Should I do post bacc?

[plsimanoob]

I'm sorry if I posted in the wrong place, I am new to this site.
I recently graduated this fall 2019 and have been at home trying to find more work and volunteering opportunities. I thought of taking the mcat this May and started looking more into depth about med school and have been thinking of possibly taking a post bacc at some programs close to home (I live in northern Virginia) to make sure I will be the best candidate for med school.
My gpa is a 3.3 and all I have is some good volunteer and clinical experience (spanish translator for clinics and spanish english teacher), I am also going to start working as a scribe soon. My family also does not have much money and is scared that I am might be wasting time and money doing a post bacc instead of trying to apply to med school, so if anybody also has some advice on getting funds for more schooling it would be greatly appreciated!

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[DocOrBust2019]

Your cGPA is 3.3? How exact is that? What were your grade trends like year by year? Have you taken all pre-reqs? Are you factoring in grades that may be replaced by retakes?

You need to do the following:

1) enter all grades into the AACOMAS/ACMAS calculator you can find on this site.
2) evaluate your grades. cGPA and sGPA both over 3.0? That's good.
3) look at GPA trends. Was your GPA dropping in your senior year? With a lower GPA, that doesn't look good. Post bacc is probably a good idea in that case.
4) get clinical exposure.
5) Make sure you have taken all general prereqs for med school. If not, do them.
6)Study for, and do as best as possible on the MCAT. You should take as long as you need to study and prepared.
7) Decide after ensuring that your s and cGPAs are 3.3-ish if you're cool with potentially only getting interviews from DO schools. With a lower MCAT, that's all you'll see anyway, but if you can put together a year of success in upper level bio type courses (3.7+, but the higher the better) then with a solid MCAT you'll have a fair shake at both MD and DO schools.

Good luck.

 

[Goro]

I'm sorry if I posted in the wrong place, I am new to this site.
I recently graduated this fall 2019 and have been at home trying to find more work and volunteering opportunities. I thought of taking the mcat this May and started looking more into depth about med school and have been thinking of possibly taking a post bacc at some programs close to home (I live in northern Virginia) to make sure I will be the best candidate for med school.
My gpa is a 3.3 and all I have is some good volunteer and clinical experience (spanish translator for clinics and spanish english teacher), I am also going to start working as a scribe soon. My family also does not have much money and is scared that I am might be wasting time and money doing a post bacc instead of trying to apply to med school, so if anybody also has some advice on getting funds for more schooling it would be greatly appreciated!

What is your sGPA? If similar to the cGPA, then no need for a post-bac, especially if you had a rising GPA trend.

 

[plsimanoob]

Your cGPA is 3.3? How exact is that? What were your grade trends like year by year? Have you taken all pre-reqs? Are you factoring in grades that may be replaced by retakes?

You need to do the following:

1) enter all grades into the AACOMAS/ACMAS calculator you can find on this site.
2) evaluate your grades. cGPA and sGPA both over 3.0? That's good.
3) look at GPA trends. Was your GPA dropping in your senior year? With a lower GPA, that doesn't look good. Post bacc is probably a good idea in that case.
4) get clinical exposure.
5) Make sure you have taken all general prereqs for med school. If not, do them.
6)Study for, and do as best as possible on the MCAT. You should take as long as you need to study and prepared.
7) Decide after ensuring that your s and cGPAs are 3.3-ish if you're cool with potentially only getting interviews from DO schools. With a lower MCAT, that's all you'll see anyway, but if you can put together a year of success in upper level bio type courses (3.7+, but the higher the better) then with a solid MCAT you'll have a fair shake at both MD and DO schools.

Good luck.

Thank you so much for the info you gave me.
my exact cumulative gpa was 3.373 and I have taken all pre reqs. My sGPA for MD and DO was 3.348 and 3.256 respectively.
I have never retaken any class but have dropped 2. I did really well my first year of undergrad but had a slight drop in grades since then but have maintained the same level of performance. My senior year had some of my lowest grades which scares me. I do not like to make excuses but my senior year was very rough on my mental health because of many family problems, which I think is to blame for my low grades.

I am fine with DO schools, I honestly prefer them over MD. I am interested in what you mean about having success in upper level bio courses. Do you mean that I should retake or take some more bio classes or do you mean taking these classes in a post bacc program?

 

[plsimanoob]

What is your sGPA? If similar to the cGPA, then no need for a post-bac, especially if you had a rising GPA trend.

my sGPA was 3.348, but I'm afraid that my GPA trend was declining

 

[Goro]

my sGPA was 3.348, but I'm afraid that my GPA trend was declining

How badly declining? Like C's in your final year? Or simply all Bs. The latter is probably not lethal. Can you give your year by year cGPA and sGPAs?

 

[plsimanoob]

How badly declining? Like C's in your final year? Or simply all Bs. The latter is probably not lethal. Can you give your year by year cGPA and sGPAs?

My cGPA was
Fresh 3.600
Sop 3.500
Jun 3.453
Sen 3.373

for AMCAS sGPA was
Fr 3.667
So 3.491
Ju 3.461
Se 3.348

for AACOMAS sGPA was
Fr 3.526
So 3.364
Ju 3.369
Se 3.256

I ended up getting 2 C's my senior year

 

[sab3156]

You need to take the MCAT and see how you do. If you do extremely well, then you can just apply for MD schools at this point, maybe retaking some classes before that. You need to buy Berkeley Review Series (BRS) and sit down for 2-3 months and destroy this exam. You will get to places. This is true especially if you are underprivileged and/or of Hispanic heritage (you mentioned being a Spanish translator, so just thought it would be worth bringing that up).

Don't even bother uttering the words "DO schools" again unless you don't do well on the MCAT. And for the love of God, please stop with this "I prefer DO schools over MD schools" nonsense. Apply MD after killing the MCAT, and don't look back.

 

[Goro]

My cGPA was
Fresh 3.600
Sop 3.500
Jun 3.453
Sen 3.373

for AMCAS sGPA was
Fr 3.667
So 3.491
Ju 3.461
Se 3.348

for AACOMAS sGPA was
Fr 3.526
So 3.364
Ju 3.369
Se 3.256

I ended up getting 2 C's my senior year

IF you don't apply, then your rejection rate will be 100%. But when applying, consider an SMP as well.

 

[DocOrBust2019]

You need to take the MCAT and see how you do. If you do extremely well, then you can just apply for MD schools at this point, maybe retaking some classes before that. You need to buy Berkeley Review Series (BRS) and sit down for 2-3 months and destroy this exam. You will get to places. This is true especially if you are underprivileged and/or of Hispanic heritage (you mentioned being a Spanish translator, so just thought it would be worth bringing that up).

Don't even bother uttering the words "DO schools" again unless you don't do well on the MCAT. And for the love of God, please stop with this "I prefer DO schools over MD schools" nonsense. Apply MD after killing the MCAT, and don't look back.

Disagree that OP shouldn't be uttering "DO schools". They are a low GPA applicant. Even an underprivileged and/or Hispanic applicant is not going to be particularly competitive for MD programs with those stats without an 85th+ percentile MCAT, which is obviously easier said than done.

OP will need to apply both MD and DO regardless of their MCAT, but obviously if they have an opportunity to go MD they need to choose it 100%

 

[plsimanoob]

You need to take the MCAT and see how you do. If you do extremely well, then you can just apply for MD schools at this point, maybe retaking some classes before that. You need to buy Berkeley Review Series (BRS) and sit down for 2-3 months and destroy this exam. You will get to places. This is true especially if you are underprivileged and/or of Hispanic heritage (you mentioned being a Spanish translator, so just thought it would be worth bringing that up).

Don't even bother uttering the words "DO schools" again unless you don't do well on the MCAT. And for the love of God, please stop with this "I prefer DO schools over MD schools" nonsense. Apply MD after killing the MCAT, and don't look back.

Thanks so much for your advice.
When should I be retaking some classes? This summer or coming fall? Should I also focus on classes that I have gotten a C in or are there some classes that I should retake even though I got a B (Orgo comes to mind)? I was hoping to apply for the 2021 year, but it looks like Im going to be trying for the 2022 year now.

I am of Hispanic heritage and I wouldn't say I was super underprivileged, although I am not to sure what would qualify me as such.

 

[sab3156]

Thanks so much for your advice.
When should I be retaking some classes? This summer or coming fall? Should I also focus on classes that I have gotten a C in or are there some classes that I should retake even though I got a B (Orgo comes to mind)? I was hoping to apply for the 2021 year, but it looks like Im going to be trying for the 2022 year now.

I am of Hispanic heritage and I wouldn't say I was super underprivileged, although I am not to sure what would qualify me as such.

Yeah I think you should retake the classes you have gotten a C in, especially the science courses. I wouldn't worry about the B's.

You can retake classes whenever you think will be best for you - you want to get A's.

Your MCAT is going to be more important than your GPA at this point - so make sure you use Berkeley Review for the MCAT and you're going to do well. Set aside 2-3 months to really comb through those books and get the most out of them. Don't listen to the haters who think BRS is "overkill" or "too much detail"... I used them mainly for the physical sciences (didn't have time to get through everything else) and I got only one question wrong on physical sciences and I know exactly which one I got wrong because my knowledge of the subject matter was very comprehensive due to Berkeley Review (this was old MCAT, 2012). It's all about practice questions, practice questions, practice questions. Hit those questions TIMED (and time yourself conservatively, maybe give yourself a bit less time than you'd normally have per question) when you do them. Use UWorld for MCAT questions, as well. If you can get through BRS and UWorld, and if you're a good test taker, you'll be insane on test day.

Let us know of your update once you take the MCAT. Take it before the summer if you can.

 

[plsimanoob]

IF you don't apply, then your rejection rate will be 100%. But when applying, consider an SMP as well.

Do you mean that if I choose to apply this cycle for med school, I should also apply to an SMP as well?

 

[Goro]

Do you mean that if I choose to apply this cycle for med school, I should also apply to an SMP as well?

Yes. The declining GPA is concerning.

 

[plsimanoob]

Yes. The declining GPA is concerning.

Yes I agree. What would be the differences in trying to get into an SMP vs retaking some classes?

 

[DocOrBust2019]

Thanks so much for your advice.
When should I be retaking some classes? This summer or coming fall? Should I also focus on classes that I have gotten a C in or are there some classes that I should retake even though I got a B (Orgo comes to mind)? I was hoping to apply for the 2021 year, but it looks like Im going to be trying for the 2022 year now.

I am of Hispanic heritage and I wouldn't say I was super underprivileged, although I am not to sure what would qualify me as such.

The conventional wisdom is you shouldn't retake anything higher than a C-.

Just think about it. You've gotten a C, but you've already seen all the material in this course. Getting an A at this point doesn't prove anything to anyone. Failing to improve significantly suggests that you may have some weaknesses and either the fundamentals underlying that particular course, or synthesizing and utilizing high-level information in the first place.

You should take other science classes that are upper-level sciences because those are ideally more challenging than your lower level courses. Putting together a 1 to 2 semester record of success well help allay any concerns about your ability to succeed in medical school. You'll want to take classes that mimic the curriculum of a medical school. These would be things like human physiology, cell biology, microbiology, virology, etc...

 

[DocOrBust2019]

Yes I agree. What would be the differences in trying to get into an SMP vs retaking some classes?

The SMP is much higher risk, but much higher reward. In an SMP you will be taking first year medical courses alongside medical students. Nothing will be able to prove that you can handle the curriculum of medical school like facing the curriculum of medical school.

The downsides should be obvious: if you do poorly in your SMP it suggests that you are not capable of being a successful medical student because you are doing poorly in the medical school courses you're taking. Most SMPs are relatively expensive.

@Goro Do you think given the declining GPA trend that an SMP would be a better choice than a post bacc?

 

[Goro]

The SMP is much higher risk, but much higher reward. In an SMP you will be taking first year medical courses alongside medical students. Nothing will be able to prove that you can handle the curriculum of medical school like facing the curriculum of medical school.

The downsides should be obvious: if you do poorly in your SMP it suggests that you are not capable of being a successful medical student because you are doing poorly in the medical school courses you're taking. Most SMPs are relatively expensive.

@Goro Do you think given the declining GPA trend that an SMP would be a better choice than a post bacc?

I agree that SMP is better here

 

[sab3156]

Yes I agree. What would be the differences in trying to get into an SMP vs retaking some classes?

The reality is that no one can advise you further until you show your MCAT score to us. You are borderline (taking into account hispanic heritage and possibly underprivileged background), and if you do very well on the MCAT you will likely be able to get into an MD school without an SMP and without doing much more than retaking a few classes you got C's in. Follow my MCAT advise and don't continue planning anything until you have sat down and really tried hard to take this exam and get the highest score you can. Then come back and tell us your score.