What should my next steps be?

[Jc168168]

I have recently been thinking about going to med school and I am not sure where to start as I am a non-traditional student.

I am a rising senior with a psych and neuroscience double major, though most of my courses are in psychology. I had been planning on going to a PhD program in clinical psychology, but don't think that I will get in due to competition. Of course, I know that med school is incredibly competitive as well, but I do think that it will fit better with my current aspirations as well.

Here are my stats:

cGPA: 3.66
major GPA: 3.85 (psych) 3.66 (neuroscience)

I've taken many research courses in psychology, am a part of one psychology lab (cognition), one neuroscience lab (cell and molec), and work as both a psych tutor and a writing center tutor. I am going to intern at a psychiatric inpatient unit for children this month as well.

My question is if I should apply for a post-bacc for med school pre-requisites this year, or should I wait a year and get more experience? Is there even hope? I am slightly worried about my gpa, as I have taken intro to bio 1&2 and did decently on those classes, but did poorly in my gen chem class. I took these courses freshman year and truthfully gave up on the chem class towards the end when I should have withdrawn.

I am open to any criticism and suggestions.

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[precisiongraphic]

It's your choice if you want to do a post-bac now or in a year. Experience is good but you also have to allow time for extra-curricular activities (ECs). Do you have any volunteer experience either clinical or non-clinical? You have some research and the intern experience should help too. You also have some research experience which is another plus.

Also you should calculate your GPA as cumulative cGPA and bio/chem/physics/math separately for sGPA. If your sGPA is about ~3.7 and your cumulative is ~3.7 then you won't have to worry too much about grade repair but should focus on getting As on the rest of your prerequisites.

You could do a formal post-bac (like ULouisville or Washington University in St. Louis) designed for those who haven't taken much/many prereqs already or you can work on a do-it-yourself post-bac at your alma mater or any local university. After that you can take the MCAT and find a job for your application year.

You also posted on the Post-bac forum which is a good place to see info on programs.