MD & DO Am I doing enough? DIY Postbacc abysmal GPA/okay-ish MCAT

[CadetK]

Hi everyone,

First time poster here, I apologize in advance for the novel of a post. I was looking for some advice on whether or not I am doing enough for my DIY postbacc and what I could do to improve my application.

I want to first start off by saying my performance during undergrad was absolute trash. I know I did awful, but I am currently taking steps to try and improve. I graduated in 2018 with a B.S. in biology and a minor in biomedical engineering. A mixture of general immaturity and some mental health issues that were made worse by said immaturity proved to be my downfall during my undergrad years. I sought treatment for my mental health during school and it's being managed, so it shouldn't really be an issue now. I had a slight uptick in cGPA after beginning to get it together, but I think it was too late and not enough to prove I changed.

I was at my lowest point when I graduated, thinking I wouldn't be able to pull out of the hole I dug myself into. After taking a few years off from school to grow up a bit, contemplating if I truly wanted to be a physician and working full-time, I decided to right my wrongs and prove that I am not the student I once was. I took the MCAT earlier this year and managed to score alright. I then decided to enroll at a local 4-year university to start a DIY postbacc earlier this semester. I am taking 2 upper-division courses (biostatistics and genomics). However, I am trying to determine if I am doing enough to prove academic reinvention. I am planning my next semester of my DIY post-bacc and am trying to decide if I should stay the course with part-time school/full-time everything else or ditch everything else and go back to school full-time.

I work full-time as an associate scientist in pharmaceutical research. I am also an EMT averaging around 24 hours a week volunteering at a 911 service. I am balancing everything and currently have straight As in my classes. But because of both the pay (I live on my own and need to support myself, and this job pays really well compared to other jobs I could get with my credentials) and the ability to fall back on pharma as a career should this not work out, I am hesitant to jump the gun and drop this job for full-time school. Likewise, I would like to keep volunteering as an EMT since this is my main clinical exposure. I'm trying to compensate for the garbage GPA in other areas, so I'd like to keep up with EMS as well if I can hack it.

I have read in other posts that schools want to see that you can handle an academically rigorous courseload when doing a DIY post-bacc for GPA repair, but I don't know if doing everything I'm doing and only going to school part-time is enough to prove I can handle it. I would like to keep everything the way it is if I can, but if what I'm doing isn't enough then I will have some difficult decisions to make.

I have my stats listed below.

Academics
Undergrad AMCAS/AACOMAS cGPA: 2.97 (Trend by year: 3.08/3.06/2.28/3.37)
AMCAS sGPA: 2.65
AACOMAS sGPA: 2.63
MCAT (taken in 2022): 510 (128/127/129/126)

EC hours (as of posting)
Clinical volunteering hours: 1000+
Non-clinical volunteering hours: 2000+
Research hours: 7500+
Shadowing: 35 hours at a cath lab (trying to find more shadowing opportunities. Hoping for a private practice, if possible, to get a variety of clinical exposure)

Thank you in advance!

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[Faha]

You do not need to go to school full time. Take enough undergraduate level science courses at a local college in order to increase your sGPA to 3.0 . Then you would be competitive at the majority of DO schools with your MCAT of 510.

 

[CadetK]

You do not need to go to school full time. Take enough undergraduate level science courses at a local college in order to increase your sGPA to 3.0 . Then you would be competitive at the majority of DO schools with your MCAT of 510.

Thank you for your reply! Based on my calculations, I would need about 36 credits for both AMCAS and AACOMAS sGPA. Would you say that sGPA being >3.0 would be hard and fast? Or is overall trend more important here? I only ask because by the time I get to 36 credits, it will likely be about 3 years of post-bacc work assuming 6-9 credits a semester.

 

[CadetK]

@Goro would I also be able to get your input on what I should do?

 

[Goro]

Thank you for your reply! Based on my calculations, I would need about 36 credits for both AMCAS and AACOMAS sGPA. Would you say that sGPA being >3.0 would be hard and fast?

It's not so much hard and fast as it is optimal. And school-specific

Or is overall trend more important here?

This is always important.

I only ask because by the time I get to 36 credits, it will likely be about 3 years of post-bacc work assuming 6-9 credits a semester.

I think that 36 credits is overkill. 30 should suffice.

See if you can retroactively withdraw from your bad grade courses. This is a thing at some schools.

 

[Faha]

Thank you for your reply! Based on my calculations, I would need about 36 credits for both AMCAS and AACOMAS sGPA. Would you say that sGPA being >3.0 would be hard and fast? Or is overall trend more important here? I only ask because by the time I get to 36 credits, it will likely be about 3 years of post-bacc work assuming 6-9 credits a semester.

Ideally you would like to reach a sGPA of 3.0 since some schools will screen out your application if it is less than 3.0. However, you would also like to apply before your MCAT of 510 expires since that MCAT is competitive for all DO schools.

 

[CadetK]

It's not so much hard and fast as it is optimal. And school-specific

This is always important.

I think that 36 credits is overkill. 30 should suffice.

See if you can retroactively withdraw from your bad grade courses. This is a thing at some schools.

Ideally you would like to reach a sGPA of 3.0 since some schools will screen out your application if it is less than 3.0. However, you would also like to apply before your MCAT of 510 expires since that MCAT is competitive for all DO schools.

Thank you both! I ran some more numbers and it looks like if I can get my first organic chemistry take removed (got a D the first time), 30 credits will bring me over the 3.0 sGPA assuming I maintain a 4.0 pbGPA.

Any school recommendations as a PA resident? And would I be giving MD schools a donation via application fees if I tried them?

 

[Goro]

Thank you both! I ran some more numbers and it looks like if I can get my first organic chemistry take removed (got a D the first time), 30 credits will bring me over the 3.0 sGPA assuming I maintain a 4.0 pbGPA.

Any school recommendations as a PA resident? And would I be giving MD schools a donation via application fees if I tried them?

None right now, come back when you finish your post back coursework