waddya think of my game plan?

[scrubsRcomfy]

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Background: Graduated from college in jan 05 with a 2.5 gpa. a lot of personal problems during college, and on top of that i was recently diagnosed with ADD, which i'm sure exacerbated the problem. I was president of my sorority, active with cultural groups on campus, lots of clinical research experience, sunday school teacher, volunteer experience in hospital settings and with fundraising for breast cancer research.

I'm about as determined as they come about becoming a doctor, but i need to do extra coursework to prove myself...

my plan: take full time courseload of sciences at the state university (~15 credits each semester), then apply to an SMP like BU, Georgetown, EVMS or RFU.

do you think that would be enough? i'm concerned that one year of extra coursework in upper level sciences may not be enough to even get me into these SMP programs.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PublicEnemy]

it definitely might be. its worth a shot. you're going in the right direction, and thats how you gotta approach it now. if you haven't already, you'll also need to take the mcat down the line.

also something you might want to consider, osteopathic programs. If you apply to DO schools, you have a chance to improve your gpa much quicker, because if you re-take any classes you did poorly in, DO schools will only count the more recent grade. So if you got a bunch of C's or lower in some classes, just retaking those and replacing them with A's, that could have a huge impact in just a year. if you're at a 2.5 and you replace like 5-6 classes you did poorly in, you may even jump up close to a whole point, making you infinitely more competeteive. anyways, thats just something you might want to think about.

 

[ockhamsRzr]

Good points, Public.

In addition to the retake/replace advantage at DO schools is that they also do not count math as part of your science gpa. So if you have a C in calc, it's bruises your GPA more for allo schools than osteo.

Of course the moral of the story is just GET A's!

ockham

it definitely might be. its worth a shot. you're going in the right direction, and thats how you gotta approach it now. if you haven't already, you'll also need to take the mcat down the line.

also something you might want to consider, osteopathic programs. If you apply to DO schools, you have a chance to improve your gpa much quicker, because if you re-take any classes you did poorly in, DO schools will only count the more recent grade. So if you got a bunch of C's or lower in some classes, just retaking those and replacing them with A's, that could have a huge impact in just a year. if you're at a 2.5 and you replace like 5-6 classes you did poorly in, you may even jump up close to a whole point, making you infinitely more competeteive. anyways, thats just something you might want to think about.

 

[TiggidyTooth]

Background: Graduated from college in jan 05 with a 2.5 gpa. a lot of personal problems during college, and on top of that i was recently diagnosed with ADD, which i'm sure exacerbated the problem. I was president of my sorority, active with cultural groups on campus, lots of clinical research experience, sunday school teacher, volunteer experience in hospital settings and with fundraising for breast cancer research.

I'm about as determined as they come about becoming a doctor, but i need to do extra coursework to prove myself...

my plan: take full time courseload of sciences at the state university (~15 credits each semester), then apply to an SMP like BU, Georgetown, EVMS or RFU.

do you think that would be enough? i'm concerned that one year of extra coursework in upper level sciences may not be enough to even get me into these SMP programs.

Thanks in advance!

My background is sooo similar to yours its scary 😱 . Anyway, my plan is identical to yours. I completed 39 credits of post-bac work and am now either going to Georgetown or RFU. With straight A's and a solid MCAT I think you will be in great shape. One thing to consider is the timing of when you take your MCAT because all of the programs you metioned require them. My post-bac was an awsome experience. It sucked that I was older than everyone but it's so fullfilling when you recieve those marks that you always knew you could get but for whatever reason didnt. Continue to work hard, dont get sidetracked and you will succeed!!

Tooth