What are my odds, and how could I improve?

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Tsukishiro

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Hi, I was a berkeley science grad a couple years ago that unfortunately didn't take my undergrad too seriously. A month before my MCATs I had to be hospitalized for an illness, but I didn't want to waste my efforts studying so I took it anyways. It was probably a bad idea because I wasn't able to offset my horrible, horrible, GPA.

Please try not to be too underwhelmed by these numbers.
cGPA: 3.0
sGPA: 2.9
MCAT: 32 (BS 10, PS 11, V 11)

While an undergrad, I had worked in a couple leadership and supervisory positions. I've attended conferences as one of the presentation speakers, and won a few regional awards. (In retrospect, I really shouldn't have missed so many classes.) As an EC, I participated in a group sport.

Presently, I'm planning on retaking my MCATs and attending graduate school. I'm also volunteering at a teaching hospital for some clinical experience. I guess the crux of my problem is that I know that my numbers aren't very good but I'm pretty miserable in grad school. Is there any way I could leave without ruining what I've been trying to improve? What are my odds at present?

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Right now, you have zero chance of an acceptance at a US MD medical school. Getting a graduate degree will not improve your low uGPA (undergraduate GPA), by which you are primarily judged by med schools (along with MCAT score), but you are expected by med schools to complete the commitment you made to your graduate program. If you are going for a PhD, perhaps you can convert to a masters program, and complete that instead. Doing additional post-baccalaureate work would have served you better, as the GPA from this is included in the uGPA calculation.

If you complete your graduate program, and do additional informal post-bac work, getting straight As for a year in upper-level science courses to prove you could handle a med school curriculum, that might be enough to gain you an admission to an ostepathic (DO) medical school. If you do two years getting straight As, you might qualify for an SMP (Special Masters Program), the only type of masters that would pave the way for you to get into an MD program. Read more here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=71

And read this post about SMP vs post-bacs written by one of SDN's regular adcomm members: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=7543258&highlight=rampant#post7543258
 
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