Nontrad. Low GPA. Where to start?!

[alsmit15]

Hello-
31 y/o nontrad needing advice on the route to medical school. A little background, I have always wanted to pursue medical school. I began undergrad as a Biology major, after struggling through classes I switched my major to Psychology around the end of my second year to salvage my gpa and graduated in 2012 with a BA Psychology.

Currently, I've been working (non-medical field) for seven years and have decided to go back and pursue medial school. I now have more life experience and feel 100% more focused than my first go around.

I'm just stumped as to where to start--- I'm trying to do my own research but it's hard to formulate an actual concrete plan on my own.
Who is recommended to contact? Should I call a local four year university counselor/advisor? Do I call a medical school counselor? Should I just go back and retake the science courses needed for the MCAT? SMP?

ALL advice is appreciated!!

GPA: 2.75
sGPA: (I think?) 2.2

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[Bonne Nuit]

Hello-
31 y/o nontrad needing advice on the route to medical school. A little background, I have always wanted to pursue medical school. I began undergrad as a Biology major, after struggling through classes I switched my major to Psychology around the end of my second year to salvage my gpa and graduated in 2012 with a BA Psychology.

Currently, I've been working (non-medical field) for seven years and have decided to go back and pursue medial school. I now have more life experience and feel 100% more focused than my first go around.

I'm just stumped as to where to start--- I'm trying to do my own research but it's hard to formulate an actual concrete plan on my own.
Who is recommended to contact? Should I call a local four year university counselor/advisor? Do I call a medical school counselor? Should I just go back and retake the science courses needed for the MCAT? SMP?

ALL advice is appreciated!!

GPA: 2.75
sGPA: (I think?) 2.2

First, could you answer a few questions for me?

- What medical school prerequisites have you already taken, and what grades did you earn in them?
- Have you shadowed any physicians or gained any clinical experience (paid or volunteering)?
- Are you able to enroll in postbac coursework as a full-time student, or will you need to remain employed?

 

[Cornfed101]

Another question is how many credits do you have for cGPA and sGPA? Science GPA includes Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math classes. A 2.2 is a C+ average. That's really low,

 

[DO_or_Die]

I would switch into a paid clinical role, such as scribing if you can financially afford it. Begin volunteering at something you enjoy (humane society, habitat for humanity etc). You will need to take upper level courses and even if you have already taken the prerequisites such as o-chem, physics, get chem, etc, I would retake them and make A's to show that you can handle the rigor. GPA matters of course, but trends are important too. Get your cGPA above a 3.0 so you won't be an auto weed out application and apply to as many DO schools as you can (I honestly feel you couldn't go MD at this point). You don't need an SMP, not that it would hurt if you need the structure, however I'm a non trad too and just created my own post bacc and had no problems. Make a 508+ on the MCAT.

 

[Goro]

Hello-
31 y/o nontrad needing advice on the route to medical school. A little background, I have always wanted to pursue medical school. I began undergrad as a Biology major, after struggling through classes I switched my major to Psychology around the end of my second year to salvage my gpa and graduated in 2012 with a BA Psychology.

Currently, I've been working (non-medical field) for seven years and have decided to go back and pursue medial school. I now have more life experience and feel 100% more focused than my first go around.

I'm just stumped as to where to start--- I'm trying to do my own research but it's hard to formulate an actual concrete plan on my own.
Who is recommended to contact? Should I call a local four year university counselor/advisor? Do I call a medical school counselor? Should I just go back and retake the science courses needed for the MCAT? SMP?

ALL advice is appreciated!!

GPA: 2.75
sGPA: (I think?) 2.2

Read this:

• Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

 

[officially_apostate]

Have you thought about a post bacc program?

 

[ChrisPreMDorDO]

I am in a similar situation where I majored on secondary education and psychology, taught high school, and now have decided to pursue medical school. After deciding to make the switch, these are the steps I took:

1. Find work in the medical field - I worked as a nurse tech for 6 months and I have now been a medical scribe for 1.5 years. Between these jobs, I have gained well over 3000 hours of clinical experience and counting.
2. Take all the medical school pre-requisites and more additional science courses. I took all the pre-requisites and just decided to take the rest of the courses to complete a biomedical sciences major (it was only 4 more classes than taking just pre-reqs and the extra courses surely will help on the MCAT. Biochemistry is a big one that isn't required for most schools, but I would recommend taking because it will help on the MCAT. Also, do not take the courses at a community college. With a low GPA, having CC credit will only hurt your application more. So try to shoot to get that GPA above 3.0 (many schools have a 3.0 minimum GPA requirement)
3. Volunteer
4. Shadow physicians and build relationships with physicians - this will help
5. Research schools that you would be interested in. Most likely your best choice will be DO schools, because of the low GPA. Use the DO explorer tool: Choose DO Explorer Registration - Choose DO

These are the steps I have taken and I feel pretty comfortable applying in the 2020 upcoming cycle. I would just advise to take the time and be thorough in making a complete application and getting all the experience you need. Good luck!

 

[alsmit15]

First, could you answer a few questions for me?

- What medical school prerequisites have you already taken, and what grades did you earn in them?
- Have you shadowed any physicians or gained any clinical experience (paid or volunteering)?
- Are you able to enroll in postbac coursework as a full-time student, or will you need to remain employed?

Hi !

-I've taken Bio 1/2, Chem 1 and 2, Physic 1, Genetics, and Life Sciences Calc
- I did not complete any physician shadowing but I did do 50+ hours of volunteer work back when I graduated around 2009/2010
-I'm absolutely committed to enrolling in postbacc coursework full time if neccesary

 

[alsmit15]

I am in a similar situation where I majored on secondary education and psychology, taught high school, and now have decided to pursue medical school. After deciding to make the switch, these are the steps I took:

1. Find work in the medical field - I worked as a nurse tech for 6 months and I have now been a medical scribe for 1.5 years. Between these jobs, I have gained well over 3000 hours of clinical experience and counting.
2. Take all the medical school pre-requisites and more additional science courses. I took all the pre-requisites and just decided to take the rest of the courses to complete a biomedical sciences major (it was only 4 more classes than taking just pre-reqs and the extra courses surely will help on the MCAT. Biochemistry is a big one that isn't required for most schools, but I would recommend taking because it will help on the MCAT. Also, do not take the courses at a community college. With a low GPA, having CC credit will only hurt your application more. So try to shoot to get that GPA above 3.0 (many schools have a 3.0 minimum GPA requirement)
3. Volunteer
4. Shadow physicians and build relationships with physicians - this will help
5. Research schools that you would be interested in. Most likely your best choice will be DO schools, because of the low GPA. Use the DO explorer tool: Choose DO Explorer Registration - Choose DO

These are the steps I have taken and I feel pretty comfortable applying in the 2020 upcoming cycle. I would just advise to take the time and be thorough in making a complete application and getting all the experience you need. Good luck!

Thank you for the advice, it is very helpful! I'm currently looking at a few positions as a medical scribe. I've taken a lot of the pre-reqs but it was so LONG ago. I would also like to give my gpa a boost

 

[alsmit15]

Have you thought about a post bacc program?

That's what I'm looking at now, it seems a little tricky with my overall 2.75 GPA

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Hi !

-I've taken Bio 1/2, Chem 1 and 2, Physic 1, Genetics, and Life Sciences Calc
- I did not complete any physician shadowing but I did do 50+ hours of volunteer work back when I graduated around 2009/2010
-I'm absolutely committed to enrolling in postbacc coursework full time if neccesary

You will need to retake anything in which you earned a C- or lower. You also need to earn As in all postbac work from here on out. I don’t know if it’s mathematically possible to get up to a 3.0 GPA, but if you can, more doors (e.g., SMP, some DO programs) will open for you. You also might also be competitive for MD programs that more heavily weigh your recent coursework if you really excel on your postbac and MCAT. I’m going to be honest with you, though - you’re facing an uphill battle with your GPAs. You might have several years of work ahead of you and even then there’s no guarantee your efforts will be enough.

My recommendation given your situation is to start shadowing a primary care physician as soon as possible. Do this before you start spending money on postbac tuition. 40-60 hours of physician shadowing is expected for your medical school application anyway. About a third of physicians end up in primary care roles, and it’s very common for the kinds of schools that reward reinvention (i.e., the schools that might give you a shot) to send the majority of their graduates into primary care. So, you need to decide if starting a primary care career in your late 30s at the earliest is an OK outcome for you. If you love primary care - great! If you hate it, however, you should not pursue medicine.

The guide to reinvention that Goro previously posted will be the most comprehensive resource for your premed process. I suggest reading through it carefully. Good luck.