not looking good....

[doctosan]

I am a pre-med Biology major, planning to get a minor in Chemistry (it is just one more class). Currently I am taking:

Organic Chemistry 2
Physics (non calc) 1
Physics 1 lab
Ecology
Precalculus


Precalculus and Ecology are doing fine, Organic Chem is manageable, but Physics is kicking my butt....

GPA: around 2.5 based on some 70-80 credit hours....

My friend suggested I take Physics 2, Microbiology, and Calculus at a community college next semester, to boost my GPA up as well as save some money. Also next semester is the last semester for which this option is available, since after that all of the courses will not be available at community colleges. I told him that medical schools will take it negatively if I decide to go to a community college one semester after starting at a university (I took a course at the same college the summer before freshman year, as well as last summer, though last summer was for review purposes) . He then suggested that I take Microbio at the univ. but take Physics and Calculus at the community college, but I repeated the same...I don't want them to think I am taking the easy route, not that the community college here is steriotypically easier, I will just have a better student:faculty ratio and more help/tutoring resources..

Biology classes were fine, it was just Chemistry and Genetics that killed me.... though I did retake them and do better....

The good: I am working as a lab technician at a top university, whose medical school is among the top 25

Medical interests: Cardiology, Dermatology, Otolaryngology.

Any suggestions?

PS - I refuse to leave the country to study medicine

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[Doc Andy]

Get all A's the rest of the way (basically). You need that GPA to jump, otherwise you have no hope.

 

[Mobius1985]

If you have 80 semester hours and a GPA of 2.5, and assuming it takes you 120 hours to qualify to graduate: If you get a 4.0 for the next 40 semester hours, your final GPA will be 3.0, which is too low for any MD or most DO schools to take you seriously.

Alternatively, if instead you take an additional 80 hours (total 160 semester hours as an undergrad) at 4.0 before applying, your GPA will be 3.25. You would have a steep upward grade trend which helps redeem you if you get a great MCAT score.

With scenario #2, what would be the needed MCAT score? For MD schools, a 35+ and for DO schools a 27+.

Also recommended would be to retake any prerequisite for which you received a grade of C or lower. If you apply to DO schools, they will replace the retaken grade before figuring out your application GPA, thus resuscitating your GPA more quickly (MD schools will average the two together).

As a DO med school grad, you'd have the possibility of training in any of the specialties you mentioned.

My suggestion is to figure out what you need to do to get straight As, because the way you're going is closing off the possibility of pursuing medicine as a career. Meet with instructors, get a tutor, take smaller class loads, stop having too much fun, or whatever it takes to get you on a more productive path. Also, consider taking the DO path to practicing medicine, as you'd get there sooner. SDN has another subforum (Pre-osteopathic) where you can further explore this option.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

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