Not sure what to do. Post-bacc? Try and apply? Something else?

[coloringbook]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Everything has been really difficult for me since sophomore year of college (loss of two fiances, rape, several other deaths between family and friends.. it's been really rough) and now that I've gotten a lot of my drive back, I'm frustrated and unsure of what to do with my numbers.

Undergraduate: Ivy League 2012
Major: Social science
Minor: Hard science
CGPA: 3.3
SGPA: 3.0

Graduate degree (Master's): Top 10 2014
Major: Hard science
Minors: 1 hard science, 1 social science
CGPA: 2.9
SGPA: 3.2
No +s or -s in grading, pulled mostly Bs, some As, and one F (incomplete turned into a F).

Research: 3.5 years in social science working with children and adults, just under a year in a biology laboratory
Internships/work: Pharmaceutical R & D, private caretaker for someone with disabilities
Teaching: TA for 3 classes (2 hard science, 1 social science), sexual education teacher in a middle school (volunteer)
Other: Lots of leadership and social positions. Everything from news paper editing to reading to children to organizing fund raisers
Recommendations: Lots of possibilities, all very strong. Professors, research mentors, those I've TAed for, so on
MCAT: Haven't taken it yet. Part of my problem and decision

I've gotten a few suggestions and I can't really make up my mind. I think these are my options:
1) Post-bacc to boost my numbers and to take classes that I haven't in a while. For example, I took general chemistry and calculus in 2008 - 2009. I don't remember much, really. If I do this, I'd want to try for a program that has linkage agreements with medical schools and aim to be nominated for that
2) No more classes, take the MCAT, apply on my own and see what happens. I'm not super confident about this one. I'd want to be ready to apply as soon as apps open up in June and I don't know if I have enough time to take the test by then
3) Nursing school. I dislike this one, but my family keeps telling me to do it and I don't know what they see in me that makes them think I should give up and do this instead, but no one here has any reason to be dishonest if they think this is a good alternative
4) International medical school. I don't know where or what that process is like, but it is an option

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong area. A friend suggested this site. Thank you for your help!

 

[Medic5522]

I definitely think you've got a good shot if you can get >85th percentile on the MCAT. Given that you already earned an MS, I don't think a post-bacc would be particularly helpful.

I'd suggest spending the next few months studying for the MCAT and beefing up your clinical experience. If you start studying now, you should be more than prepared by Feb/March. Apply this summer (you've definitely got a better shot with DO schools) and see what happens.

That being said, nursing school isn't a bad option. It's great profession that definitely needs more intelligent, competent people. You'll definitely get more hands-on patient contact as a nurse, and you can change fields if you get bored of one. Nothing pisses me off more than hearing someone say that somebody is "just a nurse." Nurses run hospitals, not doctors.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Everything has been really difficult for me since sophomore year of college (loss of two fiances, rape, several other deaths between family and friends.. it's been really rough) and now that I've gotten a lot of my drive back, I'm frustrated and unsure of what to do with my numbers.

Undergraduate: Ivy League 2012
Major: Social science
Minor: Hard science
CGPA: 3.3
SGPA: 3.0

Graduate degree (Master's): Top 10 2014
Major: Hard science
Minors: 1 hard science, 1 social science
CGPA: 2.9
SGPA: 3.2
No +s or -s in grading, pulled mostly Bs, some As, and one F (incomplete turned into a F).

Research: 3.5 years in social science working with children and adults, just under a year in a biology laboratory
Internships/work: Pharmaceutical R & D, private caretaker for someone with disabilities
Teaching: TA for 3 classes (2 hard science, 1 social science), sexual education teacher in a middle school (volunteer)
Other: Lots of leadership and social positions. Everything from news paper editing to reading to children to organizing fund raisers
Recommendations: Lots of possibilities, all very strong. Professors, research mentors, those I've TAed for, so on
MCAT: Haven't taken it yet. Part of my problem and decision

I've gotten a few suggestions and I can't really make up my mind. I think these are my options:
1) Post-bacc to boost my numbers and to take classes that I haven't in a while. For example, I took general chemistry and calculus in 2008 - 2009. I don't remember much, really. If I do this, I'd want to try for a program that has linkage agreements with medical schools and aim to be nominated for that
2) No more classes, take the MCAT, apply on my own and see what happens. I'm not super confident about this one. I'd want to be ready to apply as soon as apps open up in June and I don't know if I have enough time to take the test by then
3) Nursing school. I dislike this one, but my family keeps telling me to do it and I don't know what they see in me that makes them think I should give up and do this instead, but no one here has any reason to be dishonest if they think this is a good alternative
4) International medical school. I don't know where or what that process is like, but it is an option

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong area. A friend suggested this site. Thank you for your help!

Sorry to hear of all the hardships and problems you've faced in the past. I'll go through these in order.

1) Your GPA is going to be too low for many formal post-bacc programs if you still want to take pre-reqs. And I'll also add that these programs are often very very competitive which is something people overlook. Linkage is all well and good but there's a better way to try and go about this which I'll describe a little below.
2) Without taking pre-reqs taking the MCAT is just a horrible idea. Even with pre-reqs, given how old they are and how unconfident you are about it, I would not consider taking the MCAT at all at this moment. Remember you need biochem also for this MCAT.
3) If you don't want to go to nursing school, don't go to nursing school. This is something only you can decide. All I'll say is given how many obstacles there are going to be to the path to getting into med school you should strongly research alternative options as backup possibilities before pursuing the grade-repair/MCAT route. If you decide in the process of doing that you don't want to pursue the pre-med path given there are no guarantees for anybody they'll get into med school, its much better to realize that now before starting the redemption path.
4) This should not be something you consider if you want to practice medicine in the US. I don't know how admission works for medical school in foreign countries like Australia and whether you would be competitive. If your plan is to go to the Caribbean route to practice in the US, I can tell you that's a very bad idea.

When someone doesn't have a track record of academic success I often say you need to start small and see yourself have success before doing anything else. If you haven't taken pre-reqs yet, start taking them. Start off with maybe one of them and another science course. Once you start doing well, start taking 2 then maybe 3 in one semester. If you haven't taken some of these classes since 2008, I think it's a good idea to consider taking them again. I know there are a number of schools where pre-reqs 10+ years old can be an issue and if you do end up pursuing medicine you won't be applying for several years anyway which will be around 2018 or so. Beyond pre-reqs, I would recommend taking some upper level science courses as well such as biochem, physiology, anatomy, immunology, microbio etc Again all in all it's about doing well, no matter how slow you have to start off with. If it means only taking 1-2 science courses a semester your first semester back in school, so be it. Build yourself back up over several semesters until the point you are doing well in several hard science courses at a time. This can be easily done through a DIY post-bacc and not a formal program. IN fact I would recommend the DIY style for someone like you for a couple semesters to get good habits and develop what it takes to do well in classes.

If you end up doing this and having success in science courses in a DIY post-bacc after a few semesters you have two options.
a) you can take the MCAT and apply to DO schools if your MCAT is competitive for them and you build up the other necessary EC's you need. For DO's grade replacement does wonders to a GPA and can make it competitive fast.
b) If you are all in on trying to get a MD you'll also need to take the MCAT and the standards for what's competitive for MD schools is alot higher than DO. If you get a competitive MD score and want the MD it would be a good idea to at least consider an SMP program where you basically take classes with med students and have to beat out the majority of them. And this is where linkage can come into play; there are SMPs that will matriculate a number of the strong students to that med school the following year. Programs like Rosalind, Eastern Virginia, Cincinnati and Temple have good linkage to their med schools. Like I said though, this is all a while away. In order to have a chance to do well enough to make an SMP worthwhile(ie beating out hte majority of MS1s who will have aced UG and be studying way more than they did in UG) you need to build up your skills and do well in college classes first where it is far easier. SMPs are very risky things; do poorly in one and you'll have eternally screwed your chances of getting into a med school, MD or DO. Only once you have done well in some undergrad courses and have a good MCAT score can you really have a shot to do well in an SMP. And like I said above, if you are open to the DO route, there's a good chance honestly you don't need an SMP if you can demonstrate several good semesters of strong UG work and re-take any classes you got C's or lower in.

The key thing though is don't try and skip steps and short circuit this process. It'll be a long one with no assurances, but if you are serious about medicine, it'll easily be worth it. Don't jump into an SMP before you are ready. Don't jump into overloading a semester with too many hard science courses before you are ready. Don't jump into the MCAT before you are ready. Learn from prior mistakes. When you see someone with an Ivy League degree the question isn't often about having the "chops" to handle this path and be capable of success. It's about smart planning, dedication and making good decisions. That is what you'll need to focus on to build back your med school chances.

 

[el_duderino]

Your GPA doesn't indicate you're very good at school, frankly.

You need to take the prereqs for the MCAT anyway, so take them. If you can basically get straight As in those, then consider the MCAT. If you continue to rock a B average in them... might be time for plan B.

 

[sylviaplathMD]

Your GPA doesn't indicate you're very good at school, frankly.

You need to take the prereqs for the MCAT anyway, so take them. If you can basically get straight As in those, then consider the MCAT. If you continue to rock a B average in them... might be time for plan B.

Orrr they had a lot of **** hit the fan that occasionally took precedence over schoolwork...

Either way, I agree that OP should take the prereqs for the MCAT. Another option, if money is tight, is to audit classes which is what I did. I was able to refresh my knowledge in classes that I hadn't taken in years while only paying 1/3 of the price of tuition...
Take the classes, study for the MCAT on your own as well, and take the thing when you're ready.

Also, nursing is great. I am currently working in an allied health career and think that it has helped me make a fully formed decision to take the step to medical school. However, if it something you have no interest in, please don't let your family pressure you into it. It's your career, not theirs.

 

[el_duderino]

Orrr they had a lot of **** hit the fan that occasionally took precedence over schoolwork...

Over the entire course of undergrad plus Master's degree? That's 6 years of academic work adding up to about a 3.1 or 3.2 GPA with zero upward trend.

Getting a 2.9 cGPA in a hard science Master's program does not scream, to me, "prepared for medical school." But I'm not an adcom or anything.

 

[Turkishking]

Everything has been really difficult for me since sophomore year of college (loss of two fiances, rape, several other deaths between family and friends.. it's been really rough) and now that I've gotten a lot of my drive back, I'm frustrated and unsure of what to do with my numbers.

Undergraduate: Ivy League 2012
Major: Social science
Minor: Hard science
CGPA: 3.3
SGPA: 3.0

Graduate degree (Master's): Top 10 2014
Major: Hard science
Minors: 1 hard science, 1 social science
CGPA: 2.9
SGPA: 3.2
No +s or -s in grading, pulled mostly Bs, some As, and one F (incomplete turned into a F).

Research: 3.5 years in social science working with children and adults, just under a year in a biology laboratory
Internships/work: Pharmaceutical R & D, private caretaker for someone with disabilities
Teaching: TA for 3 classes (2 hard science, 1 social science), sexual education teacher in a middle school (volunteer)
Other: Lots of leadership and social positions. Everything from news paper editing to reading to children to organizing fund raisers
Recommendations: Lots of possibilities, all very strong. Professors, research mentors, those I've TAed for, so on
MCAT: Haven't taken it yet. Part of my problem and decision

I've gotten a few suggestions and I can't really make up my mind. I think these are my options:
1) Post-bacc to boost my numbers and to take classes that I haven't in a while. For example, I took general chemistry and calculus in 2008 - 2009. I don't remember much, really. If I do this, I'd want to try for a program that has linkage agreements with medical schools and aim to be nominated for that
2) No more classes, take the MCAT, apply on my own and see what happens. I'm not super confident about this one. I'd want to be ready to apply as soon as apps open up in June and I don't know if I have enough time to take the test by then
3) Nursing school. I dislike this one, but my family keeps telling me to do it and I don't know what they see in me that makes them think I should give up and do this instead, but no one here has any reason to be dishonest if they think this is a good alternative
4) International medical school. I don't know where or what that process is like, but it is an option

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong area. A friend suggested this site. Thank you for your help!

How do I major in Hard Science??

 

[TehTeddy]

How do I major in Hard Science??

You mean your school doesn't offer a major in hard science?

Seriously though, a hard science usually means chemistry/physics or something of that sort. Social science would be something like psychology/sociology.

 

[22031 Alum]

Orrr they had a lot of **** hit the fan that occasionally took precedence over schoolwork...

This way of thinking can be harmful, though I understand trying to be sympathetic. The thing is, there are plenty of applicants out there with stories of hardship who managed to not just do better, but excel. While it may be taken into account to some degree, there's no easier version of med school/licensing exams based on what you've gone through. You have to prove you have the chops for it, and OP hasn't yet. Subpar performance can certainly be rationalized but doing so doesn't help anyone.

 

[sylviaplathMD]

This way of thinking can be harmful, though I understand trying to be sympathetic. The thing is, there are plenty of applicants out there with stories of hardship who managed to not just do better, but excel. While it may be taken into account to some degree, there's no easier version of med school/licensing exams based on what you've gone through. You have to prove you have the chops for it, and OP hasn't yet. Subpar performance can certainly be rationalized but doing so doesn't help anyone.

I agree and I do have the tendency to be overly sympathetic. I have just have a hard time believing that if he/she was able to get into an Ivy League school that they don't have the potential to succeed in medical school.

But like other posters have stated I think they should try their hand at grade replacement... I'm choosing to think optimistically and believe that they'll do better this time around but if not it will be difficult gain entrance to a med school with those sGPA's as they are now.

 

[el_duderino]

Has the potential to, probably. Hasn't lived up to the potential though. 6 years of bottom-of-the-allopathic-barrel work isn't some poop occasionally hitting the fan.

OP has to step it up and prove (s)he can succeed academically. The Master's was a good opportunity for that, but a 2.9 is kind of a killer. OP needs a lot of straight A work and a high MCAT.

 

[coloringbook]

Sorry for being vague. The friends who recommended this site are on here and I got a bit paranoid that they'd figure out who I am.

Thank you for all the replies and suggestions. I know I've messed up (regardless of the reasons), and I'm trying to move forward. I have a few phone appointments with post-bacc programs to see if I can do some kind of combination GPA repair and taking more high-level classes to show that I'm capable of doing well. If that fails, I'm going to enroll in a local school and take classes on my own. Thanks again for listening and pointing me in the right direction