Super low gpa

[xia101010]

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I have a GPA of 2.6. Browsing SDN seems raising this GPA to 3.0 may take long time and $$$. Will a post bacc help in this case, guess low GPA will still flag me off even after post bacc? I am just thinking to go abroad and study, I understand that it will be a uphill matching after that - but atleast I will have a MD in 4 years. I have been told by Saba if I get MCAT 27 they will take me. Any thoughts?

 

[somepremedkid]

What year of undergrad are you in?

 

[xia101010]

I was done last year. My degree was in Bio from Maryland. Did some part-time work at hospital and couple of Bio classes in which I got A and B+. But with this low GPA any sort of remedial can take long time and money. I have seen most of low GPAer's on these forums claim that they would do 2 years of post bac and get 4.0? How realistic that is?

 

[somepremedkid]

I was done last year. My degree was in Bio from Maryland. Did some part-time work at hospital and couple of Bio classes in which I got A and B+. But with this low GPA any sort of remedial can take long time and money. I have seen most of low GPAer's on these forums claim that they would do 2 years of post bac and get 4.0? How realistic that is?

It's tough but possible. From my understanding, you would have to do extremely well in your postdoc in order to increase your GPA and, consequently, your chances for medical school. If you don't, your chances are blown. That's why postdocs are so risky. I think your new GPA would be around a 3.0 considering if you get staight A's in the program.

I'm not an expert at all on this matter so take my words for a gain of salt. Perhaps you could post on "What Are My Chances" and get advice from Catalystik who is much more knowledgeable. Good luck

 

[Espadaleader]

Take the MCAT, rock it, apply to DO schools and the carrib.

 

[sector9]

It's tough but possible. From my understanding, you would have to do extremely well in your postdoc in order to increase your GPA and, consequently, your chances for medical school. If you don't, your chances are blown. That's why postdocs are so risky. I think your new GPA would be around a 3.0 considering if you get staight A's in the program.

I believe you mean post bac🙂

 

[somepremedkid]

I believe you mean post bac🙂

Whoops. 😳 Yes, that's what I meant.

 

[the duck]

He can't go DO with a 2.6, besides the chances of him rocking the MCAT seem really slim.

I would strongly consider checking out non-doctoral level medical degrees. You can still do very interesting things as a nurse, or other AH or mid-level career. Your GPA is really low, and you are correct it will take a long time to raise. What carib schools are you talking about? If it's not Ross, or SGU its basically just a huge waste of money.

 

[TriagePreMed]

Take the MCAT, rock it, apply to DO schools and the carrib.

LOL You do realize that DO school average is a 3.5 now, right?

 

[xia101010]

So consensus here is with that kind of GPA remedial is not cost and time effective to pursue MD route. Thanks SDN, I quit.

 

[ColumMcCann]

Wait, don't quit yet if this is what you want to do. What is the mean gpa for carib?

 

[Jstone123]

graduating with a 2.6 will not get you into a medical school. they dont hand out 4.0s in post bacs either. you have to get your gpa up. talk to school pre-med advisors , not sdn , about how to do that

 

[xia101010]

Carib (Saba) told me they will take me, if I get like 27+ in MCAT. I just need to work hard and succeed there and face the odds of being an IMG for a few years.
With 2.6 GPA, I am not seeing any hope considering that even if I get a high Post Bacc GPA, I still have a red flag of having super low undergrad GPA.
Browsing low GPA cases here, I have learnt enough more than my ex-advisor can tell - not read any case of this low GPA making to a US med school here.

So I really need to evaluate to go abroad or do something else, I wish I knew odds a few years back and was serious.

 

[Perrotfish]

So consensus here is with that kind of GPA remedial is not cost and time effective to pursue MD route. Thanks SDN, I quit.

Alright, I've been where you are. This advice is going to look like a book, though, please read it through.

1) This IS a fixable GPA, if you have the dedication and talent to turn this around. This is coming from someone who graduated in a similar situation (2.8 cum and BCPM with about 200 credits).

2) Whether it's 'cost and time effective' depends on your opportunity cost (your lifestyle if you started working now), how quickly you can turn this around, and how you value the reward (becoming a doctor). You're not getting in this year, if that's what you're asking. This will be at least a 2 year, full time process.

Now as to HOW you turn this around?

the basics (will take about a year):

1) You need to figure out why you got the 2.6 in the first place. Without this, nothing else matters. Are you ADHD and need meds? Did you have a crisis that tanked your grades? Were you lazy in a fixable way? Do you have a problem with substance use? Were you taking a major (like engineering) that give terrible GPAs to bright, hard working students? Of course if the problem is that you're just a very type B personality, or that memorzing and regurgitating facts isn't your particular talent, this might be where your journey ends.

2) Once you've figured out what went wrong, you need to go get a GPA of 3.0. It's very difficult to get around this. So you need to sign up to take more college classes. You can go back to your old college and beg for a second major, or you can start taking community college classes. They key here is that QUALITY DOESN'T MATTER, all you need right now is numbers. Take easy classes with stupid people. While you're at it, pick up the pre-reqs and do very well in them. That's where you're going to prove to yourself that you CAN do this.

3) You need an MCAT score. The MCAT score is what is going to determine how long it's going to take you to turn this around. if it's really high (33+) you could theoreticcally get in withing a couple of years. At the other extreme, the MCAT is where a lot of people with great GPA run their careers aground. In the US medicine is a profession for test killers, and some otherwise very intelligent people just can't ace long, standardized tests. If you study your heart out and get a 12 maybe you shouldn't waste any more of your youth on this (surprisingly mediocre) profession. Also note that med schools do see ALL your MCAT scores and a bad score digs you a deeper hole, so don't take the test if until you get the score you want on a practice test (ideally on two)

Alright so you've got the basics, where do you go from here?

High MCAT score (>33):
Congrats, you might get into medical school only 2 years after graduting (the national average). You now need to apply to a program called a 'special masters program'. These are programs, hosted by a handful of medical schools, which allow you to take medical school classes and to be graded against medical school students. They are expensive and stressful, but students who do well in well known SMPs have almost a 100% success rate getting into medical school. SDN explains these programs further here and rates them here. Like medical school, SMPs turn away a lot of applicants, so you need a high MCAT and the 3.0 to get in, and you need to apply broadly to get into one program. Be aware that a program is only as good as its reputation/linkage, and some SMPs are really just money generating scams, so do your research before you apply.

Average (27-33) MCAT: This is doable, but you need a higher GPA. A 3.3 (at the minimum), followed by a broad application focused on DO schools and maybe a few low end allopathic schools. It's important to note that DO schools only look at your most recent grade from a class (grade replacement) so retake and Fs, Ds, or Cs you've gotten and watch your GPA rise twice as fast. Shadow a LOT of DOs, show a lot of interest in their lifestyle

Low (23-27) MCAT: Retake the MCAT or quit.

Really low (<23) MCAT: Seriously evaluate if this is for you before you even study for the MCAT again.

Things NOT to do:

Do NOT go to the Caribbean: The Caribbean has, over the past decade, progressed from being a legitimate last resort to being a scam. The issue is that Caribbean schools don't participate in the match, so their students get to fight for whatever is left over after all the US medical students matched. In the past that was actually a lot of residency spots, but medical schools (especially DO schools) have expanded a LOT recently and now there aren't nearly as many spots to fight over. So the Caribbean schools are taking huge amounts of money from gullible students who probably couldn't even pass the boards, and then only tell them part was through that they need to KILL the USMLE and outperform medical students on their rotations to match into anything at all. Everyone else gets failed out, or doesn't match, and is left with no career and 200K+ of nondischargable debt.

Do NOT enroll in any kind of traditional masters, JD, MPH, or PhD program: Unless you've given up on medical school, that is. The experience of posters on this board, backed up by our ADCOM members, is that any post-graduate program other than an SMP is 100% useless for redeeming a GPA as low as yours. A masters might be a good start to your new career, but it won't help at all with medicine.

For futher advice I would recommend reading through SDN's low GPA thread. It's full of generations of SDN's premedical f- ups (like me) discussing their strategies to beat the odds.

Good luck

 

[xia101010]

Thanks for all the info. That was really helpful, especially opening eye opener on caribbean schools. What do you mean by:
"The issue is that Caribbean schools don't participate in the match, so their students get to fight for whatever is left over after all the US medical students matched."

Do Caribbean not participate in direct match and are left to scamble?

 

[Perrotfish]

Thanks for all the info. That was really helpful, especially opening eye opener on caribbean schools. What do you mean by:
"The issue is that Caribbean schools don't participate in the match, so their students get to fight for whatever is left over after all the US medical students matched."

Do Caribbean not participate in direct match and are left to scamble?

Come to think of it, I'm honestly not 100% sure whether they don't participate in the match or whether they're just very discriminated against in the match. I just know that their match rates, relative to the stats of their applicants, are WAY below US schools.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

How bad do you want to be a doctor? I ask because DO schools do grade replacement, so if you retake a good number of classes you would have a great shot. But everyone is against DO if they can't do an MD and I haven't the slightest idea why. They are basically state functions. They take very slightly different paths but end at the exact same thing. Both are physicians making the exact same money and doing the same thing. But because you aren't even the slightest bit interested in even looking into it, I have to assume you don't want physician, you want to brag about the MD.

I am not knocking people who choose not to apply to DO schools, but it is a perfectly good path that leads to the end you want.