Double majored in biomedical engineering and computer science at a state school for undergrad, graduating this month.
uGPA: 3.3
sGPA: 3.3
Unfortunately, no upward trend. Low GPA is a result of doing two majors in four years.
Research - a summer at a well-known cancer center with a poster presented at a conference; two years of research at a lab at my school but no substantial work was completed (didn't enjoy the research topic)
Shadowing - I estimate about 30 hours total, done at the cancer center both in clinics and surgery.
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Healthcare and biomedical research are passions of mine, but I've always been on the fence throughout undergrad about medicine mainly due to my poor academic performance. I have a job lined up as a software engineer after graduation, but I've realized decisively in the past year that I do not have a passion in computer science / software engineering.
Instead, I am interested in MD/PhD (with the ultimate dream being to become a faculty member at an academic medical center). Considering how competitive it is to get into an MD/PhD program, I would also be interested in just a PhD in cancer research, though MD/PhD would be preferred since I enjoyed seeing the direct impact on patients during my time shadowing. I am not as interested in just an MD because my passions do fall more towards research.
I do plan on working for 2 years in the software engineering job both to save up some money and to also see if my desire to pursue medicine/research remains in the face of making money. (I suspect that it will.) During these next 2 years, I'd like to set myself up to begin this career change. I figure that I'd rather have "wasted time" than regret having not spent this time preparing if I were to actually decide to do a career change.
Since I'll still be in town for my job after graduation, I plan on seeking a part-time volunteer position at a lab at my university to increase my research experience. I am also willing to find time to do additional shadowing.
My main concern is my uGPA/sGPA, and I am worried that I will simply never be qualified for an MD/PhD program because of it. From what I've gathered, getting a master's would not be useful since the courses aren't graded with the same rigor as undergrad. A postbac or SMP seems to be the way to go. (I would be trying to enroll in 2 years, so I would be able to take care of other med school requirements such as the MCAT before applying for these.) However, I've read that the GPA obtained through these programs are simply lumped with my current uGPA/sGPA for new calculations, so due to the smaller amount of credit hours in postbac/SMP vs. undergrad, the GPA improvement can be minimal.
To summarize, my main questions are:
uGPA: 3.3
sGPA: 3.3
Unfortunately, no upward trend. Low GPA is a result of doing two majors in four years.
Research - a summer at a well-known cancer center with a poster presented at a conference; two years of research at a lab at my school but no substantial work was completed (didn't enjoy the research topic)
Shadowing - I estimate about 30 hours total, done at the cancer center both in clinics and surgery.
---
Healthcare and biomedical research are passions of mine, but I've always been on the fence throughout undergrad about medicine mainly due to my poor academic performance. I have a job lined up as a software engineer after graduation, but I've realized decisively in the past year that I do not have a passion in computer science / software engineering.
Instead, I am interested in MD/PhD (with the ultimate dream being to become a faculty member at an academic medical center). Considering how competitive it is to get into an MD/PhD program, I would also be interested in just a PhD in cancer research, though MD/PhD would be preferred since I enjoyed seeing the direct impact on patients during my time shadowing. I am not as interested in just an MD because my passions do fall more towards research.
I do plan on working for 2 years in the software engineering job both to save up some money and to also see if my desire to pursue medicine/research remains in the face of making money. (I suspect that it will.) During these next 2 years, I'd like to set myself up to begin this career change. I figure that I'd rather have "wasted time" than regret having not spent this time preparing if I were to actually decide to do a career change.
Since I'll still be in town for my job after graduation, I plan on seeking a part-time volunteer position at a lab at my university to increase my research experience. I am also willing to find time to do additional shadowing.
My main concern is my uGPA/sGPA, and I am worried that I will simply never be qualified for an MD/PhD program because of it. From what I've gathered, getting a master's would not be useful since the courses aren't graded with the same rigor as undergrad. A postbac or SMP seems to be the way to go. (I would be trying to enroll in 2 years, so I would be able to take care of other med school requirements such as the MCAT before applying for these.) However, I've read that the GPA obtained through these programs are simply lumped with my current uGPA/sGPA for new calculations, so due to the smaller amount of credit hours in postbac/SMP vs. undergrad, the GPA improvement can be minimal.
To summarize, my main questions are:
- How should I prepare over 2 years for a potential career change, with a goal to get into an MD/PhD program?
- Would it even be possible to increase my competitiveness to a reasonable level for an MD/PhD program due to my poor uGPA/sGPA?
