I already have 120 credits from my old undergrad school. How many classes would I have to take to get the 3.2 up to a 3.4 or 3.5?? Is this almost impossible in two semesters of post bac?
If my calculations are correct:
With 120 credits @ 3.2, you'll need ~40 credits with a 4.0 to get a 3.4
With 120 credits @ 3.2, you'll need ~70 credits with a 4.0 to get a 3.5
If you want to raise your gpa up to a 3.4 in one year, that would require that you take close to 20 c.h. / semester. That's pretty hardcore. If you can take a 4 c.h. summer course or a winter break course (the latter is rare), it might be more doable.
If you're going for a 3.5, you should plan to do at least two years of postbaccalaureate coursework.
I am also going to be studying my butt off for the MCAT to improve the 25 that I recieved the last time that I took it.
If you're going for a 3.4 in one year, you'll need to take a lot of credits. This may make it difficult for you to study for the MCAT as much as you would like.
One more option is that I do an MPH at the University of Louisville. Can you guys give me some advice to what the best thing to do would be? Thanks a lot.
Are you interested in public health?
Some people seem to get the impression that the MPH is like a free ticket into med school. That's simply not the case. It would be beneficial to have public health experience when applying for med schools and your public health education may make you a better or more versatile physician. The MPH would be a definite plus for a med school application, but I wouldn't go the MPH route to make up for a less than stellar undergraduate academic record. And like Law2Doc said, undergraduate and graduate GPAs are not merged. Graduate programs can make up for undergrad GPAs, but grad programs do not improve your undergrad GPA. If you are going to go the graduate route to prove that your undergrad academic record is not representative of your capabilities, I would choose a hard science, biomedically-related program over an MPH or MSPH.
What does retaking a course do?
For example, I got a C in genetics and a C in Cell Bio. Will taking these classes over at the new institution help my BCMP GPA up a little bit, or would it make more sense to take upper level science classes to show adcoms that I can handle upper level courses?
My personal opinion on retakes is that you probably shouldn't retake unless:
(1) you received a grade of C- or lower
(2) it's been years since you've studied the material and you need to refresh your memory
(3) you don't feel that you've grasped the material well enough
(4) you're trying to replace grades so that you can pad your GPA for the AACOMAS (DO) application.
I'm sure there may be other valid reasons, but that's what I can think of for now.
I know for D.O. schools that they take the latter grade, but I am going for an M.D.
That's correct. The DO application will only calculate your most recent grade if you retake, regardless if the grade is higher or lower than the previous grade(s).
If you received a C in Cell Biology for 3 credits and then you retake and get an A for 3 credits, both grades show up on the AMCAS (MD) application. For these two courses, it would be like having a 3.0 gpa for 6 credits.
If you received a C in Cell Biology for 3 credits and then you take a different upper-division bio class for 3 credits and get an A, both grades show up on AMCAS. Same effect on your GPA--this would be like having a 3.0 gpa for 6 credits.
The University of Louisville has a 3.6 average with a 27 average MCAT. I have a 3.2 from the university of missouri with a 25 MCAT. What would be the best way to improve my credentials? I will be living with my parents (lame I know) and will be studying my butt of for classes and the MCAT. Thanks all for the help.
Are you hoping to go the med school in Kentucky? If you're interested in the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, I would contact the med schools' admissions offices and see what they advise. I'm willing to bet that they will tell you that you need to enhance your academic record through either postbaccalaureate or graduate coursework (some adcoms focus almost solely on the undergraduate GPA while others recommend graduate programs) and to raise your MCAT to compensate for your undergrad GPA (probably a 30+ for these schools). But this is just my guess, so you'll probably want to get the advice directly from the source.
The Kentucky schools have their own graduate programs too. Louisville has programs through their Physiology and Biophysics department that are specifically designed for improving your academic credentials for med school. However, I believe the deadlines have passed for this year (July 1). I think these masters programs are two-years in duration. Louisville also has an MS in Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology that is premed-friendly. I highly doubt that these programs will carry the weight of programs like Georgetown, BU, etc. However, if you are a state resident (I'm confused because you went to Mizzou) then these programs are much cheaper (even without teaching/research assistantships or stipends) and may be sufficient for getting you into the Kentucky MD schools. I don't know too much about these programs, but I'll give you some links:
University of Louisville: MS in Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology
http://www.louisville.edu/medschool/anatomy/1-program/program.html
http://graduate.louisville.edu/prog_pubs/programs/biomedicalsci/anat.html
University of Louisville: Postbaccalaureate Premedical Opportunity
University of Louisville: MS in Physiology and Biophysics, pre-professional, non-thesis
Kentucky also has a program. I don't know much about this one either:
University of Kentucky: MS in Medical Sciences 
