Seeking honest advice about my future plans/goals

[rhcp430]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hey guys.

I graduated last May and I decided that the world of mathematical finance is not for me.

I honestly believe that I am more than capable of succeeding in an MD program but my GPA and Transcripts are less than stellar.

My GPA is ~3.27 and I've had ~12 withdrawals due to poor decisions and a few deaths.

I have taken 1 year of physics (B+/A- range), 1 year chem (B/C+), 1 Year bio (B/A), and 1 year Calculus (A,A).

The issue is, these courses were taken well over 2.5 years ago so my retained knowledge from the aforementioned courses is poor at best.

I was contemplating if:

A. I should shoot straight for a post bacc-program, review my previous coursework, take orgo & the mcat

B. Go for a school with minimal barrier to entry, e.g. Harvard Extension School, retake the courses I need to review, take then mcats, and then apply for a post bacc program like UPenn's program

or

C. Any other suggestions.

I realize that the withdrawals are a huge red flag but the death of a few close friends should be understandable if explained well enough imho.

I've had two Z's on my transcript (Z indicates an I with no withdrawal; essentially it's an F) but afterwards I've had nothing but ~70% A's and 30% B's in my finance courses.

Thanks for your help/input in advance

 

[giants25]

Ill try to help you out but this is based just on my experience with increasing grades and applying to medical school.

1. 3.27 is low, but whats your sGPA? If you finished 4 years in undergrad, then taking undergraduate courses most likely won't help you raise your GPA by very much in a short time period. Though if you can spend a few years it might help. If you took 120 credits in college, then took 30 science credits and get a 4.0 in all of them your gpa will increase to ~3.40. Take 60 credits in 2 years and it will increase to 3.5. So it is possible to do it that way but extremely difficult to take that many upper level classes and get all As (though not impossible!). But I'm guessing your science GPA is a little lower than 3.3 so it could be even harder. The two Zs? will only add to your troubles.

2. The 12 withdrawals will be extremely difficult to explain IMHO. Unless they were grouped together in a semester or two, I don't know how you would be able to explain that to an admissions committee and get them to look past it. Maybe 1 or 2 Ws, but 12 Ws, 2 Fs (or Zs?), and a C+ on your transcript are hard to ignore. Maybe some other SDN members with experience in this can help you.

3. Most Post-Baccs are for students who haven't taking the basic course work yet. These are the best programs that have linkages to medical schools. There are some other programs that might accept you, so I'd do some research on it yourself. I myself did an SMP and somehow got a 4.0, but it was by far the hardest year of my life. Now however I'm sure it will help me when applying to medical school. However, the major caveat is that if you do poorly in the SMP program (basically 1st year med curriculum but graded instead of pass fail) its proof to schools you can't hack it and in all likelihood kill your application.

Personally, I think you will have a difficult time getting into medical school. That being said its not impossible and there are enough stories on SDN alone to give you some motivation. At the end of the day, you need to be sure this is the path you want to go, because if not it will be years of classes, handwork, and huge loans to repay with nothing to show for it. One of my friends found out the hard way during our program that she didn't want to go into medicine anymore and basically lost 50K in tuition and fees and a year of her life. But if you decide this is what you really want, then study hard, commit yourself and I'm sure you can make it happen! Best of luck.

 

[rhcp430]

Ill try to help you out but this is based just on my experience with increasing grades and applying to medical school.

1. 3.27 is low, but whats your sGPA? If you finished 4 years in undergrad, then taking undergraduate courses most likely won't help you raise your GPA by very much in a short time period. Though if you can spend a few years it might help. If you took 120 credits in college, then took 30 science credits and get a 4.0 in all of them your gpa will increase to ~3.40. Take 60 credits in 2 years and it will increase to 3.5. So it is possible to do it that way but extremely difficult to take that many upper level classes and get all As (though not impossible!). But I'm guessing your science GPA is a little lower than 3.3 so it could be even harder. The two Zs? will only add to your troubles.

2. The 12 withdrawals will be extremely difficult to explain IMHO. Unless they were grouped together in a semester or two, I don't know how you would be able to explain that to an admissions committee and get them to look past it. Maybe 1 or 2 Ws, but 12 Ws, 2 Fs (or Zs?), and a C+ on your transcript are hard to ignore. Maybe some other SDN members with experience in this can help you.

3. Most Post-Baccs are for students who haven't taking the basic course work yet. These are the best programs that have linkages to medical schools. There are some other programs that might accept you, so I'd do some research on it yourself. I myself did an SMP and somehow got a 4.0, but it was by far the hardest year of my life. Now however I'm sure it will help me when applying to medical school. However, the major caveat is that if you do poorly in the SMP program (basically 1st year med curriculum but graded instead of pass fail) its proof to schools you can't hack it and in all likelihood kill your application.

Personally, I think you will have a difficult time getting into medical school. That being said its not impossible and there are enough stories on SDN alone to give you some motivation. At the end of the day, you need to be sure this is the path you want to go, because if not it will be years of classes, handwork, and huge loans to repay with nothing to show for it. One of my friends found out the hard way during our program that she didn't want to go into medicine anymore and basically lost 50K in tuition and fees and a year of her life. But if you decide this is what you really want, then study hard, commit yourself and I'm sure you can make it happen! Best of luck.

I honestly wonder if re-taking science courses and boosting my science gpa to 3.5 would help. An SMP is also an alternative that I did not consider but I can't comment since I have not done enough research on the matter.

My biggest hope at the moment is to get a 35+ MCAT score since I've always done extremely well on standardized tests (99% SAT, 96% GMAT [MBA/MSF Programs], etc).

I guess I'll contact a few adcoms for additional input but I really appreciate the advice.

 

[alexrgross]

Creighton has "open hours" at their admissions office, to discuss your application.

I suggest 2 years of undergraduate, informal post-bacc (ie not working for a degree, unless you wish to) - finishing your pre-reqs and taking upper division science courses. Your GPA, and MCAT, are high prioirity.

Considering 2 years of GPA >= 3.8, you should follow with an SMP for 1 year (maybe 2, that could be too too much) Apply AMCAS at the end of the 2 years undergrad, and use the SMP to fill the gap year. With a good MCAT, it will be grades that ad coms will harp on, so it is really necessary to hit your GPA as hard as possible before ad coms see your app.