So I'm brand new to this website. I was referred to this place by a friend of mine who is about to enroll to a medical school in September. She told me this was a really helpful site, and I probably have one of the biggest problems. I feel like pre-med students are all in the movie Alive, and I just recently joined that troubled crew. So here's the problem. I just officially ended my Junior year of college. Up until about last month I had no idea what I was doing in college. My 3 years I've been in college I took classes to major in Biology and for a while I really had no idea why because I wasn't sure yet if I really wanted to pursue a career in medicine. Last month I had the chance to pick out my schedule for the fall, and by that time I would almost be finished completing the credits to become a Biology major. I was thinking to myself what the hell was I doing. All the first 3 years of college I've been vacillating on whether becoming a doctor was the right thing for me. I've always been interested in medicine because of the classes I took in high school. (Anatmoy&Phys., Emergency Clinical Care, etc.) I knew all the sacrifices that went into becoming a doctor which is why I was so apprehensive. I realized last month was that was my only reason why because I was scared. I knew all along I wanted to do this and I was afraid to put my foot down and get on that track. As of now, there's no fear in me for all the things in the future, my biggest problem right now is what the hell do I do with all the damage I've done to my GPA. As of right now, I have a 3.1 GPA. I've always known the requirements to get into medical school. At least a 3.5, 30+ on the MCAT, volunteering, and all that good stuff. I just finished all my pre-med classes (Bio, Orgo, Chem, and Physics). In all those 8 classes, I have 4 B's to show for and the rest are C's which is pretty bad. I just read a thread on someone agonizing over a B, but I'm pretty sure they're in a safer boat than I am. I'm really having a hard time trying to figure out what I can do to improve all of that. I'm holding off on the MCAT for maybe until next year. I was thinking about studying all summer for it, but I realized it may take more time than one summer. I was thinking of taking it April 2010, and so hopefully by Fall 2011 I will have enrolled into a medical school. Between now and then I have no idea in what to do. I talked to my Pre-med adviser and he pretty much had no faith in me. I was thinking of taking post-baccs, but how would that actually help. I'm seriously lost and in need of some help. If you actually took the time to read this, thank you. So ... any advice? -troubled pre-med student
Okay, you've made up your mind to commit yourself and you're starting to form a plan. You also realize that applying this cycle would probably not work out well for you. Good start. I don't feel like tackling that whole post in one swoop. So, I'll ask questions. Do you you feel that your current GPA reflects your abilities? Is it lower than it could have been because your heart wasn't in your studies? Do you honestly know that you are capable of doing better, and sticking with it? Your advisor can only anticipate your future performance based on your past performance. You're the one who has the best grasp on the intangibles. I'll start with those questions and go we can go from there. (Good idea taking the MCAT later.)
I decided senior year that I wanted to be a doctor, panicked, took all the premed classes with lab in one year, pulled C's in all of them, had an already poor GPA, ended with a sub 3.0 cumulative. I took some time off, then did a post bacc program pulled a 3.9 in 70 credit hours of all sciences including all retaking all the prereqs, and did pretty decently on my MCAT. Hopefully MD schools will take mercy on my soul and weigh the severely upward trend from my post-bacc much more heavily than the mistakes of my past. If not there is always DO school, they only count the latest grade in your GPA if you retake a course. My recommendation is finish your program as strong as possible and consider a post-bacc program. Don't take the MCAT until you have a strong handle on the material from the basic premed courses, it is a bear of a test. Also consider the DO route, it is not for everyone, but it will certainly make you a doctor.
I think your best course of action might be to return to school for a full year, taking higher-level science classes that will show your understand the concepts taught in the lower-levels. That way you won't have to waste your time retaking them. That will mean you won't be applying till the end of next year, and won't be starting med school for a little over two years, but you can spend this summer studying the MCAT, which will also help you get those fundamentals from the pre-reqs down. I'm not sure how big a rush you're in, but looking at this from the perspective of adcoms, they need to see that you're going to stick to this newfound commitment.
I don't think my GPA really says what I'm capable of. Pretty much all of college I did what I could do to survive in those classes. I'm sure that if I really wanted to pursue becoming a doctor, I would've done a whole lot better. I'm also a history and spanish minor and with those classes I'm doing pretty well in since I knew they were something I was really interested in. As of right now, I know I'm capable of doing a lot better if I knew what path to take in order to become more competitive in applying to medical school. I guess I couldn't blame my adviser either because my GPA that he saw pretty much spoke for itself in his eyes. I have about a year and a half left since my two minors are holding me back. I'm contemplating on whether taking a full 2 years instead would really help my chances. On post baccs, what classes are you really allowed to take? are you really allowed to retake your sciences? in my school only if you get a D or F are you allowed to take the course. Other than that you're stuck with a C if you get it. I'm not completely disregarding going to a DO school either or going to the Caribbean, but I really have my heart set on staying in the US and going to an allopathic school. I think I need a miracle.
