post bacc or upper level sci courses?

[msmems]

Hi everyone --

I recently decided that I want to pursue medical school and am looking for some advice on what to do next -- I graduated from college 4 years ago from a top 20 university, with a premed and psychology degree. My overall gpa was a 3.43 -- but my science was much lower -- only about a 3.1. Since graduating, I have worked as a research assistant for several clinical trials. I have not yet taken the MCAT -- as of right now, I am planning on studying for it using Examkracker or Kaplan review books and am hoping to be ready to take the Jan MCAT...I guess I will soon find out how much I remember from 4 years ago.... I know that I definitely need to up my science gpa before applying -- and so I am trying to decide if I should also enroll into a full post-bacc program and go through all of the basic science courses again, or if I should instead just take a few upper level science courses (biochem, physio, etc)? Would taking just a few extra upper level courses be good enough? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!!

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[mshheaddoc]

To strengthen your application a post-bacc or SMP would be the easiest route for med school acceptance I beleive but you could take classes over the next two years to boost up that GPA if you wanted to continue working.

 

[Mempho1983]

I'm kind of in the same situation, and it is a tough call. I didn't take many science courses in undergrad, but the ones I did take I got B's and C's in. I think you have to look at it in terms of if you take say 30 more hours of upper level classes, how high can you get your science GPA? You can use this link to see how much you can raise it, as if you have taken many science courses it will be harder to change your GPA past a certain point.

http://www.back2college.com/gpa.htm

If it isn't realistic for you to be able to increase it above say 3.4-3.5, then I would consider a SMP or something, as sometimes adcoms will just dismiss a 3.2 or so GPA without even looking at upward progress, especially at more competitive schools.

I am finishing my prereq's now at a local university, and am debating whether to apply to a SMP next year or not. I have gotten A's in all my prereqs so far, but you have to remember a lot of times the cumulative GPA, esp science, is the first thing they look at, besides of course the MCAT.

In short, my advice would be if you can raise your GPA to a competitive level, stay where you are, and be sure to smoke the MCAT and you should be fine.