in one of my diy post-bacc classes got in with a pretty low undergraduate gpa (I think it was below a 2.5?) She had a very high MCAT to offset her low gpa (which it looks like you have). She got into a Texas MD school (one of the lesser desired ones, but still an MD school). If you have ties to Texas, apply to them. Good luck!

was her low gpa in an unrelated field/ was she a Texas resident? Thanks for sharing great to hear those stories!

 

[nibhighfootballrules]

The MSAR is pretty much worthless for reinventors in terms of stats. You can get hints at schools that might throw you some love by looking at how many matriculants have post-bac classes or post-graduate degrees.

I suggest:
Pitt
Columbia
Mayo
Mt Sinai
NYU (maybe)
Dartmouth
UCSF
Vandy
Keck (maybe)
Your state schools
Hofstra
Emory
Case
Miami
Wake
GWU
Gtown
Albany
Drexel
Netter
EVMS
Wayne State
SLU
Creighton
Any DO school. I can't recommend Nova, Wm Carey, BCOM, ICOM and LUCOM, for different reasons. MSUCOM? Read up on Larry Nasser and you decide. LMU has an accreditation warning, which concerns me. CalHS is too new and appears to be too limited in rotations sites. UIW refuses to post their Boards score, which is fishy.

Thank you for the list, looks like a lot of impressive schools ranging all tiers. Do you mind explaining how you chose the schools or do you think with a non trad app it is more important to cast a large net than anything?

 

[Goro]

Thank you for the list, looks like a lot of impressive schools ranging all tiers. Do you mind explaining how you chose the schools or do you think with a non trad app it is more important to cast a large net than anything?

List is based upon the success of SDNers who have been in your shoes. There are a fair number of schools that reward reinvention, but there are also those who can afford to ignore candidates like you. It's a seller's market, after all.

 

[nibhighfootballrules]

List is based upon the success of SDNers who have been in your shoes. There are a fair number of schools that reward reinvention, but there are also those who can afford to ignore candidates like you. It's a seller's market, after all.

Awesome, thank you for the help

 

[Chlorini]

was her low gpa in an unrelated field/ was she a Texas resident? Thanks for sharing great to hear those stories!

Tbh I'm not sure. I think her gpa was in an unrelated field. We took our pre-med courses at a local Texas university so I assume she was a Texas resident at that time. However, a lot of people move to Texas to complete pre-med coursework and/or get a job for a year or two so that by the time they apply they are a Texas resident. There are at least 3-5 friends that I know of in my medical school class (all non-trads) that moved to Texas and worked/took classes so they could get in a Texas school. I did that too--I was living in another state when I decided I wanted to go to medical school so I moved back to Texas to increase my chances of getting in (the state I lived in at the time only had one school). I do have ties to the state though--I went to a Texas high school.

 

[nibhighfootballrules]

Tbh I'm not sure. I think her gpa was in an unrelated field. We took our pre-med courses at a local Texas university so I assume she was a Texas resident at that time. However, a lot of people move to Texas to complete pre-med coursework and/or get a job for a year or two so that by the time they apply they are a Texas resident. There are at least 3-5 friends that I know of in my medical school class (all non-trads) that moved to Texas and worked/took classes so they could get in a Texas school. I did that too--I was living in another state when I decided I wanted to go to medical school so I moved back to Texas to increase my chances of getting in (the state I lived in at the time only had one school). I do have ties to the state though--I went to a Texas high school.

Wow that is very interesting to hear. I am assuming that ppl doing that really only applied to Texas schools considering they rearranged their situations for the sole purpose of getting into a Texas school. Congrats btw, those tuitions are no joke.

 

[Chlorini]

Wow that is very interesting to hear. I am assuming that ppl doing that really only applied to Texas schools considering they rearranged their situations for the sole purpose of getting into a Texas school. Congrats btw, those tuitions are no joke.

Yeah tuition is cheap. And all of the out of state students in my class were granted in state tuition scholarships. It’s worth it to apply.