Raise my gpa calculation

[Travisgee]

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I crunched some numbers yesterday and found that, if i shoot for a 3.5 cum gpa, then ill need 66 credit hrs of course work if I maintain a 3.8.
Before crunching these numbers I had planned on doing postbac work. The postbac work alone would be 50 credit hours. With these numbers in hand plus the zero financial aid for postbac, now I'm starting to think I should just do a 2nd undergrad degree in science or biology. What do you think?

 

[student1799]

I crunched some numbers yesterday and found that, if i shoot for a 3.5 cum gpa, then ill need 66 credit hrs of course work if I maintain a 3.8.
Before crunching these numbers I had planned on doing postbac work. The postbac work alone would be 50 credit hours. With these numbers in hand plus the zero financial aid for postbac, now I'm starting to think I should just do a 2nd undergrad degree in science or biology. What do you think?

Sounds like a better option. Just make sure you pick a school where you have a shot at straight A's, because your road will be a lot longer and tougher if you don't get them. I.e. pass up a more rigorous school in favor of an easier one, because at the end of the day, all med schools care about it your grades.

 

[calimed214]

Sounds like a better option. Just make sure you pick a school where you have a shot at straight A's, because your road will be a lot longer and tougher if you don't get them. I.e. pass up a more rigorous school in favor of an easier one, because at the end of the day, all med schools care about it your grades.

Yep.. wish I had known this ohhhh.. about 10 years ago. 😛 I would've gone to a Cal State school instead, but I think my parents would've died if I did, since they had a small freak out about me going to UCLA instead of an Ivy league

 

[Travisgee]

I'm going to go to a Texas public university, non-Community College, for the degree.

 

[student1799]

I'm going to go to a Texas public university, non-Community College, for the degree.

Great idea! Then you'll have a shot at med school in TX, with that sweet in-state tuition of $10K per year. If you get that, your whole 4 years of med school will cost less than my postbacc at a fancy private school.

 

[Travisgee]

That is exactly the plan! Im curious though, after the 2nd degree how will my gpa be scrutinized, as the cGPA of both degrees and any small cc credits rolled into one burrito?

 

[student1799]

That is exactly the plan! Im curious though, after the 2nd degree how will my gpa be scrutinized, as the cGPA of both degrees and any small cc credits rolled into one burrito?

Yes, I think so.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

the gpas are reported on separate lines of the amcas form for undergraduate and postbac courses, but generally schools will just consider the undergraduate (including postbac work) gpa as a single number when screening candidates to interview. Once they've screened and are actually looking at a candidate (some schools may do this initially, many simply screen out candidates based on gpa/mcat), at that point it would look better to have a high postbacc gpa and a lower undergrad gpa rather than vice versa.

Generally schools really just seem to look at numbers rather than the quality/type of school - my undergrad was top 40, my post-bacc school was a regional 4 year commuter college (inexpensive!), the only comments I'd heard were related to the slightly higher recent gpa..

 

[Travisgee]

In this case though, I suppose yes, my 2nd degree is my postbac work. What a scary thought, this is going to be a really long road.

 

[student1799]

In this case though, I suppose yes, my 2nd degree is my postbac work. What a scary thought, this is going to be a really long road.

Maybe so, but calling the 2nd degree postbacc doesn't make it any longer. Since the classes you'll be taking are undergrad classes, they will count towards your uGPA. As the previous poster points out, this second degree will ALSO be considered postbacc, since you're getting it after you've already obtained your first BA.

 

[Travisgee]

Semantics!
Thank you for all of the responses. 🙂