Social worker needs advice. Please help!

[MSW2DO]

Thanks for taking the time to read this posting. My name is Peter, and I am a master's level social worker. I am 25 years old, and I compoleted grad school this past May. I have both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in social work. As an undergrad, I maintained a 4.0 GPA for my first two years. I originally began my college career as a biology major, so I have completed 8 semester hours in bio, 4 semester hours of gen chem, and 4 semester hourse of physics. My science GPA is a 4.0. During my junior year, my grades took a turn for the worse following a family tragedy (I actually failed an economics course). Although I brought my grades back up, I only graduated with an overall GPA of 3.2. I completed my master's program with a 3.8.

I am hell bent on becoming an osteopathic physician, but I am concerned that admissions committees will not be impressed with my undergrad GPA, and I'm worried that being a social worker will place me at a disadvantage relative to other applicants who majored in science.

Do I even have a shot at getting into med school? I would be particularly interested in hearing from current medical students who were non-science majors as undergrads.

Thank you.

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[SD]

Hey Peter. I think that you actually sound like a great applicant. Your grades are competitive, especially the high science GPA. Since you did so well on your undergrad sciences, I think you have a good shot at getting good MCAT scores, and these could make up for an average GPA.

I was a sociology major in undergrad. I loved it. I knew I would have plenty of time spent in labs with the pre-reqs for med school, so I though it was great that I could major outside of the sciences. I loved sociology, and I think that many physicians nowadays wish that they could have taken more humanities during their undergrads. Once you hit med school, opportunities for these types of classes are few and far between. I think these types of classes are very helpful when it comes to relating to people. Being a soc major, I learned how to look at external factors which could pertain to a person's life. Economics, social levels, race, religion, education.. there are so many factors influencing a person's life. I believe that soc was a perfect major for myself since I believe that the osteopathic philosophy incorporates these ideas.

I think that your background actually puts you with an advantage. While interviewing, I found that many of the adcoms were somewhat relieved to talk to a non-science major. I love to talk about sociology and especially how it relates to medicine. This made for some great conversations.

If you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask...


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Sara
UHS Class of 2004

 

[DocGibby]

You sound like an excellent applicant. Do well on the MCATs and you should be a shoe-in. As for the non-science applicant stuff. There's two schools of thought here.

One: Admissions committees are so tired of seeing bio major after bio major (chm and biochm included) that a non-science major is interesting and refreshingly different.

Two: Admissions committees might be concerned about your ability to cut it.

If you've taken the basic science curriclum for med school, you should have no problem.

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DocGibby
MSUCOM class of 2004

 

[MSW2DO]

Wow! I didn't expect to get a response to my posting so quickly. Thanks!

It is relieving to hear that being a non-science major will not necessarily be a liability. The thought of competing with a bunch of astute 21 year old biochem majors was a little intimidating.

I am also curious as to whether or not there are any AOA-approved residencies in psychiatry. Does anyone know? As of right now, my career goal is to become a psychiatrist, and I'd like to work in a community mental health center in an underserved inner-city environment.

Also, I've heard a lot of good things about the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. How would you current DO students rank PCOM?