Planning my Path - Advice and Hello!

[Cawolf]

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[theseeker4]

Hello,

I posted a similar thread in the post-bac forum, but I wanted to post in this forum as I have got most of my help from reading through here. I am a long-time reader, and this forum really helped me gather information about programs when I made my decision to pursue medicine. I am looking for some advice as to whether I should pursue an SMP when cycles open for Fall 2015. I will be done with my prerequisite courses in Spring 2015 - and was planning on entering the DO/MD application cycle for the class entering 2016. I guess I am just trying to figure out if at the start of next cycle, I will be a competitive applicant for any US program.

I guess I will give my brief summary of "stats". I am a relatively "non-traditional" student who did extremely poorly in undergrad. At the end of undergrad my GPA was 2.65 and my BCPM GPA was 2.10 (only a few classes of which two were a grade of F). My B.S. was conferred in 2008.

Since that time I pursued meaningful work as an EMT and then Paramedic - of which I have been practicing for 5 years. This work is what inspired me to begin the slow process of GPA repair.

Long story short, I attended school part-time for two years - proving to myself I was actually a highly capable student. I then applied and was accepted to my current post-bac program at a school with a top 35 MD program.

I have taken 98.5 post-bac semester hours (including my part-time work before the program) with 65 of the hours being BCPM courses. My post-bac GPA is 3.97 and my BCPM post-bac GPA is 4.0. I will be sitting for the MCAT in January - and at this time am focused on preparing to score high.

Therefore my cumulative GPA is 3.21 and my cumulative BCPM GPA is 3.52.

I have been shadowing MDs and DOs for the past year - and will be more than grateful to enter any US MD or DO program. In addition to many clinical hours in EMS, I have volunteered doing bench research in a HIV lab for one year - and volunteer within the community for the past year.

Do you think that if I score well on the MCAT (how well?) I would be an acceptable candidate for any school? Do you think I should pursue an SMP for next year while applying to schools? Or do you think I would be better off focusing on my application cycle?

Any advice is welcome. I know I did terrible as a kid - I am definitely not the same student I was then. I can't change that now though.

Thanks!

Welcome!

With that post-bac GPA, if your MCAT is in the 30's and balanced, I can't see you not making it into some MD schools, let alone DO schools. Keep up the good work, and you will be a physician. I don't think with your recent track record an SMP is necessary, unless you are willing to spend a ton of money and an extra year to improve your chances at one particular school that has linkage with the SMP you are looking at. Study like crazy for the MCAT, do well, and apply next cycle. Good luck!

 

[Cawolf]

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[jdtomd12]

Not to hijack your thread, but I figured I could ask this here since it is kinda sorta on point, as opposed to starting a new thread.

Anyway, I am trying to figure out exactly how GPA is calculated if you do a post bac (career changer) type program. My current cumulative undergrad GPA, including I think one science course, though not a med school pre req, and a couple math courses, is a 3.5. The science and math courses alone is a 4.0. So my question is if I enroll in a post bac program will the new classes still effect my final cGPA, in other words, if I get a 4.0 post bac, my cGPA could potentially be a 3.6? Is this the case if I decide not to do a formal post bac, and just take individual classes too? Even at a CC?

For some reason I was under the impression that we are all kind of stuck with the original undergrad GPA, after reading your post I figured this is not in fact the case. I was just under a different impression when I read that career changer type programs are not for people trying to boost their GPA. I guess that just means they are not for re-takers?

I also assume that MD schools will look more closely at the post bac classes, not only for their relevance, but for non-traditionals, due to the proximity in time. Is this true?

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Cawolf]

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[jdtomd12]

Ahhh, great! Thanks for clarifying! I understand my GPA isn't shabby, but it's nice to know I can potentially eek out a tenth of a point or two. By the way, congrats on what you have accomplished, and good luck from here on.

 

[theseeker4]

Not to hijack your thread, but I figured I could ask this here since it is kinda sorta on point, as opposed to starting a new thread.

Anyway, I am trying to figure out exactly how GPA is calculated if you do a post bac (career changer) type program. My current cumulative undergrad GPA, including I think one science course, though not a med school pre req, and a couple math courses, is a 3.5. The science and math courses alone is a 4.0. So my question is if I enroll in a post bac program will the new classes still effect my final cGPA, in other words, if I get a 4.0 post bac, my cGPA could potentially be a 3.6? Is this the case if I decide not to do a formal post bac, and just take individual classes too? Even at a CC?

For some reason I was under the impression that we are all kind of stuck with the original undergrad GPA, after reading your post I figured this is not in fact the case. I was just under a different impression when I read that career changer type programs are not for people trying to boost their GPA. I guess that just means they are not for re-takers?

I also assume that MD schools will look more closely at the post bac classes, not only for their relevance, but for non-traditionals, due to the proximity in time. Is this true?

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

The application breaks down your GPA's by freshman through senior year of undergrad, and a fifth section for post-bachelor work, as well as including a "bottom line" of every undergraduate class ever attempted, which is the total cGPA and total sGPA. This combined total is the most important for admissions stats, but adcoms at a glance can see how your performed each year and how you did in a post-bac.

In this way, you are stuck with your undergraduate GPA, at least for MD schools, since the older grades will always impact your total GPA, but your more recent work is definitely evident as well.

More recent classes are the most important to do well in, but how much adcoms will overlook prior poor performance varies greatly from school to school. Either way, strong post-bac performance and great sGPA numbers will be universally positive.

 

[Cawolf]

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