Oh My God!!!! For Real???

[Crossroads]

thanks

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[Sundarban1]

I was told that I should just go to a masters program and that would be the GPA DO schools will only look at/consider!!!!!!!

No, they will calculate your GPA several different ways, one being your combined undergrad, post bacc, and graduate level grades (if you have them).

So please, help me out. Should I look for a post-bac or for a year in SMP in my case? What would be better for someone in my position?

If you do a SMP, those grades will be factored into your overall science/non science GPA for osteopathic schools, the same as if you were to just to regular master's level courses in a non-SMP format. This is an added benefit in 1.) Providing you do well, it will in fact raise your GPA for osteopathic schools, and 2.) You have the opportunity to take the same classes with medical students, which you cannot do with a traditional master's program.

Another option would be to simply take upper level sciences at the graduate/post bacc level at a local college. The advantage here is that you will save tons of money and hopefully come out with a higher GPA, much like you would in the SMP, but with less debt. I'm not familiar with any SMP programs with direct linkages to osteopathic schools, you may want to look into that. However I think the second option might save you a lot of money and get you the end result you are looking for.

 

[mshheaddoc]

Also, with your stats by the end of your degrees I think you'd be a better candidate for SMP than post-bacc. You were a bio major so you might not have many more "science" classes to take to boost your gpa.

 

[maximus07]

I graduated with the same stats and degree (BS bio) as you will by the end of your school year and faced the same dilemma (SMP or Postbac???). My primary objective was to raise my science gpa to a reasonable level which will not hurt me for allopathic schools. So I looked at things like 1)will the gpa from this institution be added to my undergrad gpa? 2) Linkages 3) Cost 4) Time. With this in mind I was looking at BU (mams program), Drexel (MSP/IMS program), and Harvard (Health careers program). After giving it a good look and advise from BU admission people, I decided on Harvard. Here are some the reasons: 1) COST!!! you get soooo much for your money (cost of living is probably the only thing you're looking at). 2) You take upperlevel science courses (there are about 10 or so offered every semester). So there are plenty of courses for you take. 3) your gpa here is looked along side with your gpa from undergrad...not the same with masters program. 4) You can get "sponsered," which means if you take a certain amounts of credits (depends on what undergrad gpa) through the "health careers program" and a certain MCAT score, they write a letter of reccomendation for you when you apply to medschools. And from what I heard they are highly regarded. (look at their website for more info <http://extension.harvard.edu/hcp/> 5) classes are taught by harvard & harvard medschool faculty, so these classes are hardcore which tells the schools you apply to that you weren't just taking some phony classes at some school. There are many more reasons for me to go this path but for now i think i hit the major ones. Sundarban1 is a genious when it comes to harvard extension so he can probably tell you more. As for my future plan: I'm taking 4 classes this semester and 3 next semester and taking the april 07 mact which will get me the sponsership from Harvard (hoping i do good on the mcat). Then next fall I'll hopefully get into a good SMP (Georgetown or BU or Drexel) from which I will be able to prove to adcoms I can handle the medschool intensity. So all in all I will have a good undergrad gpa (thanks to Harvard extension), work my ass off in a SMP and get a good masters gpa, and a good MCAT score = a perfect recipe to get into a meschool. Sorry I just rambled this out really quick but hope it helps. And to everyone else please feel free to question my startegy here. Love to hear some thoughts!