Starting over as pre-med

[Eustace]

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I am a non-traditional pre-med student, returning to college after working for five years. My first attempt at college was very poor, with a 2.4 GPA after 2 years, including C's in general chemistry and biology courses. I then left school, working for UPS for two years before starting a landscaping business. However, I still possessed the goal of being a doctor, and I am now in my second year, majoring in Biology with a 3.65 overall GPA and a science GPA of 3.75. After the long lay-off, I did not transfer my previous grade to my current school. I have two questions: how severely will the 2.4 GPA affect my application, considering the more current grades. Secondly, am I obligated to include my older grades when I apply, since I will receive no credit from them towards my degree?

 

[meowkat444]

unfortunately you are obligated to report all grades from all college classes when you apply, so the 2.4 will be factored in and will bring your grades down. you should do some math--you need to break 3.0 to realistically look at DO schools and probably 3.3 or something to realistically look at MD schools (if you kill the MCAT). you need to figure out how many classes you will need to take at what gpa to achieve that. 3.6 may not be high enough (or at least it will cause you to have to take lots more classes)

other more experience people should provide input as well 🙂

 

[njbmd]

I am a non-traditional pre-med student, returning to college after working for five years. My first attempt at college was very poor, with a 2.4 GPA after 2 years, including C’s in general chemistry and biology courses. I then left school, working for UPS for two years before starting a landscaping business. However, I still possessed the goal of being a doctor, and I am now in my second year, majoring in Biology with a 3.65 overall GPA and a science GPA of 3.75. After the long lay-off, I did not transfer my previous grade to my current school. I have two questions: how severely will the 2.4 GPA affect my application, considering the more current grades. Secondly, am I obligated to include my older grades when I apply, since I will receive no credit from them towards my degree?

First of all, there is a Non-Traditional Pre-Med Forum here on SDN. Have a look at some of the threads there from time to time.

Second: As another poster has stated, you are obliged to report every grade from every school that you have attended since high school on the AMCAS application whether you transferred credit or not. Not to do so may cost you an MD should you gain admission into medical school. I assure you, that there are ways to track unreported grades so don't risk this.

Third: Do an Excel spreadsheet (course hours X GPA divided by course hours total) and figure out what your total GPA will be counting your previous coursework and present coursework. The more hours of previously poor coursework, the longer it will take you to get yourself competitive. An upward trend is great and will greatly help you get into medical school but you need to know exactly where you stand and what you can accomplish. That previous coursework will always be with you but you can do your best to minimize it by keeping your grades as high as possible now (no grade less than B+).

Also, don't neglect the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). You can start to work on making sure that you are totally familiar with the manner in which this test evaluates you and make sure that you are practicing the skills to do well on this test. A strong MCAT score will also help you overcome your previously poor coursework. It won't erase it but it will help you make your case that you are ready for medical school and that your latter excellent coursework is more indicative of you now. Good luck!

 

[Law2Doc]

Moving to non-trad board.