Well, here goes

[Macktasty]

So, I'm contemplating medical school. I'm 24 years old, and am a graduate of Penn State. I dual majored in economics and health policy. My gpa is an abysmal 2.7. I am wondering if there is any course of action that can be taken to go to medical school.

I have a good amount of volunteer experience, but not any shadowing or clinical. I worked in Hospital of UPenn for a summer running a volunteer program. Currently, I work as a health care advocate. I work with a team of doctors and nurses to help our members get care. I also ran a charity at Pen State that raised $3000 for an African orphanage.

I'm in the early stages of researching here but I believe this is what I want to do.

Is it possible to get into a postbac with my lower GPA? Is entering a postbac something that can help (provided I dominate the classes) in getting me admitted to medschool? Or should I just take the pre-reqs at a community college and work from there.
Assuming strong MCAT scores, is this feasible?

Just trying to get some feedback from the community here.. Any guidance would be appreciated

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[J ROD]

So, I'm contemplating medical school. I'm 24 years old, and am a graduate of Penn State. I dual majored in economics and health policy. My gpa is an abysmal 2.7. I am wondering if there is any course of action that can be taken to go to medical school.

I have a good amount of volunteer experience, but not any shadowing or clinical. I worked in Hospital of UPenn for a summer running a volunteer program. Currently, I work as a health care advocate. I work with a team of doctors and nurses to help our members get care. I also ran a charity at Pen State that raised $3000 for an African orphanage.

I'm in the early stages of researching here but I believe this is what I want to do.

Is it possible to get into a postbac with my lower GPA? Is entering a postbac something that can help (provided I dominate the classes) in getting me admitted to medschool? Or should I just take the pre-reqs at a community college and work from there.
Assuming strong MCAT scores, is this feasible?

Just trying to get some feedback from the community here.. Any guidance would be appreciated

I would try and get the GPA over 3.0 with an informal postbac...then go from there...

 

[Macktasty]

and I'm assuming that by informal postbac you mean taking the pre-requisite science courses and bolstering my GPA?

 

[iamxp]

How is your science GPA?

 

[J ROD]

and I'm assuming that by informal postbac you mean taking the pre-requisite science courses and bolstering my GPA?

yes..

 

[Macktasty]

How is your science GPA?

Let me pull out the transcripts here.. Remember, I didn't exactly have to take many science classes
Biology 20 - B
Chem 12 - B-
Bi Sci - A
not sure if this counts but Epidemiology - B-
And that's the extent of the science I've taken

 

[iamxp]

Let me pull out the transcripts here.. Remember, I didn't exactly have to take many science classes
Biology 20 - B
Chem 12 - B-
Bi Sci - A
not sure if this counts but Epidemiology - B-
And that's the extent of the science I've taken

That's actually good news! You don't have many science credits. Get near 4.0 in science and you should have 3.7+ science GPA by the time you apply. For overall GPA, your first goal should be to get it over 3.0.

 

[J ROD]

next you will need a 33/34 + MCAT.....

 

[Macktasty]

Thanks to both of you for your insights.
So, what I am thinking is... I need to dominate some science classes at a local college. Once I do that, my overall undergrad GPA will ideally be boosted to 3 and will have a high enough science GPA. From that point, if I have taken all the pre-requisites for applying.. do you recommend taking a formal postbac at that point? Or will that be redundant.

Will it be necessary to focus on extra-curriculars, such as shadowing a physician or something clinical?

 

[J ROD]

once you get the GPA above a 3.0, I would start looking into clinical volunteering where you get patient contact....

around 150-200hrs over 1-2 yrs....

Shadowing several docs is important too.....60-80hrs.

make sure to get in FM in that too.

 

[Catalystik]

So, what I am thinking is... I need to dominate some science classes at a local college. Once I do that, my overall undergrad GPA will ideally be boosted to 3 and will have a high enough science GPA. From that point, if I have taken all the pre-requisites for applying.. do you recommend taking a formal postbac at that point? Or will that be redundant.

If you do two years of full-time informal postbac work, you can get your cGPA up to a 3.1. If you do that, you do not need a formal postbac program. If you can get a good score on the MCAT, like over a 30, you are a candidate for a good Special Masters Program, which if you can get a 3.5 GPA or better will redeem your poor undergrad record, and along with your step upward grade trend has a reasonable chance of getting you into an allopathic med school. If your performance competing with med students in one of these programs is less sterling than a 3.5, you still have a good shot at osteopathic (DO) med schools.

An easier cheaper route to becoming a physician might be to consider retaking classes where you did poorly, along with your prerequisites, and taking advantage of the DO policy of grade forgiveness, where they only count the most recent grade in calculating your application GPA. (MD schools average in the retakes.

 

[deleted248403]

To the OP - you should head to the post-bac forum here on SDN and read up on people in similar situations.

There are a multitude of formal post-bac programs that have excellent linkage opportunities and if not, it'll help your application before you consider applying for an SMP.

Good luck

 

[Catalystik]

To the OP - you should head to the post-bac forum here on SDN and read up on people in similar situations.

See: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=71

 

[Macktasty]

Thank you all for the insights! Time to figure out some short term goals and a plan of action

 

[iamxp]

Thank you all for the insights! Time to figure out some short term goals and a plan of action

Do you have approximate target year in mind that you are looking to apply by?