I'm 26 years old, which I assume puts me above the average age of medical school applicants. I've had a rough couple of years, both in college and out of it, and I'd appreciate any advice or feedback on my chances.
I graduated from Berkeley with a 3.3 GPA and a 32 on the MCAT (low GPA, high test score), but I didn't really put much effort into my applications. The next year I applied again, but yet again I didn't try hard enough. Yes, I know it's stupid to continuously apply and waste money if my heart is not into it, but I was going through a difficult time and let's just say I wasn't thinking straight.
Eventually my MCAT expired and I had to take it again, but this time I scored a 29. I'm not sure what the hell happened, but it temporarily discouraged me from the med school path and I decided to apply to biomedical PhD programs instead. In the past month I've gone to PhD interviews at some top universities but it's made me realize that my true interests lie in practicing medicine (and also in translational research) and that I'd rather try to become a doctor and continuously get rejected than be stuck in some lab job that I hate for 5+ years, wondering "What if..."
I should also mention that I spent three years working in a research position at a biotech company until they laid me off last July. I also earned a Masters in Biotechnology from a local university where I got a 3.9 GPA (I know med schools don't put much weight in graduate GPAs, but hey, anything helps, right?)
I am truly committed to becoming a doctor. I know this is what I want to do, and I'm willing to put the time and effort into making this dream a reality. But at this point, I have to admit to myself that I need help. I have three major points of concern:
1) GPA. Yeah, my undergraduate GPA is pretty low, and while I did not get any C's in any pre-requisite classes, I did get quite a few B's. Should I enroll in a SMP program this year, or would a simple post-bacc program do the trick? Should I even bother? I'm thinking that the advantage of doing an SMP is that I could apply this June before I start the program and then med schools could look at my fall grades and base their decision on that. I know that SMPs are a risky venture and if you do poorly you're essentially screwing yourself over, so I'm hesitant to go down this route, but like I said, I'm willing to take the plunge because (unlike my lazy self in previous years) I truly am dedicated this time around.
2) MCAT. I'm enrolled in an online Kaplan course. This one's pretty straightforward, I need to kill this test by any means necessary. Failure is not an option.
3) My extracurriculars. They've been pretty sparse since I left college. I mentioned my job and my Masters degree, but now that I'm unemployed there really is no excuse. I'm applying to contract research positions in various companies and I'm hoping this works out. Once I find something I hope to do some sort of volunteer work as well. But it's mid-February and the admissions cycle starts in June. Is this completely impractical? And if I do an SMP, and it starts in mid-August, I'm not sure I'll have the ability to invest in anything long-term.
(I should also mention that while in college I did various ECs like teaching a public health class, shadowing a surgeon, working as a chemist in one company, and being a peer advisor to fellow students. Of course, it's been so long since college that I doubt med schools will even care about those things anymore.)
Any help would really be appreciated. I've spent way too much time wallowing in self-pity and wishing I could go back in time and knock some sense into my lazy younger self, but now I'm sick of it and ready to bring my A game to whatever needs to get done.
I graduated from Berkeley with a 3.3 GPA and a 32 on the MCAT (low GPA, high test score), but I didn't really put much effort into my applications. The next year I applied again, but yet again I didn't try hard enough. Yes, I know it's stupid to continuously apply and waste money if my heart is not into it, but I was going through a difficult time and let's just say I wasn't thinking straight.
Eventually my MCAT expired and I had to take it again, but this time I scored a 29. I'm not sure what the hell happened, but it temporarily discouraged me from the med school path and I decided to apply to biomedical PhD programs instead. In the past month I've gone to PhD interviews at some top universities but it's made me realize that my true interests lie in practicing medicine (and also in translational research) and that I'd rather try to become a doctor and continuously get rejected than be stuck in some lab job that I hate for 5+ years, wondering "What if..."
I should also mention that I spent three years working in a research position at a biotech company until they laid me off last July. I also earned a Masters in Biotechnology from a local university where I got a 3.9 GPA (I know med schools don't put much weight in graduate GPAs, but hey, anything helps, right?)
I am truly committed to becoming a doctor. I know this is what I want to do, and I'm willing to put the time and effort into making this dream a reality. But at this point, I have to admit to myself that I need help. I have three major points of concern:
1) GPA. Yeah, my undergraduate GPA is pretty low, and while I did not get any C's in any pre-requisite classes, I did get quite a few B's. Should I enroll in a SMP program this year, or would a simple post-bacc program do the trick? Should I even bother? I'm thinking that the advantage of doing an SMP is that I could apply this June before I start the program and then med schools could look at my fall grades and base their decision on that. I know that SMPs are a risky venture and if you do poorly you're essentially screwing yourself over, so I'm hesitant to go down this route, but like I said, I'm willing to take the plunge because (unlike my lazy self in previous years) I truly am dedicated this time around.
2) MCAT. I'm enrolled in an online Kaplan course. This one's pretty straightforward, I need to kill this test by any means necessary. Failure is not an option.
3) My extracurriculars. They've been pretty sparse since I left college. I mentioned my job and my Masters degree, but now that I'm unemployed there really is no excuse. I'm applying to contract research positions in various companies and I'm hoping this works out. Once I find something I hope to do some sort of volunteer work as well. But it's mid-February and the admissions cycle starts in June. Is this completely impractical? And if I do an SMP, and it starts in mid-August, I'm not sure I'll have the ability to invest in anything long-term.
(I should also mention that while in college I did various ECs like teaching a public health class, shadowing a surgeon, working as a chemist in one company, and being a peer advisor to fellow students. Of course, it's been so long since college that I doubt med schools will even care about those things anymore.)
Any help would really be appreciated. I've spent way too much time wallowing in self-pity and wishing I could go back in time and knock some sense into my lazy younger self, but now I'm sick of it and ready to bring my A game to whatever needs to get done.
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