Hi, im new to this site and am wondering about my chances for US MD or DO given my circumstances. I graduated in 2006 with a bachelors in accounting and decided it wasn't for me so am doing pre-med now since fall 2007. My first 2 years of college i ended up with a 2.7! Then a 3.48 for next two years for a cumulative 3.0. Started Pre-med classes and have completed all the major ones except O-chem 2 and got A's in all of them except for a B+ in O-chem1. I've also taken physiology, anatomy, cadaver practicum, medical terminology, genetics with A's in all those too except a B+ in anatomy lecture. This boils down to a 3.8+ish Science and a 3.3ish cumulative when you add in my science classes. One of my questions is do they count the science grades toward the cummulative (non-science GPA)? Also, does my excellent grades for the pre-med courses i've taken count towards my undergraduate GPA (cummulative) or is it already set in stone because i graduated already and everything i've done since then count towards a science GPA only? I have plenty of patient exposure, shadowing, community volunteer work (500+ hrs for all 3 combined), vice president of pre-med club in school, and a couple other minor extra things, but only one research endeavor and it was about squirrels (nothing in a lab) so not too good. I also have never had a paid job in the medical field and was wondering if i should do that in the next year? Im taking biochem, o-chem2, micro, pathophysiology, and a couple more in the next 2 semesters and i know ill do mostly A's if not all A's in those classes.....so what are my chances for MD states if i can pull a really good MCAT (32ish)? If not so good then DO?
Before you answer, want to clarify a couple more things...Like mentioned earlier, my first 2 years were horrific with retaken classes and bad grades. The GPA mentioned above (before Pre-med endeavor) is on the good side because its not counting the lower grade of the retaken classes for the GPA. If the other grades are averaged out, the cummulative GPA would go down a bit further (maybe a little more than just a bit). So my question is do they average the grades for retaken classes? I know they do for american MD schools but what about international schools (Ross and SGU are only ones really care about) and what about DO applications? I think DO applications don't use AAMCS and don't use the grade before the retake in the calculation. One good thing about it is that those bad grades were from 2001-2004 and i've obviously changed alot and showed some drastic improvements since then. One bad thing about my science GPA is going to be that i got a c in lecture and lab in 2001 for Biology 1 that i took for the required science elective so that will hurt my science GPA quite a bit if they average that in with my retaken bio 1 in 2007 in which i got an A. My other concern is that I haven't always had the toughest course load since starting the pre-med thing in fall 2007. I've completed 56 credits in 6 semesters and am worried that they expect more. This is mainly because i've only taken 12 credits for the last 2 semesters combined for stupid reasons that i don't want to get into. I also have been concerned because i feel like i have to get pretty much all A's too make up for my bad grades early on so take a little less course load to guarantee that. This whole next year i will have alot tougher load though which should say something. ONE MORE QUESTION...I'll have $55,000+ in student loans before i apply for med school so is this going to be a problem or will they not care and just add to it? THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME I APPRECIATE IT GREATLY!....ONE MORE QUESTION...Would it be better to be a US DO or a Ross or St. George MD (top of the "Carribean" schools)?
Before you answer, want to clarify a couple more things...Like mentioned earlier, my first 2 years were horrific with retaken classes and bad grades. The GPA mentioned above (before Pre-med endeavor) is on the good side because its not counting the lower grade of the retaken classes for the GPA. If the other grades are averaged out, the cummulative GPA would go down a bit further (maybe a little more than just a bit). So my question is do they average the grades for retaken classes? I know they do for american MD schools but what about international schools (Ross and SGU are only ones really care about) and what about DO applications? I think DO applications don't use AAMCS and don't use the grade before the retake in the calculation. One good thing about it is that those bad grades were from 2001-2004 and i've obviously changed alot and showed some drastic improvements since then. One bad thing about my science GPA is going to be that i got a c in lecture and lab in 2001 for Biology 1 that i took for the required science elective so that will hurt my science GPA quite a bit if they average that in with my retaken bio 1 in 2007 in which i got an A. My other concern is that I haven't always had the toughest course load since starting the pre-med thing in fall 2007. I've completed 56 credits in 6 semesters and am worried that they expect more. This is mainly because i've only taken 12 credits for the last 2 semesters combined for stupid reasons that i don't want to get into. I also have been concerned because i feel like i have to get pretty much all A's too make up for my bad grades early on so take a little less course load to guarantee that. This whole next year i will have alot tougher load though which should say something. ONE MORE QUESTION...I'll have $55,000+ in student loans before i apply for med school so is this going to be a problem or will they not care and just add to it? THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME I APPRECIATE IT GREATLY!....ONE MORE QUESTION...Would it be better to be a US DO or a Ross or St. George MD (top of the "Carribean" schools)?
