Request for Advice

[doc_hopeful]

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Hello and thanks for checking out my thread. First is a brief introduction of my situation. After which my plan to reconcile my future goals with my past performance. Lastly is a request for advice.

Introduction

I graduated in May 2005 from a top 20 school and with a dual degree in Math/CS. During my undergrad years I pursued pre-med and to this day I still have a very strong desire to become a doctor. I want to give another go at obtaining an MD.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I finished all of the pre-req's, except organic chemistry lab. However, I really bit off more than I could chew and my grades suffered. I took college courses in high school and after college, which help boost up my GPA. Even, with the other grades my GPA break down is 2.72 (BCMP), 2.98 (non-BCMP) and 2.85 overall.

I want to mention that I have done more than a year's worth of volunteering at a hospital both with significant patient interaction and also with experience in and around the OR. I worked with a research team for about 8 months too.

The Plan

Take courses at Purchase College to improve GPA

Summer - mid-June to end of July
1 - Human Anatomy I (Anat/Physio) (listed as Cont. Ed. course by school)
2 - Human Anatomy II (Physio/Nutrition) (listed as Cont. Ed. course by school)

Fall '07 - Sept. to mid-Dec.
Go back to school full time for Fall '07 & Spring '08.
3 - O Chem I (retake)
4 - O Chem I lab
5 - Bio chem
6 - Cell bio
7 - Dev. bio (or genetics)

MCAT - end of Jan '08

Spring '08 end of Jan to mid-May
8 - O Chem II (retake)
9 - O Chem II lab
10 - science course (e.g., Bio Chem II)
11 - science course (e.g., Physical Chem)
12 - science course
13 - humanities course

The school is great for me because it's close and the tuition is low. I am currently studying for the MCAT and would like to take it during January '08. The school has a four week break split pretty much equally between Dec/Jan. I expect I can do a lot of practice tests then, provided I do the study and review before hand. In addition to courses, I want to get back to volunteering about 4 hours a week at a hospital or even with my local volunteer EMS unit.

Assuming I pass all of the courses I want to take, then I believe my GPA would become roughly 3.09 (BCMP), 3.01 (Non-BCMP), and 3.06 overall. Furthermore, if courses are aced and MCAT score is decent, i.e., above 32, I would like to apply to a few special master's programs or even medical schools themselves if it was the right time to.

Questions

Finally, some questions that are still lingering in my mind.

(1) The summer courses are listed as Continuing Education courses by the school. Will this be a problem? Will they still be counted with BCMP GPA or left out all together?

I spoke with the professor and the head of the pre-med committee and got the sense the courses would be good sciences courses to get me back into school. They stressed I will need more upper level science courses. I did not give them my complete background when I spoke with them.

(2) Does this plan seem reasonable? Should I put in another year of courses to try to get up my GPA event higher? With another year of aced courses, I think I could get BCMP up to above 3.25 and Non-BCMP up a little more too.

(3) Assuming things go well, would it be better to apply to a masters, like a Georgetown SMP, or give medical school apps a shot?

(4) Should I think about scheduling MCAT to another time?

(5) Anything else I need to consider?

 

[Law2Doc]

(4) Should I think about scheduling MCAT to another time?

Well, Orgo II is certainly fair game for the MCAT, so it's worth considering whether you want to take it after you redo that class. Of course since you've had it before perhaps you are ok. Depends how good you are at self study/review.

 

[Catalystik]

Questions

Finally, some questions that are still lingering in my mind.

(3) Assuming things go well, would it be better to apply to a masters, like a Georgetown SMP, or give medical school apps a shot?

Are you willing to consider osteopathic medical schools? They will forgive the lower grade on retaken courses. If not, do what it takes to get your GPA up. Do the math and see what two years of straight As would do for your GPA.

 

[doc_hopeful]

Are you willing to consider osteopathic medical schools? They will forgive the lower grade on retaken courses. If not, do what it takes to get your GPA up. Do the math and see what two years of straight As would do for your GPA.

I am not as familiar with Osteopathic schools and am interested in surgery. Is this a field that would be open to a D.O.?

As for completing a second year of classes. Assuming a second year of straight A classes (five 3-credit and five 4-credit courses) would bring my GPA up to 3.26 BCMP, 3.03 non-BCMP and 3.17 overall (roughly).

Would this be more beneficial than doing a one year masters program like the one at Georgetown?

More likely, if I was to continue taking undergrad courses, I would need to take a job. Then I would be limited to 2 night courses at a time for a year. This would bring the GPA up to about 3.19 BCMP, 3.01 non-BCMP, and 3.11 overall.

 

[doc_hopeful]

Well, Orgo II is certainly fair game for the MCAT, so it's worth considering whether you want to take it after you redo that class. Of course since you've had it before perhaps you are ok. Depends how good you are at self study/review.

This is something I haven't fully considered and will look into. Thanks.

 

[silas2642]

I am not as familiar with Osteopathic schools and am interested in surgery. Is this a field that would be open to a D.O.?

As for completing a second year of classes. Assuming a second year of straight A classes (five 3-credit and five 4-credit courses) would bring my GPA up to 3.26 BCMP, 3.03 non-BCMP and 3.17 overall (roughly).

Would this be more beneficial than doing a one year masters program like the one at Georgetown?

More likely, if I was to continue taking undergrad courses, I would need to take a job. Then I would be limited to 2 night courses at a time for a year. This would bring the GPA up to about 3.19 BCMP, 3.01 non-BCMP, and 3.11 overall.

Just be sure that you don't bite off more than you can chew again (getting straight A's in five 4-credit courses for a previous 3.0 student is no walk in the park)-- you don't want history to repeat itself.

Your gpa is low. Really low. If I was in your position, I would familiarize myself with osteopathic medicine because it would afford me all the same opportunities that allopathic medicine would, and, unlike offshore schools, would also allow me to study within the United States for medical school. The downside of osteopathic medicine? You have the letters DO after your name instead of MD. For more information, browse the osteopathic forums.

The great thing about DO schools is that when you retake classes, they replace your previous grade with your new (hopefully higher) grade instead of averaging it in with the previous grade like the allopathic schools do. Obviously, this is a gpa booster. The other great thing about DO schools is that they are more willing than allopathic schools to look past lower stats, and their numbers tend to be slightly lower than allopathic matriculants, which gives you a better shot.

If I was you, I would go back and retake any of the pre-reqs that you got less than a B in, finish off any of the pre-reqs that you have, getting straight A's in them, take some upper division science courses and get straight A's in them to boost your GPA over a 3.0, and then nail the mcat >30. Then I would apply very very early and broadly to as many DO schools as I could. Good luck!