Rejected from Rowan MBS Program, offered Quick Admit, what should I do?

[SupremeUncle]

Background: I graduated class of 2019 with like a 2.5cGPA and like a <2.0 sGPA.
Undiagnosed ADHD lead to most of my failures. As bad my stats are, my extracurriculars make up for it. I've been scribing for nearly 3 years now, became a head trainer at my site, and 200 hours of internship with a thesis paper in Internal Medicine in my final year of undergrad. Always dodged Orgo during undergrad, so I took it at a county college. Failed the first time, but got diagnosed with ADHD and after being on my meds I got an A- in Orgo 1, currently taking Orgo 2 right now.
Took the GRE to apply to the MBS and got 156V/157Q.

I only applied to Rowan as it's in-state for me, and it was honestly a very rushed process for me. I wasn't able to really sit down and think about what programs I should apply to, and definitely did not do any research about out of state programs yet. I know that my stats are absolutely abysmal, but after being undiagnosed for so long and finally finding success that I was longing for really changes things, and I know I'm 100% capable of getting into med school with the right mindset.

As stated in the title, Rowan offered me to do their Quick Admit program, which is where you're a non-enrolled student taking up to 9 credits in the fall semester with the rest of the MBS class. These 9 credits for me would probably be a combination of Biochem, Cell Bio, and Genetics. Since I would be non-matriculated, I don't get any student loans and therefore can't move closer to Rowan. For what it's worth, classes are online but exams are in-person, I don't mind making the drive down.

I was honestly surprised that I didn't get into the program. I know they ultimately cannot take the risk of a student failing out of their program, and my academic record is less than convincing, but everything else including my LORs, PS, and ECs make up for it and showcase my drive. I even got an LOR from an assistant clinical professor at RowanSOM.
I'm going to be speaking to the senior dean later today as a way to introduce myself, but also to ask him to review my application with me and identify shortcomings and what I would need to matriculate into the program in the Spring of 2021.

However, what are some other routes that you guys suggest? I was thinking that if I don't end up doing the Quick Admit program at Rowan, I'd probably start studying for the MCAT, take it around May 2021 etc. and re-apply/apply broadly to more SMP programs.

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[star.buck]

I’d suggest looking at grades and EC’s as two separate aspects of your application. More of one can’t really make up for less of the other. You can be a driven, enthusiastic, and hard worker - and not be able to take on heavy science classes successfully. This is likely why this program didn’t offer you a traditional admit.

Goro here has a reinvention guide I’d suggest looking into to bring the GPA up, as well as ensure success moving forward.

 

[GreenDuck12]

Background: I graduated class of 2019 with like a 2.5cGPA and like a <2.0 sGPA.
Undiagnosed ADHD lead to most of my failures. As bad my stats are, my extracurriculars make up for it. I've been scribing for nearly 3 years now, became a head trainer at my site, and 200 hours of internship with a thesis paper in Internal Medicine in my final year of undergrad. Always dodged Orgo during undergrad, so I took it at a county college. Failed the first time, but got diagnosed with ADHD and after being on my meds I got an A- in Orgo 1, currently taking Orgo 2 right now.
Took the GRE to apply to the MBS and got 156V/157Q.

I only applied to Rowan as it's in-state for me, and it was honestly a very rushed process for me. I wasn't able to really sit down and think about what programs I should apply to, and definitely did not do any research about out of state programs yet. I know that my stats are absolutely abysmal, but after being undiagnosed for so long and finally finding success that I was longing for really changes things, and I know I'm 100% capable of getting into med school with the right mindset.

As stated in the title, Rowan offered me to do their Quick Admit program, which is where you're a non-enrolled student taking up to 9 credits in the fall semester with the rest of the MBS class. These 9 credits for me would probably be a combination of Biochem, Cell Bio, and Genetics. Since I would be non-matriculated, I don't get any student loans and therefore can't move closer to Rowan. For what it's worth, classes are online but exams are in-person, I don't mind making the drive down.

I was honestly surprised that I didn't get into the program. I know they ultimately cannot take the risk of a student failing out of their program, and my academic record is less than convincing, but everything else including my LORs, PS, and ECs make up for it and showcase my drive. I even got an LOR from an assistant clinical professor at RowanSOM.
I'm going to be speaking to the senior dean later today as a way to introduce myself, but also to ask him to review my application with me and identify shortcomings and what I would need to matriculate into the program in the Spring of 2021.

However, what are some other routes that you guys suggest? I was thinking that if I don't end up doing the Quick Admit program at Rowan, I'd probably start studying for the MCAT, take it around May 2021 etc. and re-apply/apply broadly to more SMP programs.

This is an interesting scenario. In my mind, the purpose of an SMP is to demonstrate that you can handle the rigors of medical school by mimicking a full-time medical course load. To that end, I don't quite understand the benefit of the part time program since it won't be comparable with a full time SMP and it won't impact your undergraduate GPA. If you can start the fall part time and then switch to full-time in the spring, then maybe that would be worth considering but I recommend you reach out to adcoms about how they would view it.

If not, find out to what degree you need to increase your undergraduate GPA to be a more competitive applicant for the program and start taking postbac classes.