Postbaccalaureate? Low GPA, applying to Osteopathic medical school

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doctor4dapoor

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If I have a 2.5 GPA in English Lit with no sciences, what is the best path for me to take in order to get into a [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Osteopathic medical school?.

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If I have a 2.5 GPA in English Lit with no sciences, what is the best path for me to take in order to get into a [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Osteopathic medical school?.

the good news is your science GPA is 0.00 which means you can totally rock and have a 4.0 science GPA. the questions, why is the non-science so low?? if you are able to figure out why and able to change your study habits, you can totally make it happen. you have a long ways to go considering you have no science courses (at the minimum you have to take 8 science courses to meet the pre reqs, maybe even more depending on where you want to go) so plenty of time to do well and boost that GPA. its not going to be easy by any means though. are you done w/ undergrad??
 
Do well in the rest of your classes and make sure you excel in your pre-req courses. Get a good score on the MCAT (30+), and you'll be in good shape, assuming you have all the necessary EC's under your belt.
 
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You're in a lot better shape than I was when I graduated. Go back to school and start taking pre-requisites. Take other classes that look interesting to you. Light it up. Do moderately well on the MCAT. Show everyone you mean business now.

No letdowns from here on out. That is, don't go back to school and do really well for a semester or two, and then revert back to B's and C's, even for a semester. They will hate that, I assure you.
 
Hey riser, thanks a lot for your reply. I greatly appreciate it. I am 29 now. I graduated a UC school 5 years ago. I guess my GPA was low for various factors, I was into activism more than school, I got burned out at the end, in my senior year I read the Tao Te Ching instead of my course curriculum:) I have to admit that when I did decide to get straight A's I did and got on the Dean's Honor Role, but I was so into reading things outside the coursework etc. and I never thought of doing more schooling. I majored in English lit by the way.

So...should I do post-bac? Is that the best route for me now? If so, a post-bac program or just go to a 4 year? If a program, how do I go about doing that? If a regular 4 year, how do I do that? Is it just as if I was applying to college as if I was a High School student? Any sites you can refer me to?

Peace,
 
Milkman, EC's are extra curricular? What does that mean in this context? If I go back to school and just do my pre-meds I'm solid?

Should I do all my pre-meds at a 4 year or can I do some at a CC?

I can't quite figure out in my head how post-bac's work. I apply to my alma mater again for instance? Just like a HS kid?

Thank you very much,
 
You're in a lot better shape than I was when I graduated.

What do you mean? What did you end up doing? Post-bac? Are you a doctor now? Inspire me:) How old were you when you got accepted into med-school?
 
Milkman, EC's are extra curricular? What does that mean in this context?
Yes, EC means extracurricular activities, Sorry, I guess I shouldn't be so cavalier with the SDN slang. Anyway, what I meant by "the necessary EC's" is clinical and volunteer work and perhaps research. Schools want lots of clinical exposure (go for 100+ hours, at least) and a significant amount of volunteering. Research is a plus but not required.

Should I do all my pre-meds at a 4 year or can I do some at a CC?
Personally, I think I'd opt for a 4-year school. They carry much more weight than community colleges. As far as I know, you can apply anywhere you want since you're not going to be getting a degree.
 
I graduated with a 2.2 GPA in kinesiology. I made the decision to go to med school when I was 26. I am 30 now, and I start med school in a few months.

Luckily, I had only a handful of classes that counted towards my science GPA, and I did ok in them. Not great, but good enough that it wasn't going to hold me back. So I was able to nearly start from scratch on the science GPA. You will be able to start completely from scratch.
 
Thank you guys so much for the inspiration etc. Does your advice also apply to regular medical school? Or you think I should stick with DO since it is a tad bit easier to get into a DO school? Or am I delusional? Is it just as hard to get into a DO school?

What kind of volunteering do they love?

You say I can apply to any school for my post-bac. Will any school let me in? If I wanted to go to UCLA, what are the chances they will let me enroll? How do I enroll for post-bac? Is it the same process as a High Schooler?
 
Thank you guys so much for the inspiration etc. Does your advice also apply to regular medical school? Or you think I should stick with DO since it is a tad bit easier to get into a DO school? Or am I delusional? Is it just as hard to get into a DO school?

What kind of volunteering do they love?

You say I can apply to any school for my post-bac. Will any school let me in? If I wanted to go to UCLA, what are the chances they will let me enroll? How do I enroll for post-bac? Is it the same process as a High Schooler?


First of all, i didnt realize i was going to irregular medical school. what the heck? dude, if ur serious about this, do some research urself before asking a million questions on here. SDN can only take u so far. YES, what we said applies to osteopathic AND allopathic medical school.
both med schools are extremely difficult to get into, so yes, ur being a bit delusional. your marks are nowhere near where they need to be, so 4 years of undergrad is what i'd do. not a post-bac....unless its an amazing one. call the school you want to apply to and ask them what u'd have to do. how the heck should we know? we're not u, i've never applied to UCLA, so dont be scared, and just take ur education into ur own hands!

lastly, what kind of volunteer work do YOU like. i think its bull to get ECs just cuz they look good on a resume. you should volunteer because you want to, not because you have to. most ppl try to get some stuff in hospitals or doc's offices. i personally went to kenya to volunteer in a mobile medical clinic, but i did this for me, not for the med schools i was trying to get into. the idea is, ur supposed to want to do the volunteer work, since its in the field that you want to enter.
i really think you havent quite thought this all out. why dont u have a little sit down with urself, and really think about what you want to achieve in med school, from there, see where u'd like to volunteer then.
oh, and they like students to be wellrounded, so dont JUST volunteer in a hospital. they're supposed to want YOU, not ur kiss-a** abilites.
do some research on this stuff....seriously
good luck.
 
Thanks Doc Jules, I will do more research. You are right.
 
lastly, what kind of volunteer work do YOU like. i think its bull to get ECs just cuz they look good on a resume. you should volunteer because you want to, not because you have to. most ppl try to get some stuff in hospitals or doc's offices. i personally went to kenya to volunteer in a mobile medical clinic, but i did this for me, not for the med schools i was trying to get into. the idea is, ur supposed to want to do the volunteer work, since its in the field that you want to enter.
i really think you havent quite thought this all out. why dont u have a little sit down with urself, and really think about what you want to achieve in med school, from there, see where u'd like to volunteer then.
oh, and they like students to be wellrounded, so dont JUST volunteer in a hospital. they're supposed to want YOU, not ur kiss-a** abilites. good luck.

I have been volunteering long before I thought of going to medical school. I did some of it not even volunteering, I just walked around and gave food to homeless people, saved a couple lives, published articles against war, protested against poverty, did interviews in major publications about ending the conflict in Israel by means of non-violence, housed Tibetan refugees, met the Dalai Lama, sold shirts that said compassion on it, worked for 10 hours a day fund raising, put on benefit concerts and on and on. (I am not saying this to brag, just to point out that what you harshly wrote is the opposite of the truth and maybe point out that one should not judge so harshly in such a manner) I started Students for a Free Tibet in college, when I didn't even imagine becoming a doctor, in fact that is what inspired me to do so. And other volunteer jobs with kids etc. when I didn't think I would ever apply to med school. I am 29 after all. I haven't been sitting around. Becoming a doctor is so I can best help the most amount of people. Volunteering isn't so I can get into med school, going to medical school is so I can become a better volunteer. In fact my plan was to become a doctor so I could work in 3rd world countries year round, even live there (hence the name doctor4dapoor, that should have given it away;). I don't want to help people in order to get into medical school, I want to get into medical school so I can help the poorest of the poor. I have no interest in saying this to be mean at all, I truly appreciate your post, but it's hard to make assumptions upon people and then judge them harshly for it. It seems to be a limited perspective. But I appreciate it. One love.

How would I go about researching some of these volunteer opportunities in Kenya or other 3rd world countries?
 
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I have been volunteering long before I thought of going to medical school. I did some of it not even volunteering, I just walked around and gave food to homeless people, saved a couple lives, published articles against war, protested against poverty, did interviews about ending the conflict in Israel by means of non-violence in major publications, housed Tibetan refugees, met the Dalai Lama, sold shirts that said compassion on it, worked for 10 hours a day fund raising, put on benefit concerts and on and on. (I am not saying this to brag, just to point out that what you harshly wrote is the opposite of the truth and maybe point out that one should not judge so harshly in such a manner) I started Students for a Free Tibet in college, when I didn't even imagine becoming a doctor, in fact that is what inspired me to do so. And other volunteer jobs with kids etc. when I didn't think I would ever apply to med school. I am 29 after all. I haven't been sitting around. Becoming a doctor is so I can best help the most amount of people. Volunteering isn't so I can get into med school, going to medical school is so I can become a better volunteer. All I want is to help people. In fact my plan was to become a doctor so I could work in 3rd world countries year round, even live there. I don't want to help people in order to get into medical school, I want to get into medical school so I can help the poorest of the poor. I have no interest in saying this to be mean at all, I truly appreciate your post, but it's hard to make assumptions upon people and then judge them harshly for it. It seems to be a limited perspective. But I appreciate it. One love.

How would I go about researching some of these volunteer opportunities in Kenya or other 3rd world countries?


i wasnt judging you harshly in the least. what i was saying is dont JUST get clinical volunteer work. thats bull, and doesnt make u a well rounded person. if you've been doing that, good, keep it up and add some hospital stuff in there as well.
i'm not being mean to you, i'm just bringing forth the harsh truth. nobody is gonna hold your hand on this one, so you really need to step it up, look deep inside urself, and see where u want to go from here. then tackle it.

i volunteered with an organization called volunteer kenya. http://www.volunteerkenya.org/index.html
feel free to look into it. had a great time there, 2 months of non-stop learning. and i dont mean medical....ya i got some of that, but i learned an entirely new lifestyle. and that was way more important to me.

you have to try to understand where i'm coming from. ppl go into medicine for a million different reasons. until you figure out urs, none of us can really help you that much.

research the schools ur interested in, call them, ask what u'd need to do to get into their program. ur 29 right? so you should be well aware of how to take ur life into ur own hands.

as i said before. good luck, its gonna be an uphill battle for the next couple of years.
 
OK, I will take my life into my own hands;)

Thanks...
 
Julez suggested that I go back to school and do the entire 4 years instead of just 2 years of post-docs, do you guys agree Texas and Ryserr and Milkman?
 
Julez suggested that I go back to school and do the entire 4 years instead of just 2 years of post-docs, do you guys agree Texas and Ryserr and Milkman?

Find a post-bacc program that is designed specifically for pre-meds (ex: SFSU Health Prep and the UC Berkeley Extension programs). There's no sense in starting undergrad ALL OVER AGAIN:eek:. Not to be harsh, but you're 29...Time is NOT on your side!

Also, I wouldn't worry about your 2.5 undergrad GPA. I know plenty of med students (both allopathic and osteopathic) who've not only gotten into med school, but are academically outperforming their classmates.

From what you've listed in a previous post, it seems like you've had plenty of extracurriculars. All you need now is clinical experience...Find a hospital ASAP!

Last and most importantly, WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE A DOCTOR? :confused: In all of your posts, you've tiptoed around a clear answer. Your whole wanting-to-help-the-poor schpiel is not convinving, quite frankly. There are plenty of other high-impact professions you could choose (ie, teaching) that would benefit tons of people, and wouldn't involve the great physical, emotional and financial demands of diving into medicine.

Please think about this...:luck:
 
Find a post-bacc program that is designed specifically for pre-meds (ex: SFSU Health Prep and the UC Berkeley Extension programs). There's no sense in starting undergrad ALL OVER AGAIN:eek:. Not to be harsh, but you're 29...Time is NOT on your side!

Also, I wouldn't worry about your 2.5 undergrad GPA. I know plenty of med students (both allopathic and osteopathic) who've not only gotten into med school, but are academically outperforming their classmates.

From what you've listed in a previous post, it seems like you've had plenty of extracurriculars. All you need now is clinical experience...Find a hospital ASAP!

Last and most importantly, WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE A DOCTOR? :confused: In all of your posts, you've tiptoed around a clear answer. Your whole wanting-to-help-the-poor schpiel is not convinving, quite frankly. There are plenty of other high-impact professions you could choose (ie, teaching) that would benefit tons of people, and wouldn't involve the great physical, emotional and financial demands of diving into medicine.

Please think about this...:luck:

agreed
 
Because I want to effectively help the most amount of people and it's been a dream of mine to be a doctor since I was a kid. Should I not follow that dream?
 
I love science, I love school, I love learning, I love hospitals, I love working hard, I love being with intelligent people who care about the world, I love the idea of working in poor neighborhoods for 40K a year just to help others who can't get the care they need. I love it all. I don't think teaching is my path.

I don't see why you require an essay from me? Should I list more reasons? Why did you guys want to become a doctor?

Yes, I want to be a doctor so I can save lives. Many doctors would find that answer sufficient. Is it good enough for the two of you?

Don't mean to sound mean, it's that a lot of the posters on this site seem so arrogant about everything. I got responses like, "You should seriously ask yourself if you are cut out to be a doctor because quite frankly your GPA stinks and I don't think you understand anything about this." "Do some research on your own. I don't think you know anything about what you are talking about." It's a funny thing to say, since no one did until they got the experience in it. It's like calling a kid stupid. We were all lacking knowledge before we attained it. People seem to get their kicks off this, "I know more than this new guy." Not you, I'm just stating what I have noticed.

Peace and love
 
You think I have ulterior motives?:) I am convincing you guys on this site that I have never met that I want to help the poor? Why would I make that up? I didn't convince you?:) I wasn't trying to convince you. I don't understand. Do you think I made it up to trick you into something and what I really want is to make 300K a year as a radiologist and wear a white coat and put MD on my vanity license plate:)? Are you the admissions counselors that I have to trick into believing that I want to help the poor where in fact I just want to boost my self esteem and emulate Zack Braff:) Sorry I didn't do a good job of convincing you:)

Much love.
 
If you work at a hospital that deals with indigent populations, you will make more than 40k/year, and none of your patients will pay their bills. They still get charged, but not really.
 
My luck is that I don't have to work for money, I am lucky in that regard, so my only motive to go to med school is to help others. I don't need the money. In fact going to medical school will make me have less time to make the money that I am now.

I wouldn't mind making 30K a year from medicine. Even if I wasn't lucky in that regard, but this way I can do it with confidence and not with stress and worry.
 
doctor4dapoor, first of all, congrats on your decision to pursue medicine :) Being a traditional student entering med school in the fall, I don't have any first-hand experience with doing post-bacc work, but you might want to check out the Non-Traditional Student Forum if you haven't already. They might have some helpful insights for you. Also, a lot of schools have programs for people like you who want to do a total career change http://services.aamc.org/postbac/, or a lot of times you can just enroll in a state school to get the prereqs done. I think that's usually a bit more expensive than a formal program, but again, I could be mistaken. You'll obviously have to take the MCAT and all that jazz, but that'll be in a few years, after your prereqs are done. Hopefully that info helps.

And a lot of times, DO schools are a bit more accepting of non-trads, and it seems that you have a history of volunteer service, so it will seem legit that you actually want to work in an underserved area, which may be a huge bonus for you. Good luck!
 
Thanks Meggie!!! Highly appreciated!!!!! Very true about DO programs. Some states even have to fill a quote of 20% of the students they let in have to be non-trads.
 
I love science, I love school, I love learning, I love hospitals, I love working hard, I love being with intelligent people who care about the world, I love the idea of working in poor neighborhoods for 40K a year just to help others who can't get the care they need. I love it all. I don't think teaching is my path.

I don't see why you require an essay from me? Should I list more reasons? Why did you guys want to become a doctor?

Yes, I want to be a doctor so I can save lives. Many doctors would find that answer sufficient. Is it good enough for the two of you?

Don't mean to sound mean, it's that a lot of the posters on this site seem so arrogant about everything. I got responses like, "You should seriously ask yourself if you are cut out to be a doctor because quite frankly your GPA stinks and I don't think you understand anything about this." "Do some research on your own. I don't think you know anything about what you are talking about." It's a funny thing to say, since no one did until they got the experience in it. It's like calling a kid stupid. We were all lacking knowledge before we attained it. People seem to get their kicks off this, "I know more than this new guy." Not you, I'm just stating what I have noticed.

Peace and love

oh jeez
this will be the absolute last time i post on ur thread. if u cant tell i'm trying to help you out, i wont bother giving you my opinion. but you opened this thread asking for opinions, so dont complain if you get some you dont like.

first of all, I DONT WANT to know about why u want to med school. we dont decide if you get in or not. i'm just saying, be sure YOU know why u want to go, cuz everyone who interviews you is gonna wanna hear that answer. and its gonna be a driving force to get you through the next couple of years.

and all your stuff about things you have noticed.....well you are implying us, otherwise you wouldnt post it in this thread. but please stop. we're not trying to make you feel bad. what benefit do i have from doing that? i dont know you, i dont go to sleep at night planning how i can hurt your feelings. seriously, i'm just offering my OPINION, and if you dont want it, dont read it. but as i said, i wont bother posting on here anymore.

so good luck, as i said, you should really call the schools ur interested in and see what they would want. i'm barely a non-trad, took the year off to go to Kenya, but thats it. i have no idea about post-bac so i wont bother writing about how i feel about them.

oh, and plez, in the future, never again refer to allopathic med school as "regular med school". osteopathic med school is not irregular, simply a different philosophy. saying what you said makes you look uneducated about the two different teaching philosophies of medicine. i dont think DO schools would like it if you said "well i was gonna go to regular med school, but chose to come here instead".

peace
 
Doctor4dapoor

Pay no mind to the harshness, it seems that on this forum the majority of pre-osteos get offended when the whole comparison of Allo and Osteo is brought up, either way you fulfill your dream. Admissions might be slightly different at each school but the curriculums will be very similar no matter where you go. Biochemistry and Anatomy don't change if you are at an Allopathic or Osteopathic school, you learn the same things. Congrats on the decision to follow your dream and to take the initiative to learn more about the process of applying. All your experiences will pay off greatly because admissions committees look for "real life" experiences like the ones you previously mentioned. I would definitely look into a specific post-bacc program that can fulfill your science pre-reqs, it will make it quick/efficient and the right prep for the MCAT.
 
Doc Julez,

I didn't realize they are the same. I didn't mean irregular. I was just unsure if the same rules apply. In fact they don't since some DO schools actually have a quota of 20% non-trads that they must allow in a year.

I was ignorant of the fact, but I read up on it. That's true to everything.

Do you know by heart the last chapter of the Tao? It's silly to call someone ignorant, of course I am ignorant, I haven't read everything:)

Peace and love
 
"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in Health Care is the most shocking and inhumane."
- Martin Luther King, Jr."

Actually Letter from Birmingham Jail was one of the things that got me started on the path of service. He was my first inspiration.

"Nobody is free while others are oppressed."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
(could be Toni Morrison though. I think I heard it's from either one."
 
good mcat score for balance on top of excellent post-bac grades :thumbup:. even then, it is a crapshoot. you never know. they make changes how they evaluate students each year.

I would focus on school and mcat. the rest will come later
 
Doctor4dapoor, I would suggest doing a postbac program such as the one at University of Pennsylvania or others that have a linkage program.

At Upenn, they have two tracks. One for science majors who want to improve their credentials, and another for "Pre-Health": for people like you who have no pre-reqs. http://www.sas.upenn.edu/CGS/postbac/premed/prehealth/

Classes are mostly in the afternoon, so you're able to work during the day. There's also plenty of volunteer opportunities or health related jobs/research. Another plus, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine is close by. The program also has health advisers who can help you with getting into medical schools. They also write your committee letter.
 
Hello all! I too am a post bacc student and doing my thing to try and get into a medical school or an osteopathic school. If you're thinking that I consider a DO school as more of a back-up, well, I am... But that doesn't mean that I look down or think less of OMT/OMM. I apologize for the tangent, but anyway, I was calling up a few D.O. programs, NYCOM and PCOM in particular and they were telling me that for NYCOM, they consider the post bacc grades much more heavily than undergrad grades. At PCOM, they ONLY consider the post bacc grades. TRUST ME, I was quite surprised to hear the admissions counselor say this, I actually asked him to repeat his previous statement and well, despite ACCOMAS averaging your GPA, they will actually consider the later grades more important... I don't know if this puts anyone at ease, but it sure did me! I hope this helps for those of you who are worried about your GPA. GOOD LUCK ALL!:D
 
NYCOM and PCOM in particular and they were telling me that for NYCOM, they consider the post bacc grades much more heavily than undergrad grades. At PCOM, they ONLY consider the post bacc grades.

That is great news. Thanks Chup. What is NYCOM and PCOM?
 
You may want to check out the information at the AACOMAS website. There are links to each school and the details about the application process. This will give you a broader basic background. Here on SDN is a good place to fill in some of the details about particulars of the application and about the scene at each school. For example there may be a post from somone who has received two acceptances and is asking for help comparing the third and fourth year rotation schedules and how often students have to move around geographically.

In gerenal, abbreviations that end in "OM" are the name of a particular school - the "OM" stands for Osteopathic Medicine.

Best of luck - you may want to also look through some of the threads on the oldpremeds.net site. They have been helpful in my journey of English Lit major/20 years of teaching/going to osteopathic school in about a month and I will turn 50 next December in the middle of my first year.

Best of Luck!
 
That is great news. Thanks Chup. What is NYCOM and PCOM?

New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Both Excellent Schools.
 
Thanks Meggie!!! Highly appreciated!!!!! Very true about DO programs. Some states even have to fill a quote of 20% of the students they let in have to be non-trads.

Hi doctor4dapoor,

I am also in the same boat. I am in my 4th semester of post bac. I was wondering where you got this information about the quota.
 
I don't blame you...the numbers on the top left are a little small. But the last time anyone posted in this thread was ~20 months ago. ;)


Thanks for pointing that out to me. haha
 
I don't blame you...the numbers on the top left are a little small. But the last time anyone posted in this thread was ~20 months ago. ;)


That's ok. I just read this now. Still holds true. Wonder whatever happened to that guy. It's usually disheartening to see some guy who claims to have wanted to be a doctor and doesnt even know what the difference between a DO and MD is....calling one irregular is just dumb. It has to be the most uninformed statement that I've read regarding the two.
 
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