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[doit4humanity]

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Hi guys,
Below are my stats and would like some advice on where I would have a chance. I understand my volunteer and clinical hours are on the low end of the spectrum but I don't intend to apply this coming cycle. I will be applying next cycle when my volunteer hours are much higher. Due to the change on grade replacement my gpa pretty much went down the crap pipe, so any advice will be much appreciated!
-Ca resident
-Asian male
-cGPA: 2.96
-BCPM GPA: 2.85
-518 MCAT
-100 clinical hours
-180 volunteer with church
-60 hours shadowing DO physician
-10+ years of various work experience

 

[precisiongraphic]

State of residence/area of country?
Grade trend? Is it obvious that at some point you turned around your grades and were able to master classes or is your GPA stable for all education years?

 

[doit4humanity]

Ca/Inland Empire


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[doit4humanity]

Upward trend


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[precisiongraphic]

Sorry I missed that in the original post.

If it's a huge upward trend (like 3.7+ in year four) then I think you might be able to do another year of undergrad classes to raise your GPA and demonstrate achievement and then apply. But that's a longshot. Given your MCAT you would have a good chance of getting into a SMP at a DO (or MD) program and that is probably the only viable path to med school. I'm sorry I'm not knowledgable enough about DO schools to point to specific ones. Maybe @Faha or @Goro might be able to help.

Ca/Inland Empire


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[Goro]

OP, Can you give us a year-by-year breakdown of your GPAs?

 

[doit4humanity]

I have a long history to screwing up in school but below are my cgpa year by year. I do have a compelling story as to why my gpa is so low though, however, I doubt I will even make it pass screening.
An important aspect is I do come from a really low SES area and family so I started working to help my parents out when I was 13 and get paid under the table.


2003: 2.5
2004: 1.93
2009: 2.85
2010: 2.87
2011: 2.94
2012: 2.75
2013: 2.80
2014: 2.78
2015: 2.87
2016: 2.90
2017: 2.96


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[esob]

The trend in your GPA coupled with your MCAT seems to indicate that you are intelligent but lack the ability (for whatever reason, laziness, mental issues, some family circumstances) to make school a priority. No matter how compelling that reason may be (maybe you are caring for 2 sick parents and a sibling) it is still indicative of an inability to make school a priority and I think that issue would need to be resolved (and some coursework demonstrating it has been resolved) would need to be apparent before you are going to get a serious look from an adcom, especially as a non URM.

 

[precisiongraphic]

OP you are obviously intelligent as indicated by your MCAT score but no medical school will ever agree that you have shown any ability to handle medical school courses. That's a blunt response, sorry. I have seen others with this and it's because of outside pressures (e.g. having to work) or Non-native English speakers or other extraneous issues.

Your only options would be to start a new B.S. degree and get 3.7+ GPA for every. single. class. for a 2-3 year program.

Or get into a SMP (official post-bacc program) and ace the classes. This would be a high-risk/high-reward strategy because failing out would mean that you would probably never be accepted.

 

[doit4humanity]

Thanks for the advice, I knew my gpa was an issue. However, if I were to try and put about 600-700 bucks to gamble on a med school which school would you think I'll have some chance on? I'm applying to WesternU SMP regardless, but I want to throw my chance out there and might get some luck.


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[doit4humanity]

I've been getting get A from the last 32 units


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[doit4humanity]

With the exception of trigonometry this class is something else


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[precisiongraphic]

@Goro gave this list for another poster recently that might help.


ARCOM
UIW
RVU-UT
NYIT-AR
LMU
LECOM
KYCOM
ACOM
VCOM-AR
VCOM-SC
Wm Carey

Good luck to you.

 

[precisiongraphic]

I've been getting get A from the last 32 units


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Not sure I understand this given the yearly GPAs above.

 

[doit4humanity]

Sorry for the confusion but the given yearly gpa above was based off my cgpa but so far I've been acing all the pre req courses aside from trigonometry which pretty much destroyed me with a C.


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[esob]

Sorry for the confusion but the given yearly gpa above was based off my cgpa but so far I've been acing all the pre req courses aside from trigonometry which pretty much destroyed me with a C.


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Oh, well that makes a big difference. We are talking about the trend in your GPA, not the running cumulative total; for example:

2017: 4.0
2016: 3.75
2015: 4.0

 

[precisiongraphic]

Oh, well that makes a big difference. We are talking about the trend in your GPA, not the running cumulative total; for example:

2017: 4.0
2016: 3.75
2015: 4.0

I totally missed that as an explanation. You're showing smarts whereas it went right over my head. 🙂

Yes, OP, I was asking what your GPA was for discrete years, not the cumulative GPA by year. If you have a 2.5 in your freshman year but 3.9 just for classes taken during the calendar year of 2016 that makes a difference.

 

[doit4humanity]

Fall 2015: 3.8
Spring 2016: 3.9
Fall 2016: 4.0
Winter: 3.6 (Trigonometry semester)

Total: 32 units

I'm also working approximately 50-60 hours a week.

 

[esob]

When you have previous bad semesters, your recent GPA is like a newborn baby; you need to protect it at all costs. I'm not sure any med schools even require trig (none in Texas do for sure) but in any event it would have been best to drop it and take it elsewhere. Without the C in trig you looked to be a reformed candidate but that C is like a Krylon streak on a Picasso in the sense that it kind of ruins the rest of the masterpiece. I'm not sure there is really anything you can do to un-ring that bell but if you aren't applying this cycle, I would face subsequent cycles with the "protect-my-gpa-at-any-cost" mentality in full effect. Shadowing/volunteering/etc is relatively unimportant if you can't make it past the GPA screen.

 

[doit4humanity]

Trig is a pre-requisite for calculus and I think most medical school required statisitic and any college level math (some required calclus).

 

[esob]

Trig is a pre-requisite for calculus and I think most medical school required statisitic and any college level math (some required calclus).

Are you saying trig is a prereq for stats at your school? Like I said, most schools prefer stats over calculus now and I've never seen trig be a prereq for stats.

 

[precisiongraphic]

Fall 2015: 3.8
Spring 2016: 3.9
Fall 2016: 4.0
Winter: 3.6 (Trigonometry semester)

Total: 32 units

I'm also working approximately 50-60 hours a week.

That's quite different. I think you just need to finish strong (agree with esob that protecting the 3.9+ gpa is Job #1) and then find schools that won't auto-screen you out solely based on you cumulative sGPA and cGPA. I don't know that DO schools have a central place where you can find out but start by checking the schools websites. Also, there is a <3.0 thread here in the Non-traditional forum and if you read the whole thread you might get some strategies. Below 3.0 gpa Support Group/Thread

I'm not sure that you need a SMP unless you get rejected after a full cycle but if there is one with good, strong linkage to a med school program that might be good.

Good luck!

 

[doit4humanity]

Trig was a prerequisite for physic at my school


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[esob]

Trig was a prerequisite for physic at my school


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Wow, they should at least let your test out of it.

 

[doit4humanity]

Yea, it is what it is. I might just try to apply to the UC Premed Consortium and hope it'll give me a chance to gain an acceptance. For some reason math has been a pretty challenging subject for me and always tend to do really crappy no matter how hard I study lol.