SMP or DIY post-bacc?

[strawbarii]

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Currently toggling the idea of attending the SMP MSMS at USF vs. taking some upper level undergraduate science classes at my local university. This will be the end of my second cycle applying with no interviews again. I have worked in a hospital for the past 2 years since graduation and have a ton of extracurriculars and experience. Would a structured masters program look significantly better than putting together my own post-bac program? Money is a big factor for me.

My stats:
GPA: 3.54 (high upward trend but a little blip with Orgo 2 junior year)
MCAT: 504

 

[Dro133]

Currently toggling the idea of attending the SMP MSMS at USF vs. taking some upper level undergraduate science classes at my local university. This will be the end of my second cycle applying with no interviews again. I have worked in a hospital for the past 2 years since graduation and have a ton of extracurriculars and experience. Would a structured masters program look significantly better than putting together my own post-bac program? Money is a big factor for me.

My stats:
GPA: 3.54 (high upward trend but a little blip with Orgo 2 junior year)
MCAT: 504

The general consensus around here is the SMP's are useful for people with low GPA's and high MCAT's, so the opposite of your problem. Most people would not recommend an SMP for your situation.

I think in your case, an MCAT re-take might be your best bet. Assuming you have 120 graded credits, 20 credits worth of A's would bring you up to just under 3.61. Maybe the 3.6 vs. the 3.5 would give you a little bit of a boost, but IMO not as much as bringing up your MCAT at least a couple of points would. If you have time to do both, great, but your focus should be on improving your MCAT.

 

[platanus]

Take some classes that would help boost your MCAT score and retake the MCAT

 

[strawbarii]

The general consensus around here is the SMP's are useful for people with low GPA's and high MCAT's, so the opposite of your problem. Most people would not recommend an SMP for your situation.

I think in your case, an MCAT re-take might be your best bet. Assuming you have 120 graded credits, 20 credits worth of A's would bring you up to just under 3.61. Maybe the 3.6 vs. the 3.5 would give you a little bit of a boost, but IMO not as much as bringing up your MCAT at least a couple of points would. If you have time to do both, great, but your focus should be on improving your MCAT.

I think the whole idea is that the program would give me an entirely separate high graduate GPA, so there will be no question as to whether I can handle medical school coursework. I know there is no way to really raise my undergraduate GPA at this point and I keep hearing how "average" my GPA is- and its really below average for all the schools. Yes, I plan to re-take MCAT in July.

 

[bmetomed25]

Hi,
I would really appreciate any and all advice on the following scenario requiring methods of gpa enhancement, particularly sgpa:
I majored in BS in Biomedical Engineering at GWU May 2017 with overall GPA 3.4, science gpa 3.1. I had a bad downward trend senior year - 3.3 fall and 3.13 spring semester. Retook general chemistry 1 and 2. Regarding ECs, I have 250 hours of volunteering in two hospitals and 1 nursing home. 16 hours of shadowing at a hospital. I did an undergraduate research fellowship for 8 months on data processing in a lab meant to design robotic devices for autistic children. I had one leadership role in Biomedical Engineering Society club for a year. I didn't have other ECS while in school.

I had to withdraw from organic chemistry 2 in spring semester (had a poor semester with a 3.1 GPA senior year due to poor time management and mental health issues that I am now resolving and doing much better from) and retook it in the summer getting an A-. I took biochemistry in the fall semester and got an A while volunteering at a nearby hospital 4-8 hours a week. Currently, taking organic chemistry 2 laboratory and volunteering and shadowing. I am planning to take the MCAT in April or May.

I am debating whether I should apply to a smp program(Georgetown SMP, Cinnnati SMP, Tufts MBS, BU MAMS) or a premedical certificate (like the John Hopkins HSI) that involves upper-level undergraduate coursework starting 2018 fall(or summer, depending on the program) or just take additional upper-level science course to help out. I know that if I do a smp, med schools will look at both the undergraduate gpa and smp gpa separately and am just unsure how much a good smp gpa can compensate for my undergraduate science gpa. So I am debated -- will med schools prefer strong peformance in med school coursework or rather see I boost up my undergraduate science gpa?

If I decide to do DIY post bac program, I calculated that if I get As in 32 credits, I am able to boost my undergraduate science GPA to 3.4 (this requires extreme care I know ). I know I also have the option to do 32 credits coursework, MCAT, and apply to post bacs as I apply to med schools. However, if a smp would help more than DIY post bac for my situation, I'd prefer to that because I can take out a federal loan to cover the smp cost while for DIY informal post bac, no financial aid is offered and I have to pay out of pocket.

One more note: I have a thought of doing the Georgetown SMP and doing well in it for this reason: I know someone who is a dean at that med school (not a dean of admissions but a particular dean) and would be willing to support my application.

IF THIS POST BELONGS TO A SPECIFIC THREAD, please let me know where to put it!
Any and all advice on this is truly appreciated. Thanks very much for your help.