Taking Pre-Med Classes Again to Boost GPA?

[drbuckingnicks]

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During my Undergrad I APed out of all of my premed requirements with the exception of Organic Chemistry and a Calculus class.
MY BCPM GPA is fairly low (2.8). I have done a post bacc where my GPA is a 3.4. I am currently finishing off my MPH.
I have heard before but I dont know how much truth there is to this, that it somtimes helps to retake your premed classes to boost up your undergrad GPA? I know undergrad and graduate are viewed differently so if I were to take classes at a local university, would this help me at all as far are increasing my undergrad GPA numbers?

 

[gman33]

If you do better, it will boost your gpa. However schools look at this in different ways.

If you are applying to DO schools, they will only count the new grade which can be a big boost. MD schools will count both grades, but if you currently have a 2.8 science GPA, if you have taken a bunch of classes there is virtually no way to get that up in the 3.5+ range you need.

Does the 2.8 number include your post-bacc work?

 

[dragonfly99]

I am confused as to why you would need/want to retake 1st year chem and biology if you've already done a postbac. Doesn't a postbac include similar classes? I would think if you've already done a postbac, would concentration on the MCAT score and other factors in your application. Also, may need to try for DO schools since they might be more forgiving of past academic misdeeds.

 

[drbuckingnicks]

I did my post bacc at BU, its a Masters program, they dont have basic biology or first year chem classes, you just take first year med classes histology, biochem, endocrinology etc.

I took my MCAT this august and scored a 37R, but im still worried my undergrad will be there to haunt me.

 

[gman33]

Since you've already done a SMP, I wouldn't bother retaking any prereqs.
Did you apply for this cycle?

If not, my advice would be to apply broadly. Include DO schools if they interest you.

Give a complete rundown of all your stats if you want more advice.

 

[drbuckingnicks]

One year Microbiologist for Nestle, research and development of new products (how fast your drinks go bad, not too enthralling)
Over a year in molecular bio research
A year in retroviral (moleculare bio) research
Two year clinical research experience with lots of patient interaction
Shadowing in Pediatrics, Gasterenterology and Critical Care
A good amount of non health care volunteering as well as health care related
Spent a summer in a community regional medicine outreach project in villiages of central India.
ICU volunteering during undergrad and other 20 hr per semester hospital volunteering my freshman and sophomore years.

Other random stuff-
Trained Dancer for over 15 years
Vocalist since I can remember, have a my names vocals on albums, but most public performances such as national anthems etc

Employed at two jobs my entire graduate school education, still working at them both right now 20-30 hrs/wk

Now the issue holding me back overall undergrad GPA 2.8 BCMP 3.2 (Upward trend in grades)
Graduate GPA 3.44 (all medical school and hard science classes)

MCAT 37R B13 V12 P12
First time I took the test in 2005 scored a 30R then.

 

[dragonfly99]

Would start applying now. It will take a while to raise that GPA. I think your undergrad GPA is a lead weight holding you down - you have done so much already to get in to medical school that taking a few more undergrad classes to raise your GPA seems minor to me...it might take a while though. DO schools would replace your old lower grades with the new ones, while MD schools would just average the two. Your GPA is much lower than the average GPA for most all MD schools...but then you have a decent graduate GPA and you say you had an upward trend, plus your MCAT is high. You need an "in" somewhere...somewhere where there is somebody who will look past the GPA. Do you know any faculty at any medical schools? How about BU? Can they give you some advice/help in getting in? A realistic assessment of your chances to get in to BU's med school?

You kicked butt on the MCAT so that is one less thing you need to worry about.

You have an interesting background/extracurriculars so I don't think you need to worry about that either.

It sounds like you have plenty of health care related experience, enough to know if you want to do medicine or not. Hopefully some of this experience is recent?

You have had lots of jobs...and a lot of various volunteer experiences...be careful in your application that you try not to sound unfocused, because that could be your undoing. You want to present yourself as someone who is steady as a rock and will not quit and will not give up no matter what it costs you.

I think that you can get in to medical school. Certainly a Caribbean school would take you, or a DO school (but you might need a LOR from a DO for the latter), if you are so inclined and don't want to wait around trying to raise your GPA up more. Caribbean can be risky but for you (good test taker) not so much so as for some other people...but I would only go down there if you already tried up in the US and couldn't get in. You could also go somewhere in the UK...I've met several US students who went to Irish med schools, then came back over here for residency and did fine. You're likely to get shut out of certain specialties, but still could do many others (IM, peds, family practice, neurology, maybe general surgery and ER, etc.).

 

[drbuckingnicks]

Why are carribean schools risky? Ive heard mixed opinions about getting at MD at one so I figured I would stick it in the US.
As far as BU is concerned I have a shot in a million apparently although its a shot! haah
They are now strictly enforcing high undergrad GPA requirements to pull up their rankings for US news, so says the grapevine, so now the Dean is under pressure to lower the numbers of even excellent post bacc students who perform well if their undergrad GPA are below a certain cutoff, and I fall under that.
So would it make sense to take the classes that I APed out of? or just more upper division undergraduate biology classes?

 

[dragonfly99]

Yes would retake some undergrad premed science courses. Can the docs/professors at your postbac program give you any opinions about whether to take intro biology vs. upper level courses? I really don't know what to tell you...if you take intro biology you will probably definitely ace it. It's just kind of backwards to take that class after already taking med school courses, but oh well...it won't HURT your application, for sure. Not sure how much help you'd get out of taking just a few more classes...it would raise your GPA but not sure it would be enough.

Yeah those US news surveys are pretty much BS...but the schools really do whatever they can to raise their rankings. Everyone is trying to "game" the system, including the applicants and the schools. Yuck.

A DO school somewhere would definitely take you I think...might need a DO letter of rec though. They like people w/interesting backgrounds and you definitely sound like you are...

Caribbean schools are risky simply because they aren't accredited by the LCME, the governing body that accredits all the onshore US medical schools. It would be kind of like going to a nonaccredited college. Also, some of them aren't really set up adequately to teach students and definitely not to teach them in 3rd and 4th year clinical rotations, which require intensive interaction with faculty if you're going to learn anything. That's the basic problem with those schools - that plus some of them take students who really aren't prepared or aren't going to be able to pass the US med licensing exam.s However, right now there are a lot more residency spots than there are US medical school grads, so every year there will be Caribbean grads + foreign/nonUS citizen grads from various places abroad who will fill up those spots. I actually think there are a few Caribbean schools down there that are decent - maybe 2 or 3. With your MCAT score they would take you instantaneously. Personally I would be inclined to try in the US for a year or two first. If still not getting in, then go to one of these, or to Ireland or something. But don't do it if the only medical specialties you'd want to do are something hard to get in to like derm or radiology, b/c unlikely you can get one of those residencies if you don't go to med school here in the US.

 

[gman33]

Ok, the UG gpa is really bad, but you already knew that.

I think you are going to have a hard time getting in a MD school, even with the great MCAT. There is no harm in applying to some schools, but I'd make alternate plans.

DO is a good option. You are still going to have problems with the GPA, but some schools might overlook it. If you are going to focus on DO schools, I would retake some UG classes, even non-science ones.

Get a copy of your transcript and look up your worst grades. Just a guess, but are there some Fs in there? In any case, retake the classes with the lowest grades first. If you can replace some F's or D's with A's, you can bump that UG gpa up pretty quick. It probably seems crazy to retake some bs course you couldn't care less about, but that's part of the game.

Maybe come up with a spreadsheet and do some projections on how to boost that gpa. Get it up to like 3.2 or so, and with everything else, you should get some love at DO schools.

If you have the funds apply to some MD schools as well. Nothing to lose except $$.