What should I do now?

[thedarkclover]

Hi SDN, finally decided to make an account because I need some help with choosing a plan of action: Sorry for the long post.

As a forward, I took the MCAT in August of '12 and got a 23L, and submitted my MD&DO applications through September/October.

Background: I'm currently in my early 20's. I graduated from University with a BSc in Pathophysiology in December of 2012. My undergrad GPA is rough. (2.9 Overall and 3.1 Science).
When I was a Sophomore, my father was in the hospital for an extended period of time and I was required to work while continuing school, which resulted in some sub-par grades (no F's, though). During my last year of my undergrad, I made 4.0 overall which really brought it up from where it was, but it's still not that great.

I originally submitted my MD/DO applications because the physicians I worked with told me I had the specs to make it happen. At the time, I believed them, but since it's now March and I haven't gotten anything but rejections (not from all of my schools, but about half. No interviews.), I'm thinking I should have waited and tried for a masters program first or gotten my grades up/retaken the MCAT.

Since I haven't gotten any interviews/acceptances, I decided to apply to SMPs, post-bacc programs, etc. I've also signed up to take the MCAT again at the end of April and have been doing excellent with my studying thus-far.

Here's what I need help with:
Where do I go from here, assuming I get nowhere with the 2013 application cycle?
-What SMPs/join programs should I check out? Do I have a shot at any of them?
-What actions should I take to help towards eventually getting into medical school (DO or MD)
-Is going to the Caribbean my only shot at making this happen?
-Should I re-submit my application for the 2013-2014 cycle?

Extracurricular:
-I've obtained approximately 1000hr shadowing two GP's, a family DO, a surgeon and 2 pediatricians since October of 2011.
-Participated in biomedical research for 2 years during undergraduate.
-I have a total of 9 (6 excellent) LOR's from physician's I've shadowed and professors.

Sorry for the wall of text! I am just not sure which steps to take from here to make my dreams reality. I have the dedication and ability, I've just had a tough time making it happen so far.

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[CjOz]

If I were you, I wouldn't even consider going to a Caribbean school. The only thing you would get from a school in the Caribbean is a great tan. Your gpa will probably cause you to be screened out by most MD schools and your MCAT isnt helping much either. I would advise you to focus your aspirations on getting into a DO school. Take the MCAT again, you will need a 28+ to compensate for your low gpa. If you don't perform well on the MCAT again, I would take a year off and re-take some classes you performed poorly in to try and increase your gpa, or do an SMP. Also, in that year off I would take the mcat for a third time and hope for the best.

 

[skais595]

Hi SDN, finally decided to make an account because I need some help with choosing a plan of action: Sorry for the long post.

As a forward, I took the MCAT in August of '12 and got a 23L, and submitted my MD&DO applications through September/October.

Background: I'm currently in my early 20's. I graduated from University with a BSc in Pathophysiology in December of 2012. My undergrad GPA is rough. (2.9 Overall and 3.1 Science).

Since I haven't gotten any interviews/acceptances, I decided to apply to SMPs, post-bacc programs, etc. I've also signed up to take the MCAT again at the end of April and have been doing excellent with my studying thus-far.

Here's what I need help with:
Where do I go from here, assuming I get nowhere with the 2013 application cycle?
-What SMPs/join programs should I check out? Do I have a shot at any of them?
-What actions should I take to help towards eventually getting into medical school (DO or MD)
-Is going to the Caribbean my only shot at making this happen?
-Should I re-submit my application for the 2013-2014 cycle?

Extracurricular:
-I've obtained approximately 1000hr shadowing two GP's, a family DO, a surgeon and 2 pediatricians since October of 2011.
-Participated in biomedical research for 2 years during undergraduate.
-I have a total of 9 (6 excellent) LOR's from physician's I've shadowed and professors.

Sorry for the wall of text! I am just not sure which steps to take from here to make my dreams reality. I have the dedication and ability, I've just had a tough time making it happen so far.

Where are you from?

You need to look at SMPs, since post-baccs are usually geared towards people who haven't taken the prereqs or the MCAT. There's one in San Francisco that I thought looked good. I don't know that much about them but there are definitely others, and you should be able to find threads all about them on sdn.

You should not resubmit your application this cycle. I would wait, raise your GPA considerably, see how you do on the MCAT, and do some volunteering - which is missing from your ECs currently.

If you get 30+ on the MCAT and can get your GPAs at or above 3.5, you might be ok to apply MD, but that's definitely going to require a lot of classes!

Don't go to the Caribbean if you want to practice in the US.

 

[Goro]

Your numbers are fine for an SMP, and there are many of them out there. Best to find one given by a medical school (say, Rosy Franklin, Drexel or PCOM), because it's the back door into those schools.

You can do better than Carribean. Just do well in the post-bac and MCAT. You didn't mention anything about patient contact experience. Shadowing is not the same. If you haven't done that type of volunteering, you need to.

Your are not competitive right now, even with a 35 MCAT. Best to get that GPA up, either by grade replacement for DO schools, or by the SMP.

Check out an MSAR to see what your numbers should be.



-What SMPs/join programs should I check out? Do I have a shot at any of them?
-What actions should I take to help towards eventually getting into medical school (DO or MD)
-Is going to the Caribbean my only shot at making this happen?
-Should I re-submit my application for the 2013-2014 cycle?

Extracurricular:
-I've obtained approximately 1000hr shadowing two GP's, a family DO, a surgeon and 2 pediatricians since October of 2011.
-Participated in biomedical research for 2 years during undergraduate.
-I have a total of 9 (6 excellent) LOR's from physician's I've shadowed and professors.

Sorry for the wall of text! I am just not sure which steps to take from here to make my dreams reality. I have the dedication and ability, I've just had a tough time making it happen so far.[/QUOTE]

 

[thedarkclover]

Thanks for the replies. I've decided that I'll take the year to bring up my grades and do an SmP (I've applied to about 5 as of am hour ago) or retake undergrad classes. I've ruled out Caribbean schools. I know it will take a lot of classes but it seems like my best shot. I've also signed up to volunteer at the nearest hospital near me and I'll continue with my shadowing. I'm hoping to get in another 500 hours. Still also planning to re take the MCAT for applying June 1 of 2014.

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