Very Low GPA

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Minno123

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I hope you are doing well. I have always dreamed of being a doctor but my grades during undergrad were not too well due to some personal family issues that were taking place. I have a 3.1 cumulative GPA and a 2.5 science GPA. To make up for my shortcomings, I enrolled in a dual master's program (MBA/MHA) as a full-time student while also working full-time. My graduate GPA is a 3.875. I have not taken my MCAT yet and know that I need to knock it out of the ball-park in order to have a chance at med school. Is there anything else I could do, in addition to volunteering, shadowing, and extra-curricular activities, to give me a chance at achieving my dream? I am willing to do whatever it takes.

I have been looking at MUSC, ECU, Wake Forest, and wherever else would take me. I'd rather avoid the Caribbean as much as possible

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Hi! Please look at Goro's guide for reinvention. It's the SDN go-to guide for people who had lower GPAs. The key thing is to take some advanced science courses to raise your science GPA to a 3.0. You don't have to do a formal post-bacc or an SMP, but you could take these classes at your local community college or university. Depending on how many credits you had previously this might be ~40 credits or so. Unfortunately your master's GPA won't count towards your total GPA.
 
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Before you can even think of applying or taking the MCAT you have to get your sGPA above 3.0. So plan to take a few semesters of upper level science classes and get As in all of them. You’ll have to figure out how many hours you will need to break into 3.0 but @lumya is probably right in predicting 40 hours. This will also help you prepare for the MCAT. With a 2.5 sGPA you obviously have holes in your knowledge of the sciences and it would be silly to take the MCAT without correcting this issue. Your grad degree won’t help with your MD application but I think it will help for DO schools. And you should be researching DO schools. They just might be your best path to becoming a doctor. How are your ECs?
Do not even consider going to the Caribbean. You are just the type of student they will accept and then fail you out after a year or two and leave you hugely in debt.
You have a lot of work ahead of you but if you want to be a doctor you’ll have to figure out a way.

Good luck.
 
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definitely agree with the above posters. get sGPA above 3.0 to avoid being screened out, or research schools that don't screen for 3.0
MBA/MHA dual degree is not SMP. will help your application but not the "yes, he did well in a SMP. he's desirable" kind of effect
get 510+ on MCAT
consider DO schools
 
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