Hello! Thank you very much for taking the time to read and respond to this question. I greatly appreciate it especially given the stressful circumstances that surround premed, prehealth, etc. I hope you and your loved ones are doing well and are staying safe.
I graduated from a T20 with a B.S. in biology and a cumulative 3.196 GPA. My BCPM GPA I believe was around 2.8. I received mostly Bs, B-s, C+s, and Cs in my science and prerequisite courses. I have taken courses since graduating and my post-baccalaureate GPA is around a 3.88. This includes upper level science courses that I have taken through University of California - Berkeley Extension. I had a very hard time in college but have tried my best to turn around my study habits and my approach to learning.
Therefore my current stats (undergrad + post-bacc) are as follows: cGPA = 3.27; BCPM = 3.01; no MCAT score yet.
I have applied to Boston University's MAMS SMP program for the 2021-2022 year and am awaiting a response. I was actually accepted to this program for the 2020-2021 year, but declined to attend due to COVID-19 and other personal issues at the time. I am crossing my fingers that I will be readmitted, but overall I am confident in my chance at achieving acceptance.
After contemplating some things, I am truly torn between doing the Boston MAMS program or a certificate post-baccalaureate program where I would retake all my prerequisite courses again. I had applied to BU MAMS before finding an existing post-bacc prehealth program at a local state college with very inexpensive tuition. I completely understand that normal advice is to never retake a C or better, but I am concerned that I do not have the background needed to succeed on the MCAT (I have NOT taken the MCAT exam yet but did receive a 498 and 500 on diagnostic exams in July 2020). This specific post-bacc program would allow me to not only retake all my prereqs, but I would be able to take upper level chemistry and math courses that I have always been interested in. Therefore, I would be able to refresh my knowledge of MCAT topics while helping my undergraduate GPAs. Again, I know that it is hard to move one's GPA after accumulating many credits, but I would still be able to show an upward trend in grades.
Additionally, I figured that while doing the post-bacc I could work on other portions of my app like working/volunteering in a clinical setting since I am getting my EMT and PCT/EKG/Phleb technician certifications. I could also get some more research experience.
My question is: would my time be better spent doing the SMP or doing the post-bacc? Even if I do the post-bacc first, I would still do an SMP down the road anyway so I would probably apply to BU MAMS yet again in addition to Georgetown, Tufts, etc.
I am really asking this question from the perspective of someone who still has other aspects of their application to improve on: should I go right into the SMP and then worry about improving other aspects of my app or do I improve aspects of my app and then do the SMP?
Sorry for the long text and any confusing wording! Again, thank you for your time and I would be happy to donate to this site!!!
