What are my chances?

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MagicCarpetRide

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Need some help because I feel disappointed in myself lately. I wanted to do better, but I simply am not, here are my stats:

-3 Year military service in Middle East
-went to community college for 2 years due to money issues
-transferred to a great 4 year school, have a 3.2 BCPM, and 3.5 overall GPA
-100 hospital volunteer hours
-100+ clinical hours in autism/ADHD medical research group
-on the board of two major organizations of my campus
-50 hours of shadowing so far
- I graduate this December, and am taking the MCAT in April, applying in June

My Pre-Med advisor said my GPA is not good and the MCAT will have to save me. Any thoughts, tips, ideas? Feeling upset because I am already 25 years old, married, and want to go to med school already.

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Should be alright as long as your MCAT is up to par. Military service will definitely help. Try to get an MCAT of at least 510, and do your best to raise your BCPM GPA a bit (if possible).
 
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My $0.02: Your gpa is somewhat low for MD, and I would weigh the pros and cons of a post-bacc (costly and relatively time consuming as a married individual). Nevertheless, as you currently stand, if you do perform well on the MCAT, you should still apply very broadly to middle/lower tier MDs as well as to DO schools. Much of it may depend on your MCAT, but your EC's look very solid, especially having 3 years of military service on your record. Chin up and study hard for the MCAT and see how it goes. Best of luck
 
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My $0.02: Your gpa is somewhat low for MD, and I would weigh the pros and cons of a post-bacc (costly and relatively time consuming as a married individual). Nevertheless, as you currently stand, if you do perform well on the MCAT, you should still apply very broadly to middle/lower tier MDs as well as to DO schools. Much of it may depend on your MCAT, but your EC's look very solid, especially having 3 years of military service on your record. Chin up and study hard for the MCAT and see how it goes. Best of luck

Thank you for the advice. Post-Bac isn't such a good option since I already took all my pre-med pre-reqs during undergrad, including biochem, cell bio and the like. Maybe a masters degree?
 
Yes, true. I in a sense lumped them all together inadvertedly. @gonnif once wrote something I believe is a useful summary:

PostBacc and SMP are not really equivalent as the SMP is more or less designed to be an "audition term" of medical school. It isnt typically a straight rehash of prereqs
Post-bacc is usually just the prereqs
A regular masters is much less useful in any sort of grade enhancement
Another year with some advanced course work can be used to showed a continued trend
 
The summary is simple but accurate. In the OP's case it is a science GPA that really needs enhancing. Below from decreasing to increasing effect:

Taking a regular masters will not on direct improvement on UG GPA and has only secondary consideration by adcom
Taking additional classes for grade trend would be diminishing returns on GPA and risk bad grades as courses get harder
Taking regular post bacc, does have direct effect and would appear as separate GPA but would be nearly course repeat so not so impressive
Taking SMP, while a masters is designed as the audition, and may be the best option for medical school here.

SMP is my top recommendation

In response to the bold I was wondering if you could clarify here what exactly would be seen as "nearly course repeat".

Do you mean taking additional new upper level science courses would be seen as course repeat because ADCOMs wouldn't view an upper level science course like Microbio or Physiology that differently from courses OP has already taken like general bio or biochem? Or do you mean re-taking pre-req courses at a formal post-bacc would be seen as course repeat? I can see how doing a formal post-bacc designed for people late to switching to pre-med and needing pre-reqs would be seen as a course repeat for the OP. But would taking UG classes different than the pre-reqs like genetics, or immunology or anatomy really be seen as just "nearly course repeat"?

Also if OP were to take these additional courses could also just do these as a post-bacc, either at a formal academic enhancer of DIY style at a State U or the OP's same school if they apply as a second degree student. In that case, those courses could still appear separately on an app as separate GPA if I am not mistaken.
 
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1) Post-Bac isn't such a good option since I already took all my pre-med pre-reqs during undergrad, including biochem, cell bio and the like.
2) Maybe a masters degree?
1) What about Physiology, Genetics, Anatomy, Neuroanatomy, Immunology, Virology, Embryology, Microbiology, Histology, Advanced Biochem, Statistics, etc. A grades in these classes would not only raise your BCPM GPA (and incidentally, cGPA), and reassure adcomms that you have what it takes. They are medical-education relevant and would ease your path in med school. They could be taken before graduation. Or after, as a do-it-yourself postbac (in which case they would appear on a separate line of the application, rather than being lumped in with all senior year grades, but still be included in uGPA calculations).

2) Not your best bet, as most med schools won't consider a masters sGPA, as it's widely assumed these grades will be inflated.
 
my impression is that the OP had most of these courses completed. If not, then some 15-30 credits in the area as advanced bio as a "DIY grade enhancer post bacc" may have a decent effect. I would make it my second choice after SMP. However, the above DIY idea combined with good MCAT might be enough. That will impact the application timeline as these additional course must be complete prior to application shouldn't be done in conjunction with MCAT. The reason I say that is the MCAT is so vitally important here, OP must fully focus on that for best possible score and not be overworked with additional courses. However, I still think the strongest path in this borderline case for MD is SMP.

That makes a lot more sense. I would imagine that a strong SMP performance probably has a greater impact to boost an applicant than a strong DIY post-bacc. Both like you said though could be enough for the OP; its simply an issue of which has a better chance of being enough. Just wanted to clarify.
 
I'll simply also just end by adding a qualifier; this whole discussion @gonnif has been a part of is for the purposes of MD admission. If the OP is really trying to move on with their life fast as has been suggested, DO's are worth strong consideration. Here the BCPM GPA is much less of a hindrance with a solid MCAT score and there isn't a need for an MD SMP program. Furthermore, the BCPM GPA can be improved rather easily for DO purposes by simply re-taking any classes with C grades or lower.
 
First off, many thanks for your service to our country. Keep in mind that adcoms love veterans.

I think that with a good MCAT score (>510) it might be worth trying an app cycle to see how it shakes out. During the cycle, you can look for a SMP and matriculate if the cycle yields no luck. Ace the SMP, and you're golden.



Need some help because I feel disappointed in myself lately. I wanted to do better, but I simply am not, here are my stats:

-3 Year military service in Middle East
-went to community college for 2 years due to money issues
-transferred to a great 4 year school, have a 3.2 BCPM, and 3.5 overall GPA
-100 hospital volunteer hours
-100+ clinical hours in autism/ADHD medical research group
-on the board of two major organizations of my campus
-50 hours of shadowing so far
- I graduate this December, and am taking the MCAT in April, applying in June

My Pre-Med advisor said my GPA is not good and the MCAT will have to save me. Any thoughts, tips, ideas? Feeling upset because I am already 25 years old, married, and want to go to med school already.
 
Thank you for the advice everyone. After december, I will be studying full time for the MCAT and taking a course for MCAT until April. I still need to take Physics 2 that semester as well since I kept pushing it off. Talked to my pre-health advisor, and we are both thinking DO wil be a good option. If my MCAT is not high, I will consider SMP to improve BCPM GPA. I'm hoping for a solid MCAT to get me in there

I do want to move on with my life and be a doctor already. I know 25 doesn't seem old, but I finally got back into school mode and want to push through
 
Yeah I think it is smart to first give it an application cycle given your military experience with any kind of decent MCAT score before resorting to an SMP which is more of a last resort option. A solid MCAT score and I think you have a good chance of finding an acceptance letter somewhere.
 
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