SMP or Pre-Medical Postbacc

[Doc42Day]

Hello everyone! I am hoping to get some insight as to what might be the next step for me in the medical school process.
Here are my credentials so far:
Senior (May 2016 graduation) at top 20 university, Neuroscience major
3.1 cGPA
2.9 sGPA (BCPM)
No MCAT (Planning to take in April)
100+ hours volunteering across multiple organizations (two weeks abroad, 4 semesters teaching science in underpriv. schools)
30+ hours shadowing (Internal medicine, rehab medicine)
Two years clinical research
Two years laboratory tech
Strong LORs (IMO)

The point of this being that my obvious weak spot in my application (so far) comes in my GPA, specifically my sGPA, although my cGPA isn't too hot either.
I am already planning on taking a gap year after I graduate, and am having a hard time understanding/deciding what I should be attempting to do.

After doing some reading, it is clear that I have essentially no shot unless I attend some sort of postbacc program to boost my relative GPA.
In your opinion(s), should I be looking at doing a postbacc pre-medical program, where I retake the BCPM courses, or should I try and do a SMP (or other Masters program) that will give me more experience in medical school type curriculum/atmosphere?
Also, if I dont submit my scores until April, will I still have any chance of getting in somewhere? Or will most places have filled their classes by then.

I hope I am asking the right questions/phrasing it correctly. This whole postbacc thing is quite new to me, and I don't want to waste my time looking into programs that aren't what I need.

Thanks for all the help!
Doc42Day

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[RainbowDr]

That depends on what you exactly you're looking for in a program and your goals for school. If you have completed all of your prerequisite courses, a SMP program could be the best route. SMP's generally require a 3.0 gpa and 30 MCAT (depending on the program). Your GPA from your SMP is calculated separately from your undergraduate GPA which gives your gpa a "restart"- meaning you don't have to try and drag a 3.1 up to a more competitive gpa. So if you do well in your SMP, your grad GPA will be much higher and can show medical schools you can handle the rigor of their classes. Both GPA's will still go on your application to medical school, your undergraduate GPA and your graduate GPA, but schools may weigh more heavily on your grad GPA as it is more recent.

If you are interested in DO school, you could also just retake the prerequisite courses. This is because DO schools "replace" grades on your application- meaning they count your most recent grade into the science GPA.

 

[ReformedLiberalArtist]

That depends on what you exactly you're looking for in a program and your goals for school. If you have completed all of your prerequisite courses, a SMP program could be the best route. SMP's generally require a 3.0 gpa and 30 MCAT (depending on the program). Your GPA from your SMP is calculated separately from your undergraduate GPA which gives your gpa a "restart"- meaning you don't have to try and drag a 3.1 up to a more competitive gpa. So if you do well in your SMP, your grad GPA will be much higher and can show medical schools you can handle the rigor of their classes. Both GPA's will still go on your application to medical school, your undergraduate GPA and your graduate GPA, but schools may weigh more heavily on your grad GPA as it is more recent.

If you are interested in DO school, you could also just retake the prerequisite courses. This is because DO schools "replace" grades on your application- meaning they count your most recent grade into the science GPA.

Positive?

 

[eldmd_32]

You should consider an smp as this will allow for schools to see that you can handle higher level courses "well" (if you do well that is). For instance, the program that I'm in now is tied to a dental and med school. It affords pre-dents and pre-meds the ability to take dental and/or med school courses (with good stats, which I have now after getting a 4.0 my first semester). Doing well in one of those courses would definitely look great on med/dental school apps.

As for your question as to whether April is too late for test taking to meet deadlines for these programs, yes and no. Some programs have earlier deadlines (March 1st - April 15th/30th) whereas others have later deadlines (ie: late June-early August). Last year I applied to 4 post bacs and 3 masters programs. Roughly half had earlier deadlines and half had later deadlines. The masters program I'm in now started last August and I didn't submit my application until about June 9th. Got in less than a week later. I suggest the SMP as if the med school path doesn't work out for you, then you have a degree that may afford you a better paying job (depending on what you end up getting) and other options as to professional schools you apply to beyond that. A post bac won't do much for you other than beefing up your GPA to an extent. You would really have to sit and calculate where your undergrad GPA would end up and how that would be interpreted on the med school application portal. If you project that it could possibly look amazing after you finish it, then you'd be able to apply directly to med school. However, since your cGPA and sGPA is on the low end, this would be incredibly difficult to pull off. It'd take a quite a number of courses, quite a bit of time (I'd say 2 years minimum), and a whole lotta money out of your pocket. If I were you, I'd take a couple of weeks to research/really think about which path would be better (weigh pros and cons) and apply that way. If by late January you can't decide, then apply to both types of programs and you should figure out by the time you get accepted which will be better for you. A bit backwards, but that's kinda what I did.

 

[heybubbaa]

Hello everyone! I am hoping to get some insight as to what might be the next step for me in the medical school process.
Here are my credentials so far:
Senior (May 2016 graduation) at top 20 university, Neuroscience major
3.1 cGPA
2.9 sGPA (BCPM)
No MCAT (Planning to take in April)
100+ hours volunteering across multiple organizations (two weeks abroad, 4 semesters teaching science in underpriv. schools)
30+ hours shadowing (Internal medicine, rehab medicine)
Two years clinical research
Two years laboratory tech
Strong LORs (IMO)

The point of this being that my obvious weak spot in my application (so far) comes in my GPA, specifically my sGPA, although my cGPA isn't too hot either.
I am already planning on taking a gap year after I graduate, and am having a hard time understanding/deciding what I should be attempting to do.

After doing some reading, it is clear that I have essentially no shot unless I attend some sort of postbacc program to boost my relative GPA.
In your opinion(s), should I be looking at doing a postbacc pre-medical program, where I retake the BCPM courses, or should I try and do a SMP (or other Masters program) that will give me more experience in medical school type curriculum/atmosphere?
Also, if I dont submit my scores until April, will I still have any chance of getting in somewhere? Or will most places have filled their classes by then.

I hope I am asking the right questions/phrasing it correctly. This whole postbacc thing is quite new to me, and I don't want to waste my time looking into programs that aren't what I need.

Thanks for all the help!
Doc42Day

I would call your target schools to see what they prefer. Some schools won't care which post-bac you do, rather that you just do well in a post-bac. Some schools will want a full year of an SMP before they "look past" the 3.1 gpa. Right now your #1 priority is to get a very strong MCAT score, and then you can assess your options. But for MD, you definitely need some sort of post-bac.

If you take your MCAT in April, you probably won't get your scores until May, which will be late for SMP's. But, it won't be disastrously late for many programs, and with a strong upward trend and a strong MCAT you would still have a good chance. You could also consider taking a gap year to improve your EC's. A SMP can help you overcome that 3.1 gpa and 2.9 sgpa, but it won't do anything for your, IMO, lackluster EC's.

 

[heybubbaa]

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