Official Post-bacc vs DIY Post-bacc

[WhittieStudenti]

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I posted something similar on the Pre-medical page but I think getting this could technically qualify beyond a traditional route. I graduated with a pretty abysmal 3.141 GPA, plenty of experience volunteering in local clinics and hospitals and having a charity event surrounding Providence St. Mary's Hospital under my belt. But after about 5 months after coming out of college, I still have a problem formulating a concrete plan of what activities, job and decisions that would effectively push me onto a course into medical school. Right now I have landed a case-research unpaid internship at Panel of Consultants (an IME panel based out of Seattle), have 2 shadowing gigs with Seattle Children's/Overlake Hospital and am interviewing for a volunteering position at the Pike Place Neighborcare Health Clinic. I know practically every SMP listed through the AAMC and SDN website but am cautious about committing to any program at the moment ($50,000 is alot of money). What would be the benefits of taking a formal over a DIY post-bacc or would medical schools even consider a DIY?
I've looked into volunteering abroad for a number of months and have reached out to a number of organizations. Could taking a multiple-month volunteering trip really boost those chances for medical school or are they mostly hot air? Are there any EC that would really boost someone beyond just their GPA, along the lines of volunteering or employment?

**Practice MCAT score(s): 522, 523, 520; will be taking MCAT in 3 months

Cumulative GPA: 3.141
sGPA: 3.005
Transcript Outline:
Fall 2013
Gens145 Freshman Encounters (Intro Course) - B
Phys155 General Physics I - B
Chem135 General Chemistry Lab I - A
Math126 Calculus II - B
Phil107 Critical Reasoning (Philosophy) - (B-)
Spring 2014
Gens146 Freshman Encounters (Intro Course) - B
Phys156 General Physics II - C
Chem126 General Chemistry - B+
Chem136 General Chemistry Lab II - A
Econ101 Principles of Microeconomics - B
Fall 2014
Engl150 Intro Creative Writing - (C+)
Math225 Calculus III - (B-)
Chem245 Organic Chemistry I - B
Chem251 Organic Lab Techniques I - (B-)
Biol111 Biological Principles - (C+)
Spring 2015
Chem246 Organic Chemistry II - (B+)
Chem252 Organic Lab Techniques II - (C+)
Psyc110 Introduction to Psychology - (A)
Soc110 Social Problems - (B+)
Hist182 History of Expansion and Enlightenment - (A-)
Fall 2015
Hist207 Age of Humanism and Reform - (B+)
BBMB325 Biochemistry - (B+)
Biol205 Genetics - W
Psyc240 Developmental Psychology - (A-)
Spring 2016
BBMB324 Biophysics - B
Biol205 Genetics - C
Chem411 Organic Chemistry of Drug Design - B
BBMB 327 Biomolecular Techniques - (B+)
Hist202 Age of Cathedrals - (B+)
Fall 2016
BBMB490 Senior Thesis - A
BBMB326 Molecular Biology - (B-)
BBMB336 Molecular Biology Lab - B
Biol471 Synthetic Cellular Biology - A
Hist17 Decolonization in Africa - (B+)
Spring 2017
BBMB400 BBMB Senior Seminar - (B+)
Hist380 Traumatic 20th Century - (B+)
Math247 Statistics with Applications - (B+)
Phil217 Bioethics - (A-)
BBMB490 Senior Thesis - (A)
Mus164B Elementary Application Music: Voice - A
Mus164k Elementary Application Music: Percussion - A

 

[DSM_302.0]

DIY are fine. Great, even. They show maturity and ability to self-manage. If your MCAT is that high for the real deal, it’ll make up for your crappy gpa some, but you need to convince adcoms you’re not only smart but also a good student. A year or two of post bac classes at 3.8 or above could demonstrate that. And I think the consensus is many overseas volunteering is fluff for rich kids, so it depends what you’d be working on and how you can talk about it.

 

[bmetomed25]

Hi,
I would really appreciate any and all advice on the following scenario requiring methods of gpa enhancement, particularly sgpa:
I majored in BS in Biomedical Engineering at GWU May 2017 with overall GPA 3.4, science gpa 3.1. I had a bad downward trend senior year - 3.3 fall and 3.13 spring semester. Retook general chemistry 1 and 2. Regarding ECs, I have 250 hours of volunteering in two hospitals and 1 nursing home. 16 hours of shadowing at a hospital. I did an undergraduate research fellowship for 8 months on data processing in a lab meant to design robotic devices for autistic children. I had one leadership role in Biomedical Engineering Society club for a year. I didn't have other ECS while in school.

I had to withdraw from organic chemistry 2 in spring semester (had a poor semester with a 3.1 GPA senior year due to poor time management and mental health issues that I am now resolving and doing much better from) and retook it in the summer getting an A-. I took biochemistry in the fall semester and got an A while volunteering at a nearby hospital 4-8 hours a week. Currently, taking organic chemistry 2 laboratory and volunteering and shadowing. I am planning to take the MCAT in April or May.

I am debating whether I should apply to a smp program(Georgetown SMP, Cinnnati SMP, Tufts MBS, BU MAMS) or a premedical certificate (like the John Hopkins HSI) that involves upper-level undergraduate coursework starting 2018 fall(or summer, depending on the program) or just take additional upper-level science course to help out. I know that if I do a smp, med schools will look at both the undergraduate gpa and smp gpa separately and am just unsure how much a good smp gpa can compensate for my undergraduate science gpa. So I am debated -- will med schools prefer strong peformance in med school coursework or rather see I boost up my undergraduate science gpa?

If I decide to do DIY post bac program, I calculated that if I get As in 32 credits, I am able to boost my undergraduate science GPA to 3.4 (this requires extreme care I know ). I know I also have the option to do 32 credits coursework, MCAT, and apply to post bacs as I apply to med schools. However, if a smp would help more than DIY post bac for my situation, I'd prefer to that because I can take out a federal loan to cover the smp cost while for DIY informal post bac, no financial aid is offered and I have to pay out of pocket.

One more note: I have a thought of doing the Georgetown SMP and doing well in it for this reason: I know someone who is a dean at that med school (not a dean of admissions but a particular dean) and would be willing to support my application.

IF THIS POST BELONGS TO A SPECIFIC THREAD, please let me know where to put it!
Any and all advice on this is truly appreciated. Thanks very much for your help.