Medical Tips on where to proceed with GPA, how to improve upon cGPA and sGPA to enhance chances for med school?

[Mr.Smile12]

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Hi,

I recently just graduated from college this past May with a cGPA of 3.36 and a sGPA of 2.84. I was a STEM major but I have 5 C's in some of my medical school prerequisites:

Initially, my plan was to re-take all of the aforementioned courses here locally at a home college however, a pre-med advisor at my former college has advised against it and suggests that I take upper-level courses such as Organic Chemistry II and Biochemistry II. I am conflicted and do not know how to proceed from here. As a first-generation student, I cannot financially afford a SMP or Post-bacc program and would not like to take more than two gap years going forward. I would really appreciate some constructive advice. Should I proceed with re-taking these courses locally or will this reflect poorly on me? Is it better to take upper-level courses in these departments and if so, how many would one recommend?

You're going to have to stomach the bad news: at this time, you're not really in a strong position. If you are really dead-set on being a physician, with a science degree already in hand, you're going to need to really plan on the SMP or postbac programs. If you can't afford either, then you really shouldn't be thinking about medical school; they aren't cheaper than those SMP or postbac programs. What happened that you got all those grades, and what did you do to try to get better grades?

Remember that AMCAS GPA calculations will generally average your grades in any repeated courses you take with your original mark. So a C+ and an A will result in essentially two B's for that grade, and 10 B's won't really help raise your undergrad GPA that much at this point. In one way your advisor is right in that you should try to go forward with the other Org2 or Bioch2 classes, but you still have to show greater improvement over a long haul (at least 2 years if I can guess your GPA after that many C's) to get a reasonable shot at medical school admissions.

 

[Goro]

You're in a marathon now, not a sprint. You have some serious GPA reinvention to do, and simply retaking your C courses isn't going to help much.
Work for several years, save up the money and then either do a DIY-post-bac, or SMP.

And read this:
Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention

 

[MusicDOc124]

suggests that I take upper-level courses such as Organic Chemistry II and Biochemistry II

Not sure if you already took organic chem 1 since it's not mentioned, but you list organic 2 as a suggestion from an advisor... well Organic Chem 1 and 2 are both pre-reqs at the vast majority of med schools, so you'd have to take these anyway. I know of only 1 school that does not require organic chem 2, and they highly suggest to have taken it though.

would not like to take more than two gap years going forward

Assuming your science courses within a STEM major make up about half the degree (i.e. roughly 60 credits), I estimate that you need 30 credits of straight As (i.e. not even an A-) to get your sGPA to about a 3.2 - that is if you take all and only sciences. This will still be on the low side, but the straight As will also increase your cGPA (assuming 120 credits) to near a 3.5. This will take 1 year if you were to do 15 cr semesters and maintain said As. You'd then have an application year. You're looking at 2 years minimum, not maximum.

 

[MusicDOc124]

^ with that said, if you are not able to do a formal post-bacc or SMP, I'd recommend you retake each of those AS WELL AS additional upper level sciences. I make this suggestion simply due to some places lacking in how many applicable science classes may be available. If you go somewhere with a diverse set of classes, then go for those.

 

[Goro]

Thanks this was very helpful, that being said do you know of any SMP this programs that have a spring start date and do not require the MCAT or will accept the GRE instead?

No and no

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You're going to have to reach out to programs about your situation if you don't have an MCAT score on hand. But most formal programs start in fall or late summer.