Second undergrad degree?

[brickwall]

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Hi all, I posted a thread about this in the pre-med MD forum but I wanted to get the non-trad's opinions.

Background:

• I have a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering from a Canadian university.

• I graduated with a cGPA of 3.3.

• I am also half-way through Master's with a 3.9 GPA in my grad courses.

• I have no EC's or volunteering experience.

Questions:

1. Should I do a second undergrad degree to increase my GPA and improve my EC's/volunteering and at the same time get some medical research done OR should I just try to ace my pre-req's and try to do a little EC/Volunteering on the side?
2. How do US med. schools handle applicants with two degrees? (i.e. how is their cGPA calculated?)
3. I took physics in my prev. undergrad and didn't do well. What implications would retaking this course (to improve my mark) have?
4. Do D's/F's hurt me in any way other than bringing my GPA down?

 

[AM4012]

Brick,

I'm 24 with a B.S. in Biotechnology and a B.A. in Biochemistry with a cGPA of 3.2. I considered the exact same thing you are with the second degree. Basically, the university I tried to pursue a second degree at told me that I had to write an essay on WHY I wanted another undergrad degree (as well as fill out a mountain of paperwork), since I had already attained two. I get the impression that universities want a REALLY good reason for granting you degree enrollment if you have already graduated somewhere with a Bachelors. I think the reasoning is that since you can probably just start working somewhere and earning a salary with the degree you already have, then you could potentially just quit the degree program at whatever university if you changed your mind. The university loses money on this, so they consider you a toxic CDO...of sorts.

Therefore, I'm just taking my science classes as a non-degree seeking student then applying once those are done. I'm no expert but I thought this might be relevant.

 

[DrMidlife]

Are you Canadian or did you just go to a Canadian school? V. important.

 

[brickwall]

Are you Canadian or did you just go to a Canadian school? V. important.

Both. And I'm not opposed to going to a Canadian med school either.

 

[AdaMLS]

I'm not a pre-med but I was one and know I lot of them (some now in med school). I'd say that you should probably just take the pre-med requirements as a non-matric to avoid the frustration and gen eds of another bachelors degree. I've been given the impression that students with nontraditional education are often distinguished in the app pool anyway.

 

[brickwall]

Thanks for the encouragement guys, I really appreciate it.

I just had this impression that a 3.3 cGPA would require a stellar MCAT (>33) and EC's.

I haven't taken the MCAT yet and have virtually no EC's (other than my current research in engineering). I feel like it's going to be tough to build up my EC's in such a short period (during which I would be taking the pre-med courses).

Also, I am a Canadian so that's also going to work against me with the US schools.

But again, I still have hope from what I've read in this thread.

 

[mmdp]

Just noticed you are from Canada, my story probably would not apply and you already got enough great advice 🙂 good luck!