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[AtrociousGrades]

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[Dares Dareson]

I'm also 32. Headed to med school in August. I took community college for basic prereqs then I went to a four-year university for a second bachelor's degree (B.S. in Biology, I also have a B.A. in Poli Sci from my previous career). Are you sure they won't let you take classes even if you're in a second degree program? I'm not an admissions officer, but it seems really difficult to get in with only a 2.8 gpa psych degree and community college classes. I could be wrong, but it seems like you need something more to prove you can handle a med school curriculum. The admissions offices all told me the same--community college can work depending on the rest of your application. But I wouldn't trust them.

You have a great and sincere story for how you got interested in medicine. See if you can do second bachelor degree programs.

 

[Dares Dareson]

You dont necessarily need a earn a second bachelors degree, but you do need the prerequisites and beyond in biology/chemistry to both show you can handle the rigor as well as raise a GPA. While your old GPA will be included, a new GPA will be a post-bacc and appear as a separate line on an application. Basically your own enhanced postbacc. While CC is a place to start, you will need, IMHO, at least a year's worth of upper level courses . You could also consider a formal post bacc or SMP

I agree. What I meant was he could get enrolled in a second degree program with no intention of completing it, just so the school would let him take courses. This is what I did initially but I decided to just finish the degree anyway. Generally it's good to be in a second degree program anyway because you don't have to register for classes after everyone else, etc.

 

[edgerock24]

@SerWymanManderly
Your best shot is to take all of your prereq's at a community college and apply DO only.

As long as you do well on the MCAT (60th+ percentile), and your GPA's are 3.2+ (your sGPA could potentially be a 4.0, since you haven't taken any science classes yet, correct?), you should have a shot at many osteopathic medical schools.

For MD, you'd have to spend the next ~3-4 years taking science classes, acing essentially every single one of them, get a 90th+ percentile MCAT score, and even then... your chances would still be below average. Unfortunate, and not totally "fair," but it's a reality.

If you want to become a physician in the most efficient way possible, I suggest you only focus on DO schools.

 

[el_duderino]

Straight As in your prereqs and a 90th-percentile MCAT score and you have a shot, maybe, if your ECs are average or better (shadowing, volunteering, leadership).

That's how I got in at 32 with a 2.8 cGPA, anyway.

 

[familyaerospace]

Just wanted to clarify. In most cases you need the degree/major status to get early registration. As trivial aside, just because of the incredible bureaucracy in a state school system I went to do a DIY PB, as a non-matriculated student I had no limits on my registration and was always the first to register. Go figure

Same here for my post-bac.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

First off, I'm sorry to hear about your struggles. I'm glad you're trying to make something positive out of your experience.

I had a similar GPA as you coming from undergrad and went the community college route. I consider myself very lucky to have made it into medical school because on hindsight that was a big gamble I took. I recommend that you spend more time making sure that this is the career move you want to make. You're going to be investing well over a decade to start seeing your first real paycheck, and the reality is that maybe medicine is not what you want to do but something you feel momentarily drawn to because of your experiences. I'm not trying to say don't do it, but you really need to make sure because there's no backing out. Also, explore other health careers before you do medicine because medicine is the longest path.

As for school, I'm a big supporter of community college. I think in California many CCs give you an education up to par with CSU/UC. However, because you're coming from a low GPA, I suggest you consider the DO route as your first choice, but that's up to you to decide. If you feel you truly feel strongly about the MD degree, I suggest you keep in mind that an SMP will likely be a necessity.

 

[mavric1298]

@SerWymanManderly
Your best shot is to take all of your prereq's at a community college and apply DO only.

As long as you do well on the MCAT (60th+ percentile), and your GPA's are 3.2+ (your sGPA could potentially be a 4.0, since you haven't taken any science classes yet, correct?), you should have a shot at many osteopathic medical schools.

For MD, you'd have to spend the next ~3-4 years taking science classes, acing essentially every single one of them, get a 90th+ percentile MCAT score, and even then... your chances would still be below average. Unfortunate, and not totally "fair," but it's a reality.

If you want to become a physician in the most efficient way possible, I suggest you only focus on DO schools.

I wouldn't completely agree. Applying broadly, doing well for a couple years, and applying smartly people absolutely have a shot at MD, without a 90th percentile MCAT. - a lot of MD programs really reward reinvention and hard work. I post this often, but it really shows the true landscape. As long as you get your scores over 3.0 you have a shot, and a decent one at a bunch of places

 

[AtrociousGrades]

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[AlbinoHawk DO]

I checked with both UC Davis and CSU Sacramento previously and neither are accepting second degree students. It was my understanding from speaking to admissions that even if I were able to take classes via an alternate route I would not be eligible to receive student loans (have ~37k until the undergraduate cap) without a formal admission to a second bachelor program, which would make attending a financial impossibility. Fortunately, I am in a position where I am able to move so I am going broaden my scope and double check with every four year in the region tomorrow.

I was able to get community college loans even though I had undergrad loans.

 

[Goro]

Taking pre-reqs at CCs is fine. Even MD schools are more accepting of CC credits these days.

This leaves me with community college - to that end I called several of the UC medical schools admissions offices and was told that community college classes would not impede me. I understand this is not universal and some schools flat out will not accept them, but it seems like my only option and frankly one I'm happy to take as long as it's viable.

Absolutely.
Anyhow, I guess it boils down to this one this: If I dominate my community college prerequisites (I'm talking B is a failure) and get an excellent MCAT do I have a chance at overcoming my previous gpa for an MD program?

Maturity is always a welcome factor, but when it comes to GPAs, you need to show us that you can survive medical school
Also, does my life experience count for anything in this consideration or to help to mitigate my earlier performance?

 

[el_duderino]

I wouldn't completely agree. Applying broadly, doing well for a couple years, and applying smartly people absolutely have a shot at MD, without a 90th percentile MCAT. - a lot of MD programs really reward reinvention and hard work. I post this often, but it really shows the true landscape. As long as you get your scores over 3.0 you have a shot, and a decent one at a bunch of places

What is this data?

 

[SoyMedico20]

I say GO FOR IT! I'm 57yo. But I'm applying only to private schools and off shores. Also looking at DO schools.

 

[BIGphysician]

It's doable. You're going to have to be content going to a school that isn't very desirable however.

 

[Meridian32]

What is this data?

Unless I'm mistaken, this is from the University of Washington School of Medicine website. It's probably extrapolatable to other public MD schools with a strong preference for in-state applicants and less relevant for MD schools where the applicant base is more competitive because applicants from all states are considered equally.

 

[SuchThoughts]

Hello, first post on SDN after lurking a while. As most everyone else who makes this type of post, I want to go to Medical School and am looking for input as to whether or not I am being realistic before undertaking a journey of this magnitude.

A very concise history of myself:

Was initially interested in medicine while in community college. Between my last CC year and transferring to a UC my mother had a heart attack and stroke. The stroke left her permanently disabled and I elected to have her move in with me (We were each other's only family) rather than go to a nursing home. It's difficult to paint a whole picture without going into tremendous detail but suffice to say circumstances lead me to focus predominantly on making an income and neglecting my school work.

My mother was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and end stage renal failure shortly after I graduated. Dialysis gave her a good five years until she suffered another stroke which left her with severe short term and long term memory impairment, along with a slew of other physical and psychological complications. She passed in September with me taking care of her in home hospice.

I have given myself time to think about what happened because I had a very strong initial pull to pursuit medicine again not long after she passed. It has been many months now and I am at the point where I am not sure I can see myself doing anything else and being happy.


32 years old
~2.8 Undergraduate GPA
BA Psychology, BA Communications, UC Davis


That gpa does not include any of the medical school prerequisites. Even if it were not financially prohibitive, I already contacted all of the four year institutions in the area and they are highly impacted and not allowing outside students to take classes.

This leaves me with community college - to that end I called several of the UC medical schools admissions offices and was told that community college classes would not impede me. I understand this is not universal and some schools flat out will not accept them, but it seems like my only option and frankly one I'm happy to take as long as it's viable.


Anyhow, I guess it boils down to this one this: If I dominate my community college prerequisites (I'm talking B is a failure) and get an excellent MCAT do I have a chance at overcoming my previous gpa for an MD program?

Also, does my life experience count for anything in this consideration or to help to mitigate my earlier performance?

Thank you.

I would start off by understanding that unless you are African American or Hispanic, you will not be getting into a UC school. Sure, crazier things have happened, but the odds of it are so low it's worth accepting it is a near impossibility. Getting 4.0 in community college and a 35 MCAT (or whatever the equivalent is now) would still make it incredibly unlikely you'll get in. And keep in mind you'll be taking the MCAT against science majors who went to competitive schools and took many upper division science classes, so assuming you'll score in the top 5% or better (which still likely won't get you in) means it's best to abandon that plan and be more realistic.

Another way to look at it is like this. If the UC won't even let you take undergraduate classes now (that's how impacted they are), then try to imagine how impacted the UC medical schools are. We're talking 6000-ish applicants for 90 seats at UC Davis (arguably the easiest UC to get into).

D.O. schools are possible and you'll still be a doctor. That's a much better path to devote your time and energy to so you should look into that path.

 

[mavric1298]

Unless I'm mistaken, this is from the University of Washington School of Medicine website. It's probably extrapolatable to other public MD schools with a strong preference for in-state applicants and less relevant for MD schools where the applicant base is more competitive because applicants from all states are considered equally.

It is the stats for UW; but I wouldn't agree that it is less competitive; keep in mind in-state is all of WWAMI, and it's ranked #1 in primary, and #10 in research (the two sets of rankings). We receive over 5000 out of state (not in wwami region) applications, accept about .3% (MSAR data seems to be off on this point which doesn't agree with stats published by admissions), and 19% acceptance for instate. OHSU, many others have relatively the same stats, so it does give you a good picture of what is going on.

 

[juris2doctor]

I have had a similar experience, assisting my grandparents who helped me during my college and law school years with their aging process, including medical appointments, surgeries, ER visits, wound care, stroke, dementia and in the case of my grandfather hospice and death. I am a bit earlier in the evaluation process than you, but despite being in an envious position in my current career (in-house doing commercial real estate attorney work with a potential promotion from my status as a certificate holder, to a formal in-house attorney in 8 months or so), I find my mind wandering back to my ruminations during my LSAT courses of, "I wish I could have considered medicine, but I cannot do math..." After having to take a math course in finance for my current job, and starting the process of building up math skills using Khan Academy, I can see a future path towards MD/DO, and hopefully HPSP scholarship and military service.

But yes, I understand what you mean it does seem fairly insane, but I cannot envision doing anything else without having my mind return to, "what if I had..." later on.

This is the part I believe I have nailed down. I've spent the better part of the past six months waiting for the "fleeting" feeling I have to dissipate so I can move on with my life to something less insane. I would be lying if I said my experiences have not helped shape my decision - medicine gave me a decade (almost all of it good) with one of the only people I have ever loved. I feel a very strong urge to pay that back and be a meaningful part of the greater whole which facilitates that for others. That said, I just enjoy the pursuit of knowledge and this is initially what I wanted (for worse reasons) prior to being thrown into the grinder of life. Throughout the tons of visits to the doctor or emergency department over the past decade I always just had a gut feeling of "I should have been a doctor" and dismissed it because it was impossible without shirking my responsibility to my family.

I guess that may answer the poster's question as to whether or not being Hispanic will help?

I would start off by understanding that unless you are African American or Hispanic, you will not be getting into a UC school. Sure, crazier things have happened, but the odds of it are so low it's worth accepting it is a near impossibility. Getting 4.0 in community college and a 35 MCAT (or whatever the equivalent is now) would still make it incredibly unlikely you'll get in. And keep in mind you'll be taking the MCAT against science majors who went to competitive schools and took many upper division science classes, so assuming you'll score in the top 5% or better (which still likely won't get you in) means it's best to abandon that plan and be more realistic.

Another way to look at it is like this. If the UC won't even let you take undergraduate classes now (that's how impacted they are), then try to imagine how impacted the UC medical schools are. We're talking 6000-ish applicants for 90 seats at UC Davis (arguably the easiest UC to get into).

D.O. schools are possible and you'll still be a doctor. That's a much better path to devote your time and energy to so you should look into that path.