Hello,
I am a non traditional student. This past fall I returned to school in hopes of one day attending medical school. However, 11-12 years ago I received Ds, Cs, and an F my first semester playing college basketball. The following semester, I received all Fs instead of Ws for an entire semester. It was either work and pay rent or go to school. I was ill informed on the process of withdrawing from classes and neither of my parents had ever attended a college. I have nobody to blame except for myself. I have since retaken all of these courses and either gotten an A or a B. In the years following I averaged 48-56 hours a week working and trying to attend school. I amassed a few Cs along the way, but also completed paramedic school. Most of my paramedic GPA resulted in Bs as I was working three jobs to pay my way through school and also doing the clinical associated with the program. After paramedic school I continued to take some general classes and eventually became interested in medicine as a physician. I began to take pre reqs for medical school and accumulated As in chem1, chem2, and bio for majors. I completed physics 1 and Biology2 with Bs. Shortly after this my wife was accepted into nursing school and both of us would not be able to attend school full time(medical school and nursing). I was not making much money as a paramedic and my buddy asked me if I would be interested in applying to a police department. I had been interested in police work, while working as a paramedic. I applied for the police department and enrolled in some part time classes in the fall of 2011. In the middle of the semester I began to have to miss classes for the hiring process. MY GPA suffered accordingly, but none of these classes were pre requisites. I ended up with 2 Cs, a B, and a D. I was extended an offer at a very large agency and took the job. I worked as an officer for 3 years and was able to pay my wife's nursing school in cash. One night on a call three little kids were ejected from a vehicle. While trying to help treat one of the little girl's injuries, I remembered how much I loved medicine and how much I missed it.I talked to my wife and discovered AACOMAS had the retake policy for coursework. I resigned from my position at the police department and enrolled in college again. I received As in physiology, Cell bio, and physics 2. I am currently enrolled in Genetics, statistics, and organic chemistry. I should finish these all with As as well.
After this semester I will have 35 hours of science classes left for my molecular and cellular biology degree. The issue is even with retaking these and if I continue to get all As, my GPA will only increase to a 2.99. Even after this year of upper level sciences and straight As, my cGPA is a 2.78. I believe this has a lot to do with how many college credits I have as well. My science GPA is still above a 3.0.
Before the AACOMAS change, I would have currently had around a 3.2 cGPA and a 3.4 science GPA. I am unsure of what to do from this point. Will I get auto rejected from DO schools, regardless of a major uptrend in upper level sciences? I am well aware MD programs are not an option. It just seems odd to realize my grades mainly from almost 11-12 years ago could potentially keep me out of medical school. I was hoping since I would have recently completed more than 60 plus hours in sciences and pre reqs, with mostly As, I would have a chance to apply.
I am sorry for the long winded story(novel).
2.78-cGPA /Science GPA-3.1/ taking MCAT this August
4 years of work experience as a paramedic
(1 year in the ER)
over 100 hours of volunteering at my church
(will be volunteering at a hospital)
beginning to shadow in the next couple of weeks.
I am a non traditional student. This past fall I returned to school in hopes of one day attending medical school. However, 11-12 years ago I received Ds, Cs, and an F my first semester playing college basketball. The following semester, I received all Fs instead of Ws for an entire semester. It was either work and pay rent or go to school. I was ill informed on the process of withdrawing from classes and neither of my parents had ever attended a college. I have nobody to blame except for myself. I have since retaken all of these courses and either gotten an A or a B. In the years following I averaged 48-56 hours a week working and trying to attend school. I amassed a few Cs along the way, but also completed paramedic school. Most of my paramedic GPA resulted in Bs as I was working three jobs to pay my way through school and also doing the clinical associated with the program. After paramedic school I continued to take some general classes and eventually became interested in medicine as a physician. I began to take pre reqs for medical school and accumulated As in chem1, chem2, and bio for majors. I completed physics 1 and Biology2 with Bs. Shortly after this my wife was accepted into nursing school and both of us would not be able to attend school full time(medical school and nursing). I was not making much money as a paramedic and my buddy asked me if I would be interested in applying to a police department. I had been interested in police work, while working as a paramedic. I applied for the police department and enrolled in some part time classes in the fall of 2011. In the middle of the semester I began to have to miss classes for the hiring process. MY GPA suffered accordingly, but none of these classes were pre requisites. I ended up with 2 Cs, a B, and a D. I was extended an offer at a very large agency and took the job. I worked as an officer for 3 years and was able to pay my wife's nursing school in cash. One night on a call three little kids were ejected from a vehicle. While trying to help treat one of the little girl's injuries, I remembered how much I loved medicine and how much I missed it.I talked to my wife and discovered AACOMAS had the retake policy for coursework. I resigned from my position at the police department and enrolled in college again. I received As in physiology, Cell bio, and physics 2. I am currently enrolled in Genetics, statistics, and organic chemistry. I should finish these all with As as well.
After this semester I will have 35 hours of science classes left for my molecular and cellular biology degree. The issue is even with retaking these and if I continue to get all As, my GPA will only increase to a 2.99. Even after this year of upper level sciences and straight As, my cGPA is a 2.78. I believe this has a lot to do with how many college credits I have as well. My science GPA is still above a 3.0.
Before the AACOMAS change, I would have currently had around a 3.2 cGPA and a 3.4 science GPA. I am unsure of what to do from this point. Will I get auto rejected from DO schools, regardless of a major uptrend in upper level sciences? I am well aware MD programs are not an option. It just seems odd to realize my grades mainly from almost 11-12 years ago could potentially keep me out of medical school. I was hoping since I would have recently completed more than 60 plus hours in sciences and pre reqs, with mostly As, I would have a chance to apply.
I am sorry for the long winded story(novel).
2.78-cGPA /Science GPA-3.1/ taking MCAT this August
4 years of work experience as a paramedic
(1 year in the ER)
over 100 hours of volunteering at my church
(will be volunteering at a hospital)
beginning to shadow in the next couple of weeks.