Should I give up?

[yani6789]

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Hello,

So I recently graduated with a degree in Biology from a State University in the Northeast. My uGPA was a 2.8, and I have not taken the MCAT. I do however have 3 years of research experience regarding gene expression levels in the brain and a couple of years of clinical experience. I am unsure whether it is even plausible to attempt to get into Medical school( no matter how long the road) at this point or just move on to another career. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TraumaBlonde]

Message me,

Depending on why your gpa is that low,
You might have options

(I just don't know if you want to public ally post why)

 

[Promethean]

It is hard to say until you try the MCAT. If you can perform well on that test, it makes sense to do some grade replacement and aim for DO schools. They are more forgiving of early academic misadventures if you show that you have matured as a student. Demonstrating that requires an upward trend. Retaking any C/D/F courses that you may have (earning As in them!) will quickly bring your GPA up to a competitive level.

I still have no research and 2-3 years ago had a much worse GPA and I managed to get in without grade replacement, raising my GPA by the brute force method of laying down a massive number of 4.0 credits.

If you are willing to do what it takes, don't give up on your dreams. You can get there from here.

CAVEAT: If you bomb the MCAT, despite organized and diligent preparation, maybe reconsider. You can always take it again, but you need a high percentile score to overcome your GPA issues. I'd say you really want to be above the 70% in order to be competitive, and that if you can't beat 50% on the first or second take, hang it up. That is harsh, but using that as an indicator might help you save a lot of heartache chasing something that isn't attainable. (I have to use percentiles because the new scores are unintelligible to me at this time.)

 

[MedSchoolSurvivor]

If being a doctor is truly what you want to do then you should go for it. Getting into a U.S. medical school with your current GPA will be almost impossible, but with some hard work and proper planning, I'm confident you can find a way to get in. Even if you don't get into medical school the first time around, I wouldn't be so discouraged. Many of the best students in my class were re-applicants or non-traditional applicants. Your extra work experience will give you perspective that someone who went straight from college into medical school wouldn't have.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Idk the actual GPA's of my friends, but a few of them really didn't do well in undergrad, they just didn't have an interest in medicine at the time. A lot of them did post baccs, and did very well in them. They're in med school now. I'm not sure if you can recover a 2.8 with a post-bacc, but it seems to be a common route for non-trads. BTW, these students are some of the best in my class now. So, I wouldn't lose hope just yet, look into the post-baccs and see if they take folks with <3.0 GPAs and if doing well in a post-bacc would be enough to make up for it.

Also, you probably have more research experience than the traditional med school applicant applying straight from college. Any papers, or posters etc, can be a nice app boost.

Perhaps you could ask in pre-allo or what are my chances. Some med school adcoms post there regularly, so you could perhaps get an answer straight from the folks that deal with applications regularly.

 

[Smurfette]

MOving to preallo.

 

[FFH]

It really depends on why your GPA is so low. If it's because of a lack of academic competency, then further attempt will unlikely result in acceptance and even if you got in, it would be a struggle. However, if you knew you could have done better, or if there is some external factor, and you know you have the perseverance to go the long route, and you know this is the right choice then don't give up.

Only you know yourself well enough to make the call.

Have some realistic perspective on your ability to learn and to take exams, while at the same time make sure you don't give up a dream that's attainable and that's important to your self valuation.

FWIW, I was told by a director of admission that I would have to "relive my life" in order to get into an MD program. I did it. And couldn't be happier with the end result. Others would probably think it was stupid for me to not go for DO a few years ago. But each to one's own.

 

[NeuResurgens]

A 2.8 will kill you if you apply with that straight up. You will probably need to consider some graduate/post-bacc programs in order to demonstrate an ability to succeed in medical school. Some medical schools have affiliated post-bacc programs that help give you a path into that medical school. You'll need to do some research as far as what options you'd like to pursue.

 

[resiroth]

It really depends on why your GPA is so low. If it's because of a lack of academic competency, then further attempt will unlikely result in acceptance and even if you got in, it would be a struggle. However, if you knew you could have done better, or if there is some external factor, and you know you have the perseverance to go the long route, and you know this is the right choice then don't give up.

Only you know yourself well enough to make the call.

Have some realistic perspective on your ability to learn and to take exams, while at the same time make sure you don't give up a dream that's attainable and that's important to your self valuation.

FWIW, I was told by a director of admission that I would have to "relive my life" in order to get into an MD program. I did it. And couldn't be happier with the end result. Others would probably think it was stupid for me to not go for DO a few years ago. But each to one's own.

Don't you have a 3.9? Your grades can't have been that bad if that's how it ended up...

OP I would recommend not thinking of it as giving up. If you think about it you're "giving up" on everything but what you're deciding to pursue. You are giving up a career in consulting, giving up a career as a public speaker, physicians assistant, nurse, optometrist etc.

Giving up sounds bad until you realize that as long as you aren't giving up on everything then you're moving forward toward something. Whatever that something is (MD/DO/Crocodile wrestler etc.) make sure it's something that will make you happy. Both as you move toward it and at the end of it all.

Hope this helps!

 

[FFH]

Should OP choice to continue, the easiest way would be community college replacing bad grades+intensive DO shadowing=DO in a couple years.

@resiroth, had low and foreign GPA. The one on MDApp is a shiny new U.S. GPA, which was the one AMCAS use.

 

[thekiterunner89]

It is hard to say until you try the MCAT. If you can perform well on that test, it makes sense to do some grade replacement and aim for DO schools. They are more forgiving of early academic misadventures if you show that you have matured as a student. Demonstrating that requires an upward trend. Retaking any C/D/F courses that you may have (earning As in them!) will quickly bring your GPA up to a competitive level.

I still have no research and 2-3 years ago had a much worse GPA and I managed to get in without grade replacement, raising my GPA by the brute force method of laying down a massive number of 4.0 credits.

If you are willing to do what it takes, don't give up on your dreams. You can get there from here.

CAVEAT: If you bomb the MCAT, despite organized and diligent preparation, maybe reconsider. You can always take it again, but you need a high percentile score to overcome your GPA issues. I'd say you really want to be above the 70% in order to be competitive, and that if you can't beat 50% on the first or second take, hang it up. That is harsh, but using that as an indicator might help you save a lot of heartache chasing something that isn't attainable. (I have to use percentiles because the new scores are unintelligible to me at this time.)

Hey, if you don't mind me asking what was your cgpa and sgpa when you applied to DO schools

 

[Promethean]

Hey, if you don't mind me asking what was your cgpa and sgpa when you applied to DO schools

Sure!

I think that, in the final analysis, I was somewhere around 3.3 cgpa and 3.8 sgpa. I went digging for the application pdf, but I don't seem to have saved a copy on this computer, and I can no longer get it from AACOMAS. That was up from 1.37 cgpa, (4.0 sgpa) from my freshman year. Redemption is totally possible.

So many of my credits didn't count toward GPA because they were either taken at a pass/fail institution, or at my nursing school, because of accreditation issues. If those had been included, it would have been a lot higher. If I had done grade replacement, rather than using CLEP to knock out freshman english and math, I could have gotten a lot closer to 4.0 cumulative, but I was counting on the strong upward trend and high MCAT to carry me through.

I think anything over 3.0 will generally keep you from being screened out automatically. From there, it is up to you to make your case in other ways.