Sweating Bullets

[RnD4Lyf]

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For starters here's some of my stats:

GPA: 2.70 ( appox. the same for both cGPA and sGPA)
Mechanical Engineering major at Cal Poly Pomona
Appox. 1.5-2 years until graduation

Right off the bat I have to say that I recently put down the WoW (World of Warcraft for those of who you live under a rock 😀) crack pipe and started to get my act together by being more disciplined in my studying. However, even with this new focus I've become particularly worried after doing some of the math for how much I can raise my GPA. From the math I've done, my best shot will probably be around a 3.1 - 3.2 GPA. Will this low GPA effectively bar me from US allopathic schools or do I still stand a chance?

On to EC's, I feel like I'm a little bit stronger here but would really like to find some ways to strengthen myself in this area. So far I have:
-6 weeks in Australia with a surgeon in which I participated in both theatre, rounds, and clinic
- EMT-B training
- Summer internship at a contract biomedical company
- Winter internship at a biomedical company that focuses on liver cancer
- Current internship at a biomedical company that makes catheters for RF ablations for AF patients ( ~ 1.25 years so far)
- In the process of scheduling some more shadow time with a GP through a coworker

Some brain storming ideas that I've had have been:
- Volunteering at a local hospital (yea cliche I know)
- Founding/joining Engineers without Borders at Cal Poly (not sure if we have one yet)
- Red Cross club

Edit: I'm also taking a practice MCAT with Kaplan in a month to get an initial assessment.

And I work ~20 hours a week because Irvine ain't cheap.

And I plan to work as an engineer (biomedical industry) until I have my pre reqs finished and feel comfortable enough to take the MCAT after I graduate.

Of course any and all advice is welcome. Thanks!

 

[RedTurboCCX]

It looks to me as though the biggest concern you have is GPA. It probably is still possible to get into some med schools, so long as you can raise your cumulative GPA to 3.0 or above.

It seems that you have plenty of internship, though it couldn't hurt to volunteer at a hospital. Though don't do so at the risk of lowering your GPA.

 

[MSUSpartan642]

You need to get that GPA up as much as you can over the time that you have left. AKA Ace all of your remaining class. Then get a 33+ MCAT and I would say that you would be very competitive at a lot of D.O. schools and some M.D.. Good luck 😀

 

[Catalystik]

It's not impossible to get into an allopathic med school with a GPA of 3.2, but it's very difficult. You'd need to get an MCAT score that was impressive (I'd have said 35+). Consider raising your GPA further by spending a fifth year at college before graduating. You could also consider an SMP (Special Masters Program) if you get a good, but not great, MCAT score.

Consider the osteopathic route to medicine also as it is more forgiving of past academic difficulties.

 

[virusgirl]

Unfortunately, I do think your GPA will keep you out of US allopathic schools. While there is certainly a fair amount of GPA variation among matriculants, a 3.1 is pretty low and I suspect when students are accepted with those numbers, there is a significant mitigating circumstance that is taken into account (i.e. not World of Warcraft!) Bear in mind that if you do well, but don't ace, your remaining classes and don't quite make 3.0, you will be removed from consideration automatically by schools that screen (not all schools do this, and not all screen at 3.0, but it's something to keep in mind)

But, all is not lost! You still have about two years left, and you can make pretty significant headway towards repairing your GPA. You should check to see if your school offers a "5th year for free" option -- my school did this. If you want to pursue an additional major or minor, some schools will let you take a fifth year with no tuition, or reduced tuition, and obviously if your school will let you do this it will be cheaper than an SMP. If you can do that, declare a major or minor in a science, do well in those classes, and you will get a decent sGPA bump. If your school does NOT do this, I would strongly recommend an SMP.

Your clinical and research experiences look good, especially if you're scheduling more shadowing time. If you can do it, I think it's good to shadow multiple doctors in different specialties. And if you do lots of shadowing, you don't necessarily have to do volunteer work at a hospital -- you're right, it is cliche (and yet I do it... 😉) Consider doing something a little different, like working in an HIV clinic or drug rehab center. I would also do something that gets you working with underserved communities -- doesn't need to be medical. I volunteered at a homeless shelter and tutored a third grader in a really cruddy urban school, and I feel like those experiences were really good for me.

Since you have had some initial academic... er, issues... I'd say it's important for you to do well on the MCAT. If you do an SMP or an extra year and pull a respectable GPA, I don't think you need to be shooting for 40+ or anything, but since you already have a bit of a black mark on your record, you want the MCAT to be solid. Some people can get away with 27-29 because they have amazing GPAs, but that's not you. 🙂 Get at least a 30 -- totally doable. Kaplan is expensive as all hell, but I'm really glad I did it.

 

[RnD4Lyf]

Thank you all for the input!

A few things that come to mind after reading the responses:

-For US allopathic schools, do re-taken classes replace the previous grade or simply factor into the gpa as an additional grade point?

- Does it make a difference that I've been to a few different schools? Started off at SJSU(did well academically but didn't like living at home) then moved to UCI( got killed academically but found a great job and friends) and finally Cal Poly(seems to be a good trend thus far.. <3 hands on learning). Also I left every school on my own (though UCI just barely 🙁).

- How expensive/difficult are SMPs?

- How representative are the MCAT study guides of the actual test? I've been spending some time with a Princeton Review book that I bought and so far the PS seems like stuff I've been doing forever and VR..well I *AM* EFL (English as a First Language )

-I've read somewhere around SDN that some schools add extra points to the GPA of engineering majors (~0.3-0.5 I believe). This seems somewhat far fetched to me but doesn't hurt to ask right?

Again thanks for the info guys...really helps in my planning for the next few years.

 

[DNM]

Thank you all for the input!

A few things that come to mind after reading the responses:

-For US allopathic schools, do re-taken classes replace the previous grade or simply factor into the gpa as an additional grade point?

- Does it make a difference that I've been to a few different schools? Started off at SJSU(did well academically but didn't like living at home) then moved to UCI( got killed academically but found a great job and friends) and finally Cal Poly(seems to be a good trend thus far.. <3 hands on learning). Also I left every school on my own (though UCI just barely 🙁).

- How expensive/difficult are SMPs?

- How representative are the MCAT study guides of the actual test? I've been spending some time with a Princeton Review book that I bought and so far the PS seems like stuff I've been doing forever and VR..well I *AM* EFL (English as a First Language )

-I've read somewhere around SDN that some schools add extra points to the GPA of engineering majors (~0.3-0.5 I believe). This seems somewhat far fetched to me but doesn't hurt to ask right?

Again thanks for the info guys...really helps in my planning for the next few years.

1 - For DO schools they take the higher of the two grades. For MD schools they average the two grades.

2 - I'm not entirely sure.

3 - No idea

4 - No idea

5 - I don't think they do that

Sorry I couldn't help very much 🙁

 

[virusgirl]

Thank you all for the input!

A few things that come to mind after reading the responses:

-For US allopathic schools, do re-taken classes replace the previous grade or simply factor into the gpa as an additional grade point?

- Does it make a difference that I've been to a few different schools? Started off at SJSU(did well academically but didn't like living at home) then moved to UCI( got killed academically but found a great job and friends) and finally Cal Poly(seems to be a good trend thus far.. <3 hands on learning). Also I left every school on my own (though UCI just barely 🙁).

- How expensive/difficult are SMPs?

- How representative are the MCAT study guides of the actual test? I've been spending some time with a Princeton Review book that I bought and so far the PS seems like stuff I've been doing forever and VR..well I *AM* EFL (English as a First Language )

-I've read somewhere around SDN that some schools add extra points to the GPA of engineering majors (~0.3-0.5 I believe). This seems somewhat far fetched to me but doesn't hurt to ask right?

Again thanks for the info guys...really helps in my planning for the next few years.

If you retake a class, the two grades are averaged together.

I think it's okay that you've been to different schools. I had to send a total of 4 transcripts to AMCAS -- one for the college course I took while in high school, one for general undergrad, one for the chem class I took at Brandeis, and my graduate GPA. I think schools understand that there are many reasons why students have multiple transcripts, although they might be a little concerned that you did so much moving in such a short period of time. But, it's a done deal at this point. Don't waste time worrying about things you can't change!

SMPs are expensive. You are essentially paying for an extra year of college -- tuition, living expenses, etc. I'm not going to lie, the thought of spending that much money to take more classes, with no assurance that you'll get into med school, sort of makes my soul hurt -- and I didn't even do an SMP. But consider how much you will make over the course of your career as a doctor. An extra $60,000 is a drop in the bucket. Pick up some extra shifts moonlighting one year, and you've paid for it. As for SMP difficulty, I don't know how difficult they are. I'm sure there are threads for specific programs, with details about how hard they are. I believe most of them require an MCAT score, and are generally tailored for people with low grades and decent MCAT scores, so try to do well on the test.

I never used any of the MCAT study guides, I used the materials for my classroom course. Personally, I would recommend that you do an actual class instead of reviewing a book. For me, content review was not the issue (well, it was an issue, but I definitely could have reviewed and learned on my own). The classroom option was good because you learn tips and tricks about the exam that have nothing to do with content, and you also have access to great online resources -- such as timed exams. I cannot stress enough how important this was for me.

I doubt schools do anything so mathematical as add points for certain majors... Honestly, I doubt most schools even make allowances for difficulty of major because it would be difficult to be fair and consistent across the board. IF allowances are made, it's probably more like someone notices your GPA is a tad low, looks at your major, and thinks "maybe this person is worth a closer look." I'm no expert on this, but this is my best guess. I also seriously doubt you would get 0.3-0.5 GPA points added for engineering. Even allowing for differences in difficulty across majors, a 0.5 point bump would be a big, big bump.

 

[Mobius1985]

For more information on SMPs, see: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=71