Recommendations for Programs for Sub 3.0 GPA

[throwawayact]

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Hey guys, so a lot of the programs I am interested in have the 3.0 minimum GPA requirement.

Where are places I could apply? I am on the MD track, and have good reasons for my poor academic performance, so maybe that counts (?).

 

[FightinUruKai]

do you have disadvantaged or URM status?

 

[throwawayact]

I am economically disadvantaged, yes. But I am not a URM.

I hail from PA if that helps.

 

[DrMidlife]

The "program" you need is:
1. more undergrad with straight A's (I suggest a full time year or more)
2. an above average MCAT (31+ for MD, 27+ for DO)

With the above, apply to an SMP that puts you through most of M1 as an audition for med school.

Best of luck to you.

 

[throwawayact]

The "program" you need is:
1. more undergrad with straight A's (I suggest a full time year or more)
2. an above average MCAT (31+ for MD, 27+ for DO)

With the above, apply to an SMP that puts you through most of M1 as an audition for med school.

Best of luck to you.

I can't afford anymore undergrad education. I am not going to apply to Georgetown or anywhere else that costs $30,000+. Preferably I would like a SMP that is joined with a medical school so I can take higher level science courses in a medical school setting. Any recommendations of those? With my financial situation as it is, I may not go back to school for a year because I will be working to support my family (and hopefully saving up), so keep in mind that I may be willing to break my >$30,000 rule.

If get into a SMP, do you think a solid year of good grades will be favorable for applying to med schools? Thanks for the help :]


Edit: what do you mean by "M1 as an audition for med school?" I am not familiar with that terminology.

 

[FightinUruKai]

You are probably going to end up having to take out a lot of money in loans to go through an SMP to get yourself into medical school (even in programs where tuition is waived, you still have to pay around 16k for fees and you will have to take out more loan money to support yourself while going through school), and applications/interviews for the programs are also going to set you back a bit. Try to figure out your budget for that before you start.

That being said, I'd say try to take a couple courses over the next year to get at least one of your stats over a 3.0, since you said you are already taking that time to save up. Any trend of getting an A is going to help you.

That being said, you should look into Wake Forest's Post Bac, Georgetown GEMS, and ohio medpath (medpath requires at least one of your GPAs to be above a 3.0). There are also a couple programs like ohio medpath where you apply to the medical school and they can choose to nominate you for their postbac program after rejecting you from the main university. I know AMSNY has program through the new york medical schools that can nominate you to the postbac after you receive an interview.

That being said, you need to be sure that you will be able to succeed in these programs. Have you corrected/fixed the reasons you did poorly to begin with? Do you know how to get the grades you will need? Will you be able to buckle down and get a good MCAT? Are you prepared to spend the rest of your life in a significant amount of debt?

As to what Dr. Midlife was saying, she was referring to the fact that an SMP gives you most/some of the M1 (first year of medical school) courses. So if you do well, it proves you can succeed at their school, but if you do poorly, it is very difficult to pull yourself out of that mess. It is an audition.

Good luck!

 

[DrMidlife]

I can't afford anymore undergrad education.

Then you can't afford to go to med school. You don't get to make up the rules for how this goes.

If you want to go to medical school, then get and use federal student loans to finish a degree and improve on your stats. Med school average debt for those who borrow is over $200k. Not kidding.

Your academics aren't strong enough to get a med school scholarship, not even military. If you're not willing to borrow for school, then look into a PhD program where you don't accrue debt.

I am not going to apply to Georgetown or anywhere else that costs $30,000+.

That rules out every SMP except Tulane ACP, which you can only get into with a med school waitlist letter.

I don't think you understand how low GPA comebacks work. I recommend lots and lots of reading in the low GPA thread. It has over 400k views, it's in this forum, and it's not hard to find.

In addition, I suggest you need basic information on med school admissions and how med ed works. The Iserson book is out of date, but it's still a good orientation. Also useful is to look at the FACTS data on aamc.org.

Edit: what do you mean by "M1 as an audition for med school?" I am not familiar with that terminology.

M1: first year student in med school, or the first year of med school
Audition: a performance that allows an authority to judge your competence in action

Best of luck to you.

 

[throwawayact]

DrMidlife: Why would I apply to PhD programs when I am interested in medical school? I appreciate your opinion, but I think you're biased about low GPA comebacks because of your own experience. I was asking whether you knew if there were SMP programs which accepted students with below 3.0 GPAs. It's okay if you don't know, but everything else (about how I will afford my education etc.) is for me to worry about. Thanks for the input.

 

[throwawayact]

You are probably going to end up having to take out a lot of money in loans to go through an SMP to get yourself into medical school (even in programs where tuition is waived, you still have to pay around 16k for fees and you will have to take out more loan money to support yourself while going through school), and applications/interviews for the programs are also going to set you back a bit. Try to figure out your budget for that before you start.

That being said, I'd say try to take a couple courses over the next year to get at least one of your stats over a 3.0, since you said you are already taking that time to save up. Any trend of getting an A is going to help you.

That being said, you should look into Wake Forest's Post Bac, Georgetown GEMS, and ohio medpath (medpath requires at least one of your GPAs to be above a 3.0). There are also a couple programs like ohio medpath where you apply to the medical school and they can choose to nominate you for their postbac program after rejecting you from the main university. I know AMSNY has program through the new york medical schools that can nominate you to the postbac after you receive an interview.

That being said, you need to be sure that you will be able to succeed in these programs. Have you corrected/fixed the reasons you did poorly to begin with? Do you know how to get the grades you will need? Will you be able to buckle down and get a good MCAT? Are you prepared to spend the rest of your life in a significant amount of debt?

As to what Dr. Midlife was saying, she was referring to the fact that an SMP gives you most/some of the M1 (first year of medical school) courses. So if you do well, it proves you can succeed at their school, but if you do poorly, it is very difficult to pull yourself out of that mess. It is an audition.

Good luck!

Good advice, duly noted. Thanks :]

Edit: can you recommend any SMPs that have M1 curriculum and accept students with sub 3.0?

 

[DrMidlife]

DrMidlife: Why would I apply to PhD programs when I am interested in medical school?

Why do you think your interest in med school is legitimate and worth an investment, when you have no clinical exposure?

I appreciate your opinion, but I think you're biased about low GPA comebacks because of your own experience.

Ad hominem is a quick and convenient defense, I'll give you that.

I was asking whether you knew if there were SMP programs which accepted students with below 3.0 GPAs. It's okay if you don't know, but everything else (about how I will afford my education etc.) is for me to worry about. Thanks for the input.

I know of at least one SMP that reputably gets sub-3.0s into med school. You could find it, in about 10 minutes, if you stop asking questions and start reading.

 

[BrandNewDay]

DrMidlife: Why would I apply to PhD programs when I am interested in medical school? I appreciate your opinion, but I think you're biased about low GPA comebacks because of your own experience. I was asking whether you knew if there were SMP programs which accepted students with below 3.0 GPAs. It's okay if you don't know, but everything else (about how I will afford my education etc.) is for me to worry about. Thanks for the input.

Take it from somebody who is applying to PhD programs, even though she hates research. You need a backup- and a PhD program will (theoretically) give you more time to shadow and volunteer to beef up your app, should you reapply at the end of it. From what I've seen, SMPs really only want students who are right on the verge of being acceptable med students. Below a 3.0, not only will you have some problems getting into an SMP, but you'll likely not make the cutoff for many med schools as well. If you truly can't afford more undergrad, then I suggest working in a healthcare related position (if possible) until you can. Then, I'd take whatever classes I needed to get to a 3.0 or above, earn the money I needed for an SMP (although I believe these are usually funded with loans, so I'm a bit puzzled at what you're planning to earn), and then apply to those. Between your GPA and economic situation, however, it seems you're in for a long road. Best of luck!

(Yes- this is all my opinion. Take with a grain of salt.)

 

[throwawayact]

Why do you think your interest in med school is legitimate and worth an investment, when you have no clinical exposure?

Ad hominem is a quick and convenient defense, I'll give you that.

I know of at least one SMP that reputably gets sub-3.0s into med school. You could find it, in about 10 minutes, if you stop asking questions and start reading.

I have not explicitly stated everything here as I hope to on applications, and that's my fault. You're only working with what I am stating here. Sorry for coming off as a butthead, but it's not responsible or thoughtful of you to suggest applying to PhD programs.

 

[BrandNewDay]

I have not explicitly stated everything here as I hope to on applications, and that's my fault. You're only working with what I am stating here. Sorry for coming off as a butthead, but it's not responsible or thoughtful of you to suggest applying to PhD programs.

Again- I loathe research (and regularly refer to it as less fun than shoving bamboo splinters under my nails), but a PhD program isn't always a bad thing. In my own situation, I think an SMP is a better choice. For you, without an MCAT or clinical experience, you need a couple of years to gain said experience, fix your GPA, and get a good MCAT. If you have a good, healthcare related job that pays what you need it to, then don't go for a PhD program. If not, it COULD benefit your application while giving you the time you need.

At the very least, as everybody else has said, get a knockout MCAT and raise that GPA to a 3.0- you might not even need an SMP. MAYBE (grain of salt and all that). You will, however, need those ECs. And, of course, consider DO.

 

[FightinUruKai]

I think you should definitely take some time to shadow/volunteer/research in addition to taking care of your financial situation and hopefully taking some classes. Also, all of the programs I listed are SMPs that mix medical school courses and graduate classes, and have very good records for matriculating students into medical school. Take a look at them, and also take a hard look at the threads in this forum. There is a wealth of information here, and you should take advantage of it.

 

[throwawayact]

Hey guys, thanks for the input thus far. I realize I need to re-evaluate my plan of action. But beyond this point it would be really helpful to start mentioning some names of places to apply. This community is extensive, as a newbie I have no idea where to start looking for answers.

Edit: FightinUruKai: Thanks for the school names, I am looking into them.

 

[pancakesyrup]

Some DO postbac programs may give you some leeway if you have a decent (27+) MCAT.

But if your goal is strictly MD, then I think you really need more coursework before any SMP-type program.

 

[DrMidlife]

This community is extensive, as a newbie I have no idea where to start looking for answers.

You can't be serious. How about the top of the forum. First three threads are about SMPs. Would you read existing info if we got somebody to translate it into a twitter feed? (Nobody's going to do that. I'm just curious.)

I suggest that every response to you here so far is thoughtful help. You've been handed the info you need on a silver platter with a singing telegram. You can ignore it, take it personally, wipe your ass with it, complain about how insufficient this freely offered help is, complain to the mods, I don't care. But should you choose to do some homework in this forum, to educate yourself instead of looking for somebody to donate knowledge learned from studying available resources, you may want to pay attention to how many people who behave like you do come back to share their success stories. (cue crickets)

Best of luck to you.

 

[throwawayact]

DrMidlife: I did look through them, but I was wondering if there's more (or new) information to know. Sorry if you can't help further. And I never suggested that everyone else's response was not helpful, just that yours wasn't. I am not amenable to your way of responding to people asking for help, that's why we're not getting along. I am not going to respond to you any further :[

 

[deleted248403]

DrMidlife: I did look through them, but I was wondering if there's more (or new) information to know. Sorry if you can't help further. And I never suggested that everyone else's response was not helpful, just that yours wasn't. I am not amenable to your way of responding to people asking for help, that's why we're not getting along. I am not going to respond to you any further :[

You are certainly making enemies here fast - you'll quickly find people won't be willing to help you unless you lose the attitude.
As i mentioned in the other thread, i am not interested in helping you any further, and won't be posting to respond to your posts.

Good luck to you

 

[throwawayact]

That's okay, sorry you feel that way. For future reference, it's more helpful to answer the question as opposed to going on tangents about what is/is not feasible for someone. I am not asking WAMC here. I realize that some people are in the business of being the judge/jury/executioner here but all this abrasiveness is really unnecessary. Maybe I am wrong, but I found DrMidlife's responses to be unnecessarily aggressive and bitter. But then again, it can be hard to discern someone's intention through text, and if I am mistaken I apologize.

 

[Deleted member 237747]

...................

 

[BrandNewDay]

That's okay, sorry you feel that way. For future reference, it's more helpful to answer the question as opposed to going on tangents about what is/is not feasible for someone. I am not asking WAMC here. I realize that some people are in the business of being the judge/jury/executioner here but all this abrasiveness is really unnecessary. Maybe I am wrong, but I found DrMidlife's responses to be unnecessarily aggressive and bitter. But then again, it can be hard to discern someone's intention through text, and if I am mistaken I apologize.

Dude, nobody is being abrasive. In my opinion, SDN is for telling you things you didn't already know or think of. This is where I learned about SMPs, for one. Even if they're options you don't necessarily like, it's always worth at least considering the options presented to you by far more experienced members (in no way including myself). It seems like you're looking for somebody to tell you you're right and give you all of the answers. If that's your goal, I can understand your displeasure. However, if you wanted to learn what your options are and what others suggest... you got that. DrMidlife seems to be the SDN expert on this stuff- and I certainly take her advice seriously and I assure you- your situation is certainly no more out of the ordinary than my own. I'd rather set aside my own biases and at least consider her advice, rather than ignoring it and wishing down the road that I'd listened to her.

If you don't want to take anybody's advice, fine. Just don't blame it on our "abrasiveness and tangents".

 

[throwawayact]

There are some good DO based Post Bacc's like PCOM(GA and PA) that you may consider. These programs also are able to help students getting into MD schools - this is what I was told by admission office and read on SDN. Some students with low GPA do make it there. Besides tution is like 22K.

I didn't know about that one, thank you!

 

[obeserabbit]

you should also check out the VCU CERT program. there's an option for "fast track review" where you can find out if you're qualified for the program:

"Individuals may consult in advance with the Program Director for a preliminary review, using a self-reporting form for their GPA and MCAT's, DAT's or GRE's. The Fast Track Review Self Reporting Form [Word] will allow rapid feedback to the applicant but does not replace the formal application to the Graduate School."

 

[throwawayact]

you should also check out the VCU CERT program. there's an option for "fast track review" where you can find out if you're qualified for the program:

"Individuals may consult in advance with the Program Director for a preliminary review, using a self-reporting form for their GPA and MCAT's, DAT's or GRE's. The Fast Track Review Self Reporting Form [Word] will allow rapid feedback to the applicant but does not replace the formal application to the Graduate School."

Cool, thanks :] Are there more programs which guarantee interview with medical school following completion?

 

[obeserabbit]

Cool, thanks :] Are there more programs which guarantee interview with medical school following completion?

i'm not familiar with all the SMPs, but i know that with tufts MBS, if you're in the top 25% of the class, you get an automatic interview. good luck with your search 🙂

 

[throwawayact]

i'm not familiar with all the SMPs, but i know that with tufts MBS, if you're in the top 25% of the class, you get an automatic interview. good luck with your search 🙂

Good to know, thanks!!

 

[DancinSarah]

Rosalind Franklin BMS program also offers guaranteed interview to the medical school, and has a pretty good record of getting their students in. I am in the program right now and several of my peers told me they had sub 3.0s in undergrad. It is very expensive however.

 

[throwawayact]

Rosalind Franklin BMS program also offers guaranteed interview to the medical school, and has a pretty good record of getting their students in. I am in the program right now and several of my peers told me they had sub 3.0s in undergrad. It is very expensive however.

Seems great, thanks for mentioning it!