Overcoming horrible undergrad record.

[medrepmn]

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OK, so through nobody's fault but my own, I pissed away my first four years of undergrad and finished a bio degree in 2000 with a 2.3GPA. And get this, I got a 3.5GPA my last two semesters, to bring it up to 2.3. Yeah, I was more into the social aspect of college, especially after my brother died, and although I have plenty of ability, never did anything more than cram before the test so I could get a C and move on to the next term.
Anyway, after 5 years in the medical/surgical products industry, I have been told by several doctors that I should go to med school and could get in by retaking the typical pre-med core classes and a couple higher level science classes, and of course, really doing well on the MCAT (all 10s and higher).
I am very interested in medicine as a career and believe I am capable (we sales reps have to have confidence), but really, would any American medical school give a guy a chance if he screwed up his undergrad work as much as I did? Even if I get straight As while re-taking courses, will I not still be facing incredibly long odds?
I am meeting with a pre-med advisor from my undergrad institution this week and would like to get any feedback here that I can.
Thanks!

 

[Rafa]

You've got a shot. Just retake the prereqs, and apply yourself. Good luck 🙂

 

[gujuDoc]

I agree with Rafa. Look in the postbac forum at the Low GPA applicants thread. It will be inspirational to you.

A true story, but I knew a guy who had 8 F's on his transcript and a 2.23 even with postbac 3.9+ GPA for 90 credit hours. He had a 37N on his MCAT and ECs etc. He had 4 interviews of which he attended 2 and got waitlisted at both but off waitlist at top choice school.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

You'd probably be better off looking into a post-bac than trying to retake premed courses. And as they said before, the MCAT is going to be key for you. It will be a way to show that you do have the chops. Also, apply early.

 

[DrBowtie]

Going DO would be quicker. Only the retake grade is calculated in your application GPA.

 

[relentless11]

A 2.3 will definately be a challenge to bring up, but it is not impossible. With performance aside, your endurance will be a deciding factor. To put things into perspective, my undergrad GPA is like a 2.65. I will need about 70 units of A's in undergrad coursework to get it up to a 3.0..lol. BUT, I'm willing to do that, and I have time to do that.

My suggestion is you should prepare yourself both academically and mentally. You will obviously need to get a 3.5 or higher in undergrad coursework, and an MCAT of 30 or higher. You need to convince the adcoms that you are a changed person, and you have the ability to do well in med school, at least in terms of coursework.

You have three choices. 1) MD route, which is the most rigorous due to minimal benefit in terms of repeating classes. 2) DO route, which has the most yield since they take the highest grade if you happen to repeat a class, 3) Apply for both, therefore doing a mix of class repeats and new classes and hope for the best. This will depend on your time, endurance and how deep your pockets are. I think the best route for you would be DO, but I do not discourage you from trying for the MD route as well. It just depends on how much time you want to put into getting your grade up.

 

[NonTradMed]

OK, so through nobody's fault but my own, I pissed away my first four years of undergrad and finished a bio degree in 2000 with a 2.3GPA. And get this, I got a 3.5GPA my last two semesters, to bring it up to 2.3. Yeah, I was more into the social aspect of college, especially after my brother died, and although I have plenty of ability, never did anything more than cram before the test so I could get a C and move on to the next term.
Anyway, after 5 years in the medical/surgical products industry, I have been told by several doctors that I should go to med school and could get in by retaking the typical pre-med core classes and a couple higher level science classes, and of course, really doing well on the MCAT (all 10s and higher).
I am very interested in medicine as a career and believe I am capable (we sales reps have to have confidence), but really, would any American medical school give a guy a chance if he screwed up his undergrad work as much as I did? Even if I get straight As while re-taking courses, will I not still be facing incredibly long odds?
I am meeting with a pre-med advisor from my undergrad institution this week and would like to get any feedback here that I can.
Thanks!

Go DO. They let you replace grades and they accept slightly lower MCAT score so it would be the path of 'least resistance'. Also, DO schools seems to take more nontrads.

 

[medrepmn]

Thank you all for the advice. I have a lot of work to do, but am going to give it my best effort.
I guess I also have to start researching post-bac programs that will accept students that have already taken the pre-med requirements.

 

[MediMama23]

Thank you all for the advice. I have a lot of work to do, but am going to give it my best effort.
I guess I also have to start researching post-bac programs that will accept students that have already taken the pre-med requirements.

Though it's definitely an option, you don't have to go the formal post-bacc program route. You could take classes a la carte at your local university if you're looking to save money and do your own thing.

 

[sandros1]

Though it's definitely an option, you don't have to go the formal post-bacc program route. You could take classes a la carte at your local university if you're looking to save money and do your own thing.

Exactly what I did/am doing. I finally broke the 3.0 mark at the conclusion of last semester for overall. My science is up a bit because it is all I have taken during the informal post-bac route. My non-science will probably hurt - somewhere around a 2.8 or 2.9. Thankfully, these grade are from 9-13 years ago ('93-'97), which although not good, I have the luxury 😕 of having a large time separation to support my growing up/maturity that is, hopefully expressed by my 50+ hours at a 3.8-3.9. Of course, the MCAT last week will prove to be critical to my MD vs DO applications. I don't want to spend a ton more time taking undergad courses at my age, so hopefully my EC's and to what I've now committed over two years (understandably not a long time for undergrads, but for non-trads...$$$) will be ample for one acceptance. Here's to hoping.

 

[MediMama23]

Exactly what I did/am doing. I finally broke the 3.0 mark at the conclusion of last semester for overall. My science is up a bit because it is all I have taken during the informal post-bac route. My non-science will probably hurt - somewhere around a 2.8 or 2.9. Thankfully, these grade are from 9-13 years ago ('93-'97) , which although not good, I have the luxury 😕 of having a large time separation to support my growing up/maturity that is, hopefully expressed by my 50+ hours at a 3.8-3.9. Of course, the MCAT last week will prove to be critical to my MD vs DO applications. I don't want to spend a ton more time taking undergad courses at my age, so hopefully my EC's and to what I've now committed over two years (understandably not a long time for undergrads, but for non-trads...$$$) will be ample for one acceptance. Here's to hoping.

Not to completely detract from the thread, but I am still in awe that something that happened in the 90s happened over 6 years ago. It seems like just last year we were in the 90s. When I read this part, my brain did a double-take. I sometimes wonder what I really did in from 2000 to now. 🙁

 

[medrepmn]

Well, I just had a meeting with an advisor in the U of MN medical school. Not terribly encouraging, but he did say that it wouldn't be impossible, especially if I can get more patient-care exposure while re-taking some classes.
He pushed the Osteopathic schools, which in his mind are much more open to non-traditional types than Allopathic schools.
All-in-all, it was pretty much what I expected. I won't be able to escape my old undergrad record, but that I could impress some folks with good post-bac work and plenty of experience in the medical arena.

 

[dbhvt]

Well, I just had a meeting with an advisor in the U of MN medical school. Not terribly encouraging, but he did say that it wouldn't be impossible, especially if I can get more patient-care exposure while re-taking some classes.
He pushed the Osteopathic schools, which in his mind are much more open to non-traditional types than Allopathic schools.
All-in-all, it was pretty much what I expected. I won't be able to escape my old undergrad record, but that I could impress some folks with good post-bac work and plenty of experience in the medical arena.

I was in a situation not that different from yours about 4 years ago. Major differences being that I took NO science the first time around, and didn't actually complete my bachelors degree (a couple of courses shy). The benefit of this for me was that it was readily aparrent to anyone glancing at my application that something strange was going on. After 70some credits of A, rather than just having a 3.17 GPA to show for it, I had a 4.0 BCPM.

After dropping out of school and bartending, I had this crazy idea to see what the medical field was all about. I don't know where I got the idea that I would be at all competitive for an allo spot, but I just put my head down and pushed for, I guess it will be 4 1/2 years when I matriculate in August. My suggestion to you: overkill. Don't shoot for a 4.0 in the courses you take from here on out. Shoot to ace them. Shoot to know as much as the prof by the end of the course. Approach every other aspect of your application this same way.

I also went back and asked some of the profs in classes I had failed if I could complete whatever coursework I just plain hadn't turned in (papers, etc) and get the grade changed. This took a lot of work, but really paid off when 3 F's turned into B's. (I still had several F's D's and C's remaining on my transcript).

Oh, and don't start taking classes again untill you've changed whatever it is in your life that caused the problems the first time around. Just saying 'I'm really going to work hard this semester' isn't enough. You need to identify and execute the attitude and behavioral adjustments required to approach life in a totally different way if you want to pull this off.