What should I do?

[atlantis407]

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I know that I am currently not a strong applicant for either MD or DO school. But have no thought of giving up.

I just completed my sophomore year with a Biomedical Science major and political science - pre law minor. I live in Florida and have currently a combined 2.83 science 2.12. I currently have 220+ hours of volunteering (continuing to do this till graduation) in a major hospital and am currently observing a plastic surgeon ( doing this for 2 months ). I also still have to take the MCAT.

My horrible freshman and sophomore grades come from me being unsure of what I wanted to do as a career and was flip flopping between patent law and medicine. But that all changed when I started observing a reconstructive plastic surgeon and have fall in love with this field of medicine. Now that I have my mind set and a career goal I know that I can perform strongly in my classes and show a strong upward trend in my grades.

I will not stop until i become a reconstructive plastic surgeon and will do anything it takes to achieve that goal.

I have no problem going to a Caribbean medical school as like i said i would do anything to achieve my goal. What I am wondering from this community is how you think i should go about achieving this new found love. Should I apply junior year? Senior year? or do some post bacc work? Are they other options that I have not considered? Like I said i am open to anything.

 

[Noggin]

If I were you I would NOT go to the Caribbean, especially considering that you want to be a plastic surgeon. Obtaining a plastic surgery residency is extremely competitive, and I don't know too much about foreign medical schools, but I think that it is safe to say that you would be at a severe disadvantage trying to obtain that type of residency coming from a foreign school. I don't understand what your GPA is. When you say that your cGPA is 2.83 doesn't that include your "all other GPA." If you really do have a GPA in the two point somethings, then you will most likely need to do a post-bac to improve your chances. You shouldn't apply Junior year, you may be able to apply senior year if you can boost your GPA up to a number that is acceptable for DO schools (3.4ish)

 

[atlantis407]

Sorry for the confusion. I fixed the GPA info. As for what you said, that is what I also think so far about everything also.

 

[WilsonFan]

I don't want to dash your hopes, but only the top students from the top 10 medical schools even get a plastic surgery residency at the lowest program. The chances of getting into a plastic surgery program at a mid-tier school assuming you perform as you have in the past is about the same as getting into Harvard with your current stats.

Not only that, but as someone who hasn't even started medical school, how are you so sure you want to do plastic surgery? Most people at top schools have their heart set on a specialty when they enter, and 90% end up liking something else more - that's just part of the experience.

That said, if you do have a good reason for wanting to be a plastic surgeon (although I can't imagine one compelling enough to really know at your stage), you should apply to every single one of the top30 schools every year for as long as it takes to get there, doing post-bach/masters/phd/research work until you get accepted to one of them, then when you get into the school do literally nothing except study, go into a general surgery residency program if you do not match into a plastic surgery program, and then apply for a plastic surgery fellowship program every year after your 5+ year surgery residency until you get a spot. This will all take at the very minimum 12 years if you get into medical school next cycle.

That said, if I were you, I would take a year or 2 off, improve my GPA, apply to low to mid-tier US MD programs, which will most likely accept you, and go into a similar specialty, like general surgery. This is a much easier path, and if you like reconstructive surgery, I'm sure general surgery will be 90% as satisfying.

 

[wonderdog]

But have no thought of giving up.

Work hard and never give up. Seriously though, you desperately need to raise your GPA and nail your MCAT to get into medical school and then you must do incredibly well on your Step exams.