What should I do??

[BadVB750]

Here is my story. Right now I have a 2.9 overall gpa and a 3.0 science gpa and my MCAT really sucks (21). However I am a volunteer EMT and I run five, twelve hour duties a month. This year alone I volunteered over 650 hours. I also was president and treasure of my fraternity and I held a position on the inter-fraternity council.

Should I try and do a BIOMEDICAL master and re-take the MCAT and then apply to osteopathic schools?

Or, should I just go to Saint George University which is in the Caribbean. Which would save me time and money.

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[Dr JPH]

If you're in a rush to finish medical school and finances are an issue, then jump on the boat and go get your degree.

If you are interested in osteopathic medicine and you really want to be a DO and attend medical school in the US, a masters in the biomedical area would be a great way to go about it.

I, personally, would not want to go to medical school outside of the US unless it were in Western Europe, but that's just me.

Good luck to you.

 

[A&W]

Hey BadVB750,

I'm in somewhat of the same boat myself. I was on my way to Ross this fall until I decided to apply to osteopathic schools for 2003. Now I don't know what I really want. My concerns are getting into a particular specialty as a FMG (however, SGU grads seem to do okay... I just can't afford to go to SGU) and problems that may arise with a DO degree outside the U.S. since I plan on doing medical missions every now and then.

Well, it sounds like you're still young so a year or two earning a master's is not going to put a kink in your earnings in the long run. Just realize that a master's is no guarantee of med school acceptance and you'd have to comfortable with that.

Best wishes in your endeavor.

 

[dnetko]

I wouldn't worry about not being able to do missionary work outside of the United States with only having a DO degree. My physician (a DO) just left for a year to do missionary work in Papa New Guinea. You might run into some problems depending on where you go or who you go through, but in most cases, I don't think that it will be a problem. As for deciding where to go to school or which program, do what's in your heart!

 

[too-sweet-phat-cool 4-life]

Bad,
With your GPA and MCAT I would take the time to get the Masters. You can show the US medical schools that you can do better on the MCAT and raise your grades. I think you can have a sub-par MCAT (23-24range) and still get into Med school, but you also have to have a good GPA. 3.5 is about average. You have excellent experience, but you have to raise the other parts of your application to really be competative. I would re-take the MCAT and try to stay in the US unless you have not other options. As a DO you should have no problem doing mission work, a few countries have restrictions, but overall you should be fine. There was a thread a few weeks ago that covered this and you can check which countries will give you problems.