Post-bac, Master's, or SMP?

[RocuROMANium]

Same question, different scenario.

I graduated from the University of Georgia in December 2015 with a B.S. in Environmental Health. My cGPA is 2.7 and my sGPA is approximately 2.2.

I didn't realize I wanted to pursue a career in medicine until my last semester of undergrad after trying out business and environmental health. In addition, my GPA sucks because I went through a lot of family issues during undergrad. Unfortunately, the environmental health program at UGA is pre-medical so, as a result, it looks like I declared pre-medical and failed when in fact I was pre-medcial because of degree requirements.

Here is my thinking. If my degree wasn't already pre-medical I would probably just do post-bac, but then again my GPA is so low and I have so many credit hours that even if a earned a 4.0 post-bac GPA it still wouldn't affect my undergrad GPA enough to make me competitive for medical school. After reading all of the forums it seems that a SMP or Master's would benefit me greater. However, I need research experience so it seems that a MS in Biology would probably be the best fit for me since it offers difficult science courses plus research experience.

I have ZERO doubts about becoming a doctor. However, I do know that I have no room left for error so I will do everything I can to achieve this goal in my life.

What do you all think?

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[gamieg]

your current GPA will most likely not allow you acceptance into an SMP. your sGPA especially is cause for alarm in all programs, and without doing some serious grade repair, your chances for medical school are not looking good.

research will not be beneficial enough in your case to offset the worrisome academics, so you absolutely need to address your GPA first.

this will be a pretty tough uphill road for you, and it'll take at least 2-3 years. I'd recommend you start with grade repair and retaking courses you have not done well in and getting As. this would most likely be done via an informal diy postbac. after that, Id continue taking some upper division coursework to demonstrate your ability to handle rigorous science coursework. then take the mcat and kill it. during this entire time, you'll need exposure to medicine in the form of clinical experiences, volunteering, and shadowing to show your altruism and commitment to this path. depending on where you are at this point, you could either try applying or apply to an SMP (with potential linkages) since your chances would be better. after the SMP, aka med school audition, hopefully medicine will be more in reach.

but above all, please make sure this is the only path you see realistically yourself happy pursuing. we all make mistakes and can work hard to rectify them, but your road will be harder than most.

 

[RocuROMANium]

This post I am just talking about GPA but I suppose a quick background wouldn't hurt.

I spent a long time making sure this is what I want to do. It is undoubtedly my path. However, I am completely aware that I have a huge uphill climb to get there.

I work at a hospital as a CNA for the experience. I have shadowing experience but I do need more. I plan on getting more volunteer experience as well.

My grades suck but I did have signs of hope. I got an A in biochem, a B in both OChems, and a B in Micro. So it's not like I totally bombed every science course I took, but yea I need all A's from this point on. If I have to retake courses then I suppose I need to retake both Physics, Gen Bios, and Gen Chem I since I got all C's in those courses. I should probably retake Micro while I'm at it and ace that as well.

 

[RocuROMANium]

Don't ever retake a B. Don't bother retaking those C's as well. Focus on taking upper-level science classes that are similar to medical school curriculum such as, Anatomy, Physiology, Immunology, Neurobiology, Pharmacology, Virology etc.

Ok I see the point you are getting at. It would seem to me that medical schools would expect you to ace retaken courses anyways. So I guess the idea would be to take these upper level courses, do well in them, and apply to a SMP or Master's program? I can't do much to change my terrible GPA but maybe they can see an upward trend and accept me. My last semester of undergrad was already where I started my upward trend anyways.

 

[bmetomed25]

Hi,

I just opened an account on here today am looking for some advice for the following situation: I majored in BS in Biomedical Engineering at GWU May 2017 with overall GPA 3.4, science gpa 3.1. Regarding ECs, I have 250 hours of volunteering of being 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 don't have add't ECs though.

Now, I have not taken the MCAT and still have to take organic chemistry 2. 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.)

I think I will take the organic chem 2 with lab in the fall (as opposed to summer now). 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 upper-level biology coursework at a SUNY school nearby for the fall 2017-spring 2018 semesters and then apply for the 2018 med school cycle. 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 a program, alongside the organic chemistry 2 this fall, I would probably do a medical scribe job and also study for the MCAT (to get a decent score for the post bac programs).

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 loan to cover the smp cost while for DIY informal post bac, no financial aid is offered.

Any and all advice on this is truly appreciated. Thanks very much.

 

[premedbrah]

Hi,

I just opened an account on here today am looking for some advice for the following situation: I majored in BS in Biomedical Engineering at GWU May 2017 with overall GPA 3.4, science gpa 3.1. Regarding ECs, I have 250 hours of volunteering of being 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 don't have add't ECs though.

Now, I have not taken the MCAT and still have to take organic chemistry 2. 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.)

I think I will take the organic chem 2 with lab in the fall (as opposed to summer now). 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 upper-level biology coursework at a SUNY school nearby for the fall 2017-spring 2018 semesters and then apply for the 2018 med school cycle. 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 a program, alongside the organic chemistry 2 this fall, I would probably do a medical scribe job and also study for the MCAT (to get a decent score for the post bac programs).

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 loan to cover the smp cost while for DIY informal post bac, no financial aid is offered.

Any and all advice on this is truly appreciated. Thanks very much.

If you have the means to do an SMP I'd say go for it. Some us with lower gpa's would kill to have your overall. Just be aware that if you do poorly in an SMP that could forever ruin your chances at medical school. It's a tough call but if I were you I'd go the SMP route, kill it in the program and secure your spot in Med school. There should be no reason for not getting accepted after finishing an SMP with a 3.9> gpa and some decent extracurriculars. But what do I know I'm just a lowly premed like you