to keep on going or look elswhere for a different career?

[dr1989]

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i transferred to a univ after 3 yrs at a cc-my transferred gpa was like a 2.1
i had a lot going on and basically not caring for classes


i have just completed 2 semesters at the uni and my cumulative gpa is 2.8
but my science gpa is 3.5

(basically my bad grades were all easy classes at the cc that i screwed up in-def regret those days)

my question is-i have 2 more semesters left and will graduate next june-how high can i bring my gpa up? i will be taking around 30-34 credits between my fall and last semester..

ive been offered a full time job at the UCLA school dental clinic as a pathologist assistant after i graduate-its a year contract and i could take night classes at ucla to bring up my gpa?

obviously i want to finish strong and my focus is all on school now-should i be looking at taking a masters program to increase my gpa and overall chances?
are there 1 year master programs out there? most of them ive seen are3 years

i also have been working as a scribe for 3 years in the ER and have other strong ECs...im already going to be a 5th year senior and i want to be able to apply to med school as soon as i can but on a strong first try

another option ive been considering-ucla has a masters program in epidemiology and im fascinated and see that as a potential back up. but medicine is my passion and i want to become an ER physician one day.

i just know that the average gpa for med school is like 3.6 and i want to be a competitive candidate-i just dont want to spend another 3 years fixing my mistakes and then apply to med school-i am passionate but im already a 22 y/o girl and a family is in mind by the time i hit 30


any advice?

 

[deleted357625]

i transferred to a univ after 3 yrs at a cc-my transferred gpa was like a 2.1
i had a lot going on and basically not caring for classes


i have just completed 2 semesters at the uni and my cumulative gpa is 2.8
but my science gpa is 3.5

(basically my bad grades were all easy classes at the cc that i screwed up in-def regret those days)

my question is-i have 2 more semesters left and will graduate next june-how high can i bring my gpa up? i will be taking around 30-34 credits between my fall and last semester..

ive been offered a full time job at the UCLA school dental clinic as a pathologist assistant after i graduate-its a year contract and i could take night classes at ucla to bring up my gpa?

obviously i want to finish strong and my focus is all on school now-should i be looking at taking a masters program to increase my gpa and overall chances?
are there 1 year master programs out there? most of them ive seen are3 years

i also have been working as a scribe for 3 years in the ER and have other strong ECs...im already going to be a 5th year senior and i want to be able to apply to med school as soon as i can but on a strong first try

another option ive been considering-ucla has a masters program in epidemiology and im fascinated and see that as a potential back up. but medicine is my passion and i want to become an ER physician one day.

i just know that the average gpa for med school is like 3.6 and i want to be a competitive candidate-i just dont want to spend another 3 years fixing my mistakes and then apply to med school-i am passionate but im already a 22 y/o girl and a family is in mind by the time i hit 30


any advice?

Well there's also D.O med school which is more lenient on scores.

 

[kautionwirez]

MCAT?

I would do an SMP instead to boost up your GPA.
I think your extra currics are great! But the GPA is a definitely a red flag.
As long as you have an upward trend (can you reach a 3.0?).

 

[dr1989]

thats true-and i do know some great d.o physicians that come to the hospital-but i would like to go the md route

 

[dr1989]

MCAT?

I would do an SMP instead to boost up your GPA.
I think your extra currics are great! But the GPA is a definitely a red flag.
As long as you have an upward trend (can you reach a 3.0?).

i just looked that up and it sounds pretty good!
ive never heard of it before-i can reach a 3.0, my semester average at my uni is a 3.3-its only a 2.8 because its averaged in with my grades from cc were so low

is the smp a year long program? and how do other pre-meds/med schools feel abt this program?

 

[JESSFALLING]

thats true-and i do know some great d.o physicians that come to the hospital-but i would like to go the md route

Doctor = Doctor. There is no harm in applying yourself fully to the aim of getting accepted MD. However, a DO degree will not preclude you from an allo residency, nor any other aspect of medicine. I'm sorry that your early academic career sucked...but so did mine and I'm not on here whining about it. If you want to be a doctor, than become a doctor (MD or DO). In my opinion, you should take the path of least resistance so you can start serving patients sooner, rather than later!

 

[dr1989]

Doctor = Doctor. There is no harm in applying yourself fully to the aim of getting accepted MD. However, a DO degree will not preclude you from an allo residency, nor any other aspect of medicine. I'm sorry that your early academic career sucked...but so did mine and I'm not on here whining about it. If you want to be a doctor, than become a doctor (MD or DO). In my opinion, you should take the path of least resistance so you can start serving patients sooner, rather than later!

i agree with that and respect your opinion-i am not whining and realize this is the action of my own consequences-something i am trying to fix

i just dont know if i should take courses after i graduate at another uni to boost my gpa or to just do a post bacc. i want to see which path will lead me quicker to getting into med school-either way i want to get there-i know a paramedic who is 32 y/o and has been trying year after year to get into med school and just got into a program in oregon! this shows me that yes it is possible to achieve your goals but it will not be easy!

 

[JESSFALLING]

Ps. - Just in case you're not aware, one of the main advantages of DO admissions is that grade replacement is allowed...You may find that you could simply retake 4-5 classes that you bombed, get A's, and see your GPA go up remarkably fast...as you'd get to count the A and ignore the "whatever awful" previous grade you got.🙂 Considering that you said that your poor grades were in "easy", lowered division classes, this would be a much simpler way of fixing your GPA vs. SMP. Just something to sleep on.

 

[dr1989]

Ps. - Just in case you're not aware, one of the main advantages of DO admissions is that grade replacement is allowed...You may find that you could simply retake 4-5 classes that you bombed, get A's, and see your GPA go up remarkably fast...as you'd get to count the A and ignore the "whatever awful" previous grade you got.🙂 Considering that you said that your poor grades were in "easy", lowered division classes, this would be a much simpler way of fixing your GPA vs. SMP. Just something to sleep on.

so if the Ds i got at my cc-would i just go back and retake those exact same courses?

and i cant make up any classes with a C in right? since thats passing..
and thank you-i do appreciate that advice 🙂
i will def speak with my d.o physician

 

[JESSFALLING]

so if the Ds i got at my cc-would i just go back and retake those exact same courses?

and i cant make up any classes with a C in right? since thats passing..
and thank you-i do appreciate that advice 🙂
i will def speak with my d.o physician

Your welcome...no problem...

Correct: the "Ds" would be replaced with your new grade (hopefully As) in the same courses. Even fixing 1 or 2 of these would make a tremendous difference!

As far as the "Cs" go, it's an individual school's choice to allow a retake or not. Maybe you can petition to retake if they don't allow? Your other option (although please verify this first) would be to retake the exact same course at another college. I'm pretty sure that would be acceptable, as long as the course descriptions are the same. You would then simply enter the retake accordingly on your DO application.

Solid, upper-division science course work also looks great. I don't remember if you mentioned your major, but I'd be sure to take a handful of these courses before you graduate. Good choices are Biochemistry, Genetics and/or Molecular Biology, and Physiology. Maybe a toxicology course would be helpful too since your into EM. I think a course in ethics is helpful too.

Talking to a D.O. physician is a great idea. S/he can probably write you a great letter too if you go this route. One thing to consider, and research, is the ease of getting accepted into an EM residency with a DO degree...you may find the results encouraging.

Lastly, if you also decide to do a SMP, you should look for programs that provide an interview at their medical school if you do well in the SMP. LECOM, for example, virtually guarantees acceptance into their DO program IF you meet certain GPA/MCAT/Misc. requirements. This also gives you a year to see if you like the school...and if not, you can apply elsewhere.

 

[JESSFALLING]

One last question. Have you abandoned the idea of going into dentistry? From what I've heard, OMFS seems like a pretty awesome sub-field. You'd have great ECs for getting accepted into dental school. I guess the drawback is that it's competitive and you might end up doing fillings if you don't get in😱

 

[dr1989]

i am a bio major and will be taken upper division genetics, microbio, molecular and physio in my last 2 semesters

the only class i did bad is in calculus III (D) and a few history classes (got Cs)

i think i may take biochem, immunology and toxicology at ucla after i graduate-my practice MCAT score was 31

i can squeeze out graduating with a cumulative gpa of 3.1 and science of 3.6-3.7 if i do strong this year

if i retake and do the ucla courses would i be a potential candidate for md schools? i am considering d.o school as well and as of now my main focus is finishing up my last year on a strong note and taking a gap year for all the other classes

 

[dr1989]

One last question. Have you abandoned the idea of going into dentistry? From what I've heard, OMFS seems like a pretty awesome sub-field. You'd have great ECs for getting accepted into dental school. I guess the drawback is that it's competitive and you might end up doing fillings if you don't get in😱

i havent completley-i love both medicine and dentistry...its that i work in a medical setting with doctors and they all tell me medicine (my initial choice) is awesome for me as i have great experience in the ER etc and i love the chaos and intensity (or often lack of it)

dentistry if great and i still am at my internship with the pathologist..i would like to find a way to integrate more medicine into dentistry if i dont get into the omfs field

honestly i find myself happy in both fields-but like you said-its the fear of not getting into omfs and filling teeth for the rest of my life! or ortho!

i havent abandoned it yet-its in my mind....and i think i may have an advantage with dental schools as they look at your science and overall gpa separately right? my non scigpa sucks...

 

[dr1989]

*bump

 

[CopaceticOne]

*bump

Why?😕

 

[pancakesyrup]

Keep going, but like others said, consider the DO option. If you do well from now on, and do a postbac afterwards and do well in that, you should be in good shape.