Pursuing Second Bachelor's?

[deleted303591]

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I have a 3.2 in electrical engineering as a current junior. I was forced to take medical withdrawal three times due to a rare autoimmune disease that I was diagnosed with this January.

My culmulative GPA is only going to improve, but I would like to show that I can work full-time and go to school and still be successful.

Has anyone pursued a second degree and was successful at getting in to medical school?

I am thinking about majoring in Spanish.

 

[Deekle]

You are aware that "moco" in spanish is basically equivalent to "snot" right?

That aside, getting a second bachelors is not going to further your medical school plans any. If you really think you need more education to prep for med school you should be considering something that is geared towards med school like a SMP. Spanish is nice to put on the applications, but let's face it, just because you get a degree in it doesn't make you fluent. You've got a whole year left to bring that GPA up. (If you get a 4.0 your senior year, you're at a 3.4cGPA assuming you don't have a bunch of extra stuff out there I don't know about.) A 3.4 is do-able with a good application. The thing to remember is that for a lot of schools your last 60 credit hours are the most important. You want those to be something that counts towards your sGPA and you want the grades to be good.

If I were you, and I wanted to get into medical school, I'd make darn sure I get a 4.0 next year, get a 35+ on my MCAT and had awesome EC's and LOR's. Then I would apply to both MD and DO schools (liberally). Again, if you feel your education isn't where it should be to start med school, then I would start looking into SMP's.

If you've got an idea where you want to go, call the admissions department(s) and get some advice there too. Find out what their average scores are (or look them up on the internet...most are available.) That'll give you an idea where you stand. There's even some nifty tools out there to give you an idea what your chances are for each school based on your GPA and MCAT score (assuming all EC's and LOR's and interviews are equal, which they're NOT. You can at least get an idea though.)

 

[deleted303591]

You are aware that "moco" in spanish is basically equivalent to "snot" right?

That aside, getting a second bachelors is not going to further your medical school plans any. If you really think you need more education to prep for med school you should be considering something that is geared towards med school like a SMP. Spanish is nice to put on the applications, but let's face it, just because you get a degree in it doesn't make you fluent. You've got a whole year left to bring that GPA up. (If you get a 4.0 your senior year, you're at a 3.4cGPA assuming you don't have a bunch of extra stuff out there I don't know about.) A 3.4 is do-able with a good application. The thing to remember is that for a lot of schools your last 60 credit hours are the most important. You want those to be something that counts towards your sGPA and you want the grades to be good.

Yes, I know that moco means snot in Spanish! 😛

I am not sure what I am going to major in. But, my autoimmune disease very pervasive and affects the nerves of my spine that control my autonomic nervous system. Even my eyes are affected and they do not track well when I am sick, in addition to living with chronic nausea and low blood pressure.

The good news is that the disease is not degenerative and it is just a matter of clearing out the antibodies.

What I want to do is to demonstrate that I can pursue a rigorous course load without taking withdrawals while working full time.

Right now, I am just retrying to recuperate. It is going to take me 7.5 years to get my bachelor's of science degree in electrical engineering because I took medical withdrawal three times, took an additional year of leave to stabilize my health, and I also worked part time. My health issue are profound and disabling, but over the past year I have improved a lot. It may take a few more years to clear the antibodies but nobody really knows because there are only case reports of my disease.

I really do not know what an allopathic or an osteopathic school would think of my situation.

 

[Deekle]

Yeah. I'd be really concerned that you'd have a recurrence and need to bow out again. Med school is harder and more stressful than anything else out there. It's not unheard of for very healthy 20 somethings to be subject to frequent colds/anemia due to lack if sleep and poor nutrition while in med school. Not trying to be a discouragement, but you've got a tough row to hoe. Might be time to consider alternate options.


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