What Are My Chances/upward trend

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Brizyan32

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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.

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So far, so good.

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.

At this point, it's no longer about raising your GPAs, but showing a sustained academic excellence.
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.

I do not believe so, but your strategy should be to continue to ace things, ace MCAT as well (513+) and apply broadly to DO schools, and some MD schools as well. There are MD schools that reward reinvention, starting with your state schools. AZCOM and PCOM are continuing to honor grade replacement. have no idea what my own school is doing.

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?

Think again. See above. The idea now is to show that the you of now is not the you of then.
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.
 
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So far, so good.

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.

At this point, it's no longer about raising your GPAs, but showing a sustained academic excellence.
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.

I do not believe so, but your strategy should be to continue to ace things, ace MCAT as well (513+) and apply broadly to DO schools, and some MD schools as well. There are MD schools that reward reinvention, starting with your state schools. AZCOM and PCOM are continuing to honor grade replacement. have no idea what my own school is doing.

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?

Think again. See above. The idea now is to show that the you of now is not the you of then.
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.
 
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Thank you for the encouragement and advice Goro. Just finished Step 1 and Level 1. Hope you are well and want you to know you are appreciated.
 
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This is the kind of stuff I’m here for. My sincerest congratulations to you! Have you written any posts detailing the “in-between” from your original post to this one? I’d love to hear more about your journey as I am about to start a postbacc coming from a similar situation.
 
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