Where do I go from here?

[wizz1810]

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Ok, Since I don’t have easy access to a premed advisor I figured I’d post here. I’m sort of at a loss for what to do. I’m 25 I have a B.S in Biology with all my pre med prereqs. My GPA in college was pretty lackluster, I graduated with a 2.6 overall and a 3.0s GPA. My biggest problem is a frankly abysmal first two years with a strong upward trend. The biggest reason for this is that as I started college my father passed away after a long battle with cancer and then in my teenage wisdomI thought I could work 40 hours a week to help my mom pay the bills, and maintain classes. Needless to say I did not manage this and ended up failing some classes, taking a huge hit to my mental health due to stress and even my physical health after working overnight without sleep for a couple of days and falling asleep at the wheel and totalling my car. After that I got my act together started working less, things got better I was able to volunteer and do research and graduate. After graduation I started working as a research assistant in genetics at a major research university in Cleveland (Case Western). I guess my main question here is that I’m starting to have some hope that Med School may not be an impossibility anymore. I have taken 4 credit hours of graduate genetics courses in which I received A’s. I am going to be 2nd author when our current research goes for publication and I have a tuition remission for classes and a P.I that allows me to take as many courses as I want as long as I get research done. I volunteer with a refugee organization here and I have access to a bunch of shadowing opportunities in addition to the 30 or so hours I already have. Case has a post bacc program that I could even do partially online or I can take any grad courses or undergrad I’d like. I have started a kaplan course to study for the MCAT and am trying to decide when to take it. I know my situation is pretty bleak but I’m finally thinking I have the tools to get where I want to go. I just don’t know how to get there. Is there a hope or a way to do this? Any resources or info would be appreciated. I want to apply both D.O and allopathic.

 

[futuremdforme]

Your job sounds really good! Offhand, I would think about redoing all the classes you did poorly in, which helps your GPA a lot for DO, and somewhat for MD (but shows that you can handle the material). You can work your way up, and it's good review for the MCAT. I would not take the MCAT until your GPA has improved since your MCAT will expire but GPA will not. Unless you're interested in grad research, focus on the undergrad classes since those will matter a lot more!

 

[wizz1810]

I have also heard that some schools will actually take into account your graduate GPA only after a certain amount of credit hours. I know this is true for the Michigan State DO program but I am uncertain if there are others that do so. So that's why I thought graduate courses might help.

 

[GreenDuck12]

I highly recommend you research osteopathic medicine and grade replacement in the forums (I've posted about it twice today). It will be your quickest road to redemption and get you on the path to medical school. You have a great gig; don't mess it up. Take pre-reqs at the undergraduate level for medical school pre-reqs. Don't bite off more than you can chew and you should be ok. Best of luck to you.

 

[wizz1810]

Ok, this will probably never be seen but I ran into a hiccup. If I take undergraduate courses I have to pay a tax liability for the course but not the tuition. I go to a private institution so that liability is kind of large and out of my reach. If I take graduate courses only will this be significantly less effective as it does nothing to bolster my uGPA?

 

[cabinbuilder]

Do you retakes at a less expensive community college.

 

[wizz1810]

Do you retakes at a less expensive community college.

Would retaking classes I did poorly in and upper level biology/chemistry be the best bet? I am trying to see if I can use some of my tuition benefit to take courses at a cheaper state school in the same city.

 

[cabinbuilder]

You need to take over all science pre-req's and other pre-req's (like English) that you got a C or lower.

 

[wizz1810]

Thanks! made an appointment to talk about using my tuition benefit for a state school! It's gonna be tough to parse what I can handle while working full time but I appreciate all of your advice!