Undergrad gpa 3.34, sgpa 2.5, no mcat yet looking for direction..

[rntomd2022]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello everyone,
I am currently 24 and practicing as an RN in a ED and I am wanting to go to med school hopefully. I will give you all the details:

I was originally pre-med but in the second semester of my freshman year at a CC I had a semester of W's due to family circumstances at the time. Overall freshman GPA from a summer semester and a fall semester 3.13. I then transferred to a 4-year and had to essentially restart as a freshman due to them being OOS and not accepting many of my prereqs, this time I took a fall semesters worth of courses then took another 4 W's the following spring due to 2 family deaths back to back within a month... I then came back for the Fall of what should have been my sophomore year and took 3 F's and 1 B in a class that ended as a half-term. The F's were due to losing who I thought was supposed to be my forever right before midterms and I just didn't complete any more assignments. adding those two semesters as my "freshman" year that GPA was 2.1. I then decided to get my act together and got a 3.6 the following spring and decided I should go into nursing school as no med school would accept me with 8 W's and 3 F's with 2 of the F's being in gen chem and a&P.

So my "Sophmore year" I retook gen chem and got a B, retook Anatomy I- A, took Anatomy 2-A and Micro- A-. Sophomore GPA- 3.7. I also took English and other pre-reqs during this time.

I got accepted into nursing school and my junior year/first year of nursing school I had a 4.0, followed by a 3.95 my senior year due to an A- in pysch.

In short my cgpa isn't terrible and feel it shows an upward trend, but my sgpa is terrible mainly due to only taking 7 classes that could toward this gpa and failing 2 of them. I am unsure if I could even get into med school because with my calculations even if I took ~40 hours of post-bac with the required classes and got all A's I would still only have a 3.2 sgpa. I was hoping to get some advice from anyone because I am willing to take any. Being a physician was something I always wanted to do, even when I was younger. But my nursing faculty and I convinced myself that I could never make it and I applied to NP school and was accepted. I have shadowed roughly 75 hours through FM and EM. I have tons of volunteer experience at soup kitchens, mental health walks/activities and I coached basketball for young kids.
Science classes are below
Gen Bio- C+
Gen Chem- F, then a B on retake in an 8-week summer course
A&P I- F, then A on retake
A&P II- A
Micro- A-

Thank you all

 

[Ultimax]

First of all, you need to make sure that those science courses that you took meet the graduation requirement for biology, physics, and chemistry major. As far as I know, Microbiology and certain Organic Chemistry class are designed uniquely for health profession and do not meet the prerequisite for medial schools. You can still salvage your GPA somewhat by taking Genetics, Biochemistry, Physics I and II, Statistics, and other upper division courses.
Second, you need to achieve a competitive MCAT score to somewhat compensate for your less competitive sGPA. The average MCAT for MD matriculants is 511, approximately 83 percentile.
Your nursing experience will help, but be aware that statistics show that premed students with nursing degree actually has one of the lowest chances to be accepted to medical school.
Enrich your experience further with volunteer activities, helping the less fortunate to make your application more well rounded.
I am a nurse practitioner myself, and I congratulate you for contemplating going to medical school. Its hard to predict your chance, my only advise is if medicine is your true passion, then only YOU can make it happen. It wont be easy, but rather try than fail, than not trying at all.
You are way younger than me, I am 34. You have plenty of time to do this. Be smart, be brave, and be realistic. Best of luck!

 

[Faha]

You need to take enough additional undergraduate level science courses to raise your sGPA to 3.0 . If you also score at least 505 on the MCAT then you could receive interviews at some DO schools . 500 would be adequate for some of the newer schools.

 

[rntomd2022]

Thank you all very much. I have no problem going DO, I'm a TN resident in east tennessee if that matters at all. But I plan on doing a DIY post-bacc, should I take these classes at a 4 year or CC. The CC would obviously be better cost wise on me, but what would the adcoms like more

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you all very much. I have no problem going DO, I'm a TN resident in east tennessee if that matters at all. But I plan on doing a DIY post-bacc, should I take these classes at a 4 year or CC. The CC would obviously be better cost wise on me, but what would the adcoms like more

Network with admissions recruiters at the schools closest to your location (KY, TN, WV at least). Obviously we understand taking classes at a CC will be much more affordable, but you already may have a strike against you because you took science courses appropriate for nursing students rather than biomedical science courses that is more comparable in rigor to medical school (i.e., for biomedical science majors).

There is my other question about why you aren't interested in the physician assistant route? Your clinical experience hours may help you more with PA applications than med school applications. Have you talked with PA's or admissions faculty in PA programs about the compatibility with your previous nursing experience?

 

[rntomd2022]

I have only taken 1 semster of gen chem and gen bio. I talked with someone at ETSU and she reccomended a university. I thought about the NP route, but I don't think it or the PA route would give me what I truly want. As I want the advanced knowledge so I can guide my clinical decisions on that. I've shadowed physicians, NPs and PAs and it really comes down to the knowledge base and what my heart truly desires. On that token I am realistic, as I have a wife and we are expecting our first this summer. So if I was told by some of the faculty members on here that I probably wont make it into med school I would probably start rethinking my decision. I just want to know if I am still a potential candidate with my bad grades.

 

[Ultimax]

Give it one cycle and if you fail, then at least you know your have tried your best. You will never know if you do not apply. It took me 3 years to get everything done to apply to medical schools, and it will take you roughly the same time to complete courses to boost your GPA either by taking SMPs or DIY post-bacc, and study for the MCAT.
When i first considered going back to medical school, my motto has always been I would rather try then fail, than not trying at all. I am 34, married, with 2 young kids, one is 1 years old, the other is 4 years old. You are 24, single, no kids. Life is full of uncertainties, and theres no guarantee that you would be accepted to medical school. Heck, even folks here with much better stats than you have to reapply. What do you have to lose? You already have a nursing degree, worse scenario is you cannot make it, then you are almost sure to get an online FNP degree somewhere. The journey to medical school is a risk-taking decision, and only those willing to take risk will get rewarded. If you do not take risk, then be happy with your nursing degree. It is simple as that.
I apologize for my ‘tough love’ tone. I am a chess player and a very realistic person. Life is like a chess game, every decision has its consequences. You love medicine, you go for it. If you fail, you know you have tried and have no regret 10 years from now.