Should I pursue masters, just apply, or DIY post bacc?

[FUTUREPHYSICIAN_SLD]

Hello,

I just wanted to see what the best option for getting into med school. I had a 3.2 cgpa until my senior year. At the beginning of my senior year, I was a victim of an assault. It really took a toll over me. I withdrew from most of my classes.... I received a F in organic & my semester gpa was .59. My cgpa was a 3.0 after this semester. The next semester, I still struggled emotionally. I received a D in genetics & couldn’t graduate. My cgpa is now a 2.8. I am currently retaking genetics & two other courses (research & sociology, As in both). My sgpa is 2.9 & cgpa is 2.8. This will probably change after my final grades come in.

I plan on taking organic I & II this semester. I am taking the MCAT in June. I have done a pre-med summer program, medical mission trip, a ton of volunteer hours, & extra-curricular. Also, I am the lab manager of the biology department at a local community college.

The Cs I have are in gen chem 2, pre-cal I, cell biology, animal development, & Spanish.

At this moment, I am applying for master programs because I don’t have an upward trend gpa. I am not confident in my gpa at all, so I feel like I have to prove myself. Also, I don’t have any research experience. Should I do the masters or just retake the courses? I don’t care about the cost of a masters, fyi.

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[Goro]

Very sorry to hear of your woes. Have you received counseling? Your mental health has to take priority over everything else.
Then read this:
Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

 

[HomeSkool]

Hello,

I just wanted to see what the best option for getting into med school. I had a 3.2 cgpa until my senior year. At the beginning of my senior year, I was a victim of an assault. It really took a toll over me. I withdrew from most of my classes.... I received a F in organic & my semester gpa was .59. My cgpa was a 3.0 after this semester. The next semester, I still struggled emotionally. I received a D in genetics & couldn’t graduate. My cgpa is now a 2.8. I am currently retaking genetics & two other courses (research & sociology, As in both). My sgpa is 2.9 & cgpa is 2.8. This will probably change after my final grades come in.

I plan on taking organic I & II this semester. I am taking the MCAT in June. I have done a pre-med summer program, medical mission trip, a ton of volunteer hours, & extra-curricular. Also, I am the lab manager of the biology department at a local community college.

The Cs I have are in gen chem 2, pre-cal I, cell biology, animal development, & Spanish.

At this moment, I am applying for master programs because I don’t have an upward trend gpa. I am not confident in my gpa at all, so I feel like I have to prove myself. Also, I don’t have any research experience. Should I do the masters or just retake the courses? I don’t care about the cost of a masters, fyi.

I'm sorry to hear of your assault, and I sincerely hope you're recovering as well as you can.

Your GPA is in need of serious rehab right now. DO NOT apply this year: you'll do yourself no favors by becoming a reapplicant unnecessarily.

The first thing you should do is read @Goro's words of wisdom on the matter of academic reinvention: Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention.

Second, read my advice on which courses to retake: HomeSkool's Simple Rules for Retaking Courses.

I recommend that you do a post-bacc rather than a master's. Most master's programs don't help with med school admissions; the ones that do are SMPs, which are a high-risk high-reward proposition. On the other hand, a post-bacc can allow you to rehab your GPA in a lower-risk manner.

Don't apply until all the pieces of your application are ready. Applying earlier doesn't save time or money.

 

[FUTUREPHYSICIAN_SLD]

Very sorry to hear of your woes. Have you received counseling? Your mental health has to take priority over everything else.
Then read this:
Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

Yes, I have! I took a semester off of school to effectively heal. I am in a much better headspace. Your post was very informative, thank you!

 

[FUTUREPHYSICIAN_SLD]

I'm sorry to hear of your assault, and I sincerely hope you're recovering as well as you can.

Your GPA is in need of serious rehab right now. DO NOT apply this year: you'll do yourself no favors by becoming a reapplicant unnecessarily.

The first thing you should do is read @Goro's words of wisdom on the matter of academic reinvention: Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention.

Second, read my advice on which courses to retake: HomeSkool's Simple Rules for Retaking Courses.

I recommend that you do a post-bacc rather than a master's. Most master's programs don't help with med school admissions; the ones that do are SMPs, which are a high-risk high-reward proposition. On the other hand, a post-bacc can allow you to rehab your GPA in a lower-risk manner.

Don't apply until all the pieces of your application are ready. Applying earlier doesn't save time or money.

Would you say the post bacc pre-med programs listed by the aamc would ualify as a postbacc even though some are master programs?

 

[candbgirl]

Don’t take the MCAT in June unless you are consistently scoring at your target goal on FL practice tests.. without some of the prereqs you would probably be doing yourself a big favor to wait. Good luck to you!

 

[Goro]

Would you say the post bacc pre-med programs listed by the aamc would ualify as a postbacc even though some are master programs?

All MS programs are post-bacs, but post-bacs don't have to be MS. They can be organized programs, or DIY.

 

[HomeSkool]

Would you say the post bacc pre-med programs listed by the aamc would ualify as a postbacc even though some are master programs?

I'd be very careful to check them out thoroughly to determine whether they're SMPs. An SMP has you take actual med school coursework alongside actual med students. If you do well, you'll have proven you're up to the challenge of keeping up with med school. If you don't, you'll have proven the opposite. That's why SMPs are high-risk high-reward. A non-SMP post-bacc allows you to do undergrad-level coursework to improve your undergrad GPA, which is why it offers both less risk and less reward. I'm very risk-averse, which is why I usually advise people to go the post-bacc route.