Nontraditional - What are my chances?

[CW 2010]

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I posted this message in the Nontrad section of the forum and was advised to re-post it here....

So, here is my story:

1) I completed a B.S. in Biology in a foreign country with a 2.96 GPA.

2) Then I completed an M.S. in Bio in the U.S. with a 3.2 GPA.

3) Now I went to community college thinking of getting my prerequisites for PA School (my Chem is too old, etc...) and I have a 4.0 in all classes I took so far (I do study a lot more now, and some other things have changed as well). All of a sudden, the MCAT seems to be manageable and this long-forgotten Medical School Dream comes alive again....

4) I have a direct patient care experience in cardiac telemetry, plus some research experience, as well as volunteering for the local community.

Do you think I have a chance of getting into an MD School?

Thanks!!🙂

 

[FrkyBgStok]

It would be hard go get into MD school based on your low gpa, but the equalizer will be the mcat. In order to have your cc prereqs not look bad, you will need to do awesome.

 

[Catalystik]

I posted this message in the Nontrad section of the forum and was advised to re-post it here....

So, here is my story:

1) I completed a B.S. in Biology in a foreign country with a 2.96 GPA.

2) Then I completed an M.S. in Bio in the U.S. with a 3.2 GPA.

3) Now I went to community college thinking of getting my prerequisites for PA School (my Chem is too old, etc...) and I have a 4.0 in all classes I took so far (I do study a lot more now, and some other things have changed as well). All of a sudden, the MCAT seems to be manageable and this long-forgotten Medical School Dream comes alive again....

4) I have a direct patient care experience in cardiac telemetry, plus some research experience, as well as volunteering for the local community.

Do you think I have a chance of getting into an MD School?

Thanks!!🙂

AMCAS, the primary MD application service, does not accept foreign transcripts.

US MD schools require a bachelors degree before matriculation which you have, but vary in requiring 60-90 semester hours (a very few requiring only 30) earned from US or Canadian institutions. They will also mostly expect you to complete all the prerequisites at a US or Canadian accredited college.

You maybe can speed the process of acquiring the required hours by having a transcript service evaluate your foreign transcript and having as many of the course credits transferred to a US college as possible. The school accepting your credits will probably give you P/F credit toward graduation requirements, so happily your poor numbers probably won't be included in the calculation of your application GPA. Many med schools will expect you to send them a copy of the transcript eval, but your US-college based transcript will hopefully take priority in their decision making.

Your chance of getting into an MD school will depend on your grades from now on, a strong MCAT score, superb ECS, particularly if you won't have a green card or citizenship by the time you apply, supportive LORs, and a well-written PS and essays. It's not impossible, but I'm sure the idea of returning for more undergrad coursework than anticipated is daunting.