What can i do to be more competitive in my year off?

[batndz]

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Hi everyone,

I am looking for some advice for what to do between undergrad and applying for medical school.

Right now I'm a senior and approaching graduation with a 3.0 GPA (2.98 science, 3.3 non-science) with a biology and biochem double major. I was a chemistry and biology major for 2 and half years until i decided that it was too much for me and i would have done a lot better if I had just taken one major.


Right now I'm having trouble figuring out what to do. I have three things in mind:

1) take a year off, work as a medical scribe and get some clinical experience and save up money, and then apply to an SMP to improve my academic credentials, and then apply to medical school.

2) go right ahead and apply for an SMP.

3) take more undergrad courses till i get my GPA up and then apply directly to med school.

I have'nt taken the MCATs but i am going to in the spring before the SMP deadlines.

I know that applying right away to medical school would be a bad idea. I'm also wondering if im competitive enough to get into an SMP. Ideally i would like to go to the one in Georgetown. I'm looking at any that are in philly, DC, or in VA).

Any advise as to what i should do to become more competitive for med school?

 

[Hope2008]

-Research
-Volunteer work
-Post-bac program

are some ideas.

 

[WildcatsDoc]

I think SMP/Post-Bacc work would probably be the highest yield. Unfortunately, your 3.0 is low for allopathic schools, so raising your GPA is probably the most important thing right now. You can always throw in shadowing here or there, but your GPA is probably what you should focus on.

 

[batndz]

Here's another question then, will i have a hard time getting into an SMP because of my GPA?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

SMP's require a gpa of 3.0+
and a high mcat 32+ usually..

 

[WildcatsDoc]

Take this with a huge grain of salt, as I've never done a SMP/Post-Bacc....

You might have some trouble. I quickly looked at Georgetown's 11 month SMP. It requires a 3.0 minimum GPA. It didn't specify a science GPA, so if a 3.0 science GPA isn't required, you may have a good shot at getting in there. They do require to take all the pre-med prereq courses AND the MCAT as well though.

http://services.aamc.org/postbac/

Go to that link and search for programs in the area you want to attend. I suggest just calling them up and asking whether you are competitive to apply. I don't think that can hurt.

Good luck!

 

[CapnCrunch]

How much of a difference is there for biology and biochemistry? For Biomolecular and Biophysics vs. Molecular and Cellular Bio at my school, there are three classes additional classes you need to take.

I would consider giving this a read:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=640302

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=346106

if you're considering the SMP route... But as everyone is mentioning here, a GPA of 3.0 is essentially a bare minimum in a lot of cases.