Discouraged?

[Unepetitevoix]

I am starting to feel discouraged.

I have done 5 years and a quarter of undergraduate, and circumstances have come up during my college career, where I was left with a bad gpa. In community college (lower division), I had a 3.2, and in university level, I have a 2.5. This averages out to a 2.9.

I have one more quarter of undergrad this fall, and then I am done. I am taking only 2 classes, which is not enough to push me to a 3.0. And even if it was, and I did get into a post-bacc, it doesn't matter, because apparently post-bacc GPA's are considered seperate than undergrad, and if you've done bad in undergrad, this is still the reigning force.

Applications for post-bacc are coming up soon, but part of me is like, "What is the point?" To bring my undergrad gpa to a competitive level, I may as well just repeat another 4 years.

My extracurriculars are extensive though. I have done research for an huge corporate HMO, as well as for two Ivy leagues. I have done clinical volunteering, and have a wide variety of interests and talents.

What doesn't change though: the glee of nerdiness when I read a paper on metabolites or enzymes, or the joy I get when I talk to patients while volunteering. I still won't shut up about stuff I learn in my physiology class to my friends, but I wouldn't get that same joy if I just applied this knowledge to research.

As the application season starts, I ask, is there any hope for me in embarking on this expensive and extensive career choice?

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[NTF]

There's always hope. Do well on the MCAT. Keep expanding those EC's. Kick butt on a post bacc (they will be averaged into your ugrad GPA). Apply broadly and judiciously to DO & MD schools. Move to a state with friendly instate schools if you have to.

If you have the will you can make it happen. Don't get discouraged.

 

[ChairmanMao]

Don't apply right now with your current GPA (2.5), you won't in at any medical school. Figure out how many post-bac and undergrad courses you need to take to raise your GPA up to a 3.5 (or at the very least, a 3.3). Start strong and nail those classes and the MCAT and you'll have a chance a few years from now.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

I am starting to feel discouraged.

I have one more quarter of undergrad this fall, and then I am done. I am taking only 2 classes, which is not enough to push me to a 3.0. And even if it was, and I did get into a post-bacc, it doesn't matter, because apparently post-bacc GPA's are considered seperate than undergrad, and if you've done bad in undergrad, this is still the reigning force.

Applications for post-bacc are coming up soon, but part of me is like, "What is the point?" To bring my undergrad gpa to a competitive level, I may as well just repeat another 4 years.



As the application season starts, I ask, is there any hope for me in embarking on this expensive and extensive career choice?

Great news -- you're wrong!! Amcas primaries do report post-bacc and undergraduate GPAs separately, but both feed into the "cumulative" gpa which is the figure that med schools consider. I'd brought up mine by .07 or so, even after previously completing 140 undergrad hours, by working hard on post-bacc courses, you can bring yours up far more if you're able to focus on straight As for science classes (and others if you want).

My path was to skip the formal post-bacc and simply enroll in the science classes at a local 4 year college - far cheaper, I didn't have to move, and if I needed a bit more of a GPA bump, I could just enroll in another few classes. SMPs are master's programs; those would NOT impact your undergrad GPA as they count as graduate work; some schools look favorably upon these, others see them as another extracurricular. I'd agree with your route of pursuing post-bacc work rather than an SMP.

It encouraged me greatly after being turned down last year, to hear from schools WHY they turned me down -- in my case, a higher MCAT section score + clinical experience + apply earlier. It helped me greatly to hear "if you do these things, you WILL be competitive, although you're not now. Just food for thought.

Keep on plugging! this is a long process. If it were me, I'd wait on applying until bringing up that GPA a bit, even up to 3.1 or 3.2 or so, presuming you have (or will have) an MCAT score of hopefully 30+ to make up for lower than average cumulative gpa. good luck.

 

[flip26]

OP: what kind of post bacc are you talking about? Have you taken the med school pre-reqs already? Or not? Or are you talking about an SMP?

Your best chance is if you still need the pre-reqs...if that is the case, a post bacc at a 4 year college will give you the chance to make As on at least another 32 hours of classes, and that will pull your cum GPA up...do the math to figure out how much you can raise it.

If you need an SMP (you already have taken the pre-reqs), you may be out of luck with that GPA.

Clearly from this point forward you need to make nothing but As...you know that, right? And you need to score well on the MCAT, so put in all the time and effort necessary to do that ONCE - do not fall into the trap of taking the MCAT multiple times...

Good luck.

 

[PunkmedGirl]

Great news -- you're wrong!! Amcas primaries do report post-bacc and undergraduate GPAs separately, but both feed into the "cumulative" gpa which is the figure that med schools consider. I'd brought up mine by .07 or so, even after previously completing 140 undergrad hours, by working hard on post-bacc courses, you can bring yours up far more if you're able to focus on straight As for science classes (and others if you want).

My path was to skip the formal post-bacc and simply enroll in the science classes at a local 4 year college - far cheaper, I didn't have to move, and if I needed a bit more of a GPA bump, I could just enroll in another few classes. SMPs are master's programs; those would NOT impact your undergrad GPA as they count as graduate work; some schools look favorably upon these, others see them as another extracurricular. I'd agree with your route of pursuing post-bacc work rather than an SMP.

It encouraged me greatly after being turned down last year, to hear from schools WHY they turned me down -- in my case, a higher MCAT section score + clinical experience + apply earlier. It helped me greatly to hear "if you do these things, you WILL be competitive, although you're not now. Just food for thought.

Keep on plugging! this is a long process. If it were me, I'd wait on applying until bringing up that GPA a bit, even up to 3.1 or 3.2 or so, presuming you have (or will have) an MCAT score of hopefully 30+ to make up for lower than average cumulative gpa. good luck.

I agree with this post. I wouldn't waste any money doing a post-bacc but simply take more upper division since courses like in Biology. If your interested in DO schools, then you can retake the courses you did poor in for a better grade because AACOMAS (DO apps) replaces grades instead of averaging them together like AMCAS. But definitely do you research and most importantly don't give up.

 

[p30doc]

I am starting to feel discouraged.

I have done 5 years and a quarter of undergraduate, and circumstances have come up during my college career, where I was left with a bad gpa. In community college (lower division), I had a 3.2, and in university level, I have a 2.5. This averages out to a 2.9.

I have one more quarter of undergrad this fall, and then I am done. I am taking only 2 classes, which is not enough to push me to a 3.0. And even if it was, and I did get into a post-bacc, it doesn't matter, because apparently post-bacc GPA's are considered seperate than undergrad, and if you've done bad in undergrad, this is still the reigning force.

Applications for post-bacc are coming up soon, but part of me is like, "What is the point?" To bring my undergrad gpa to a competitive level, I may as well just repeat another 4 years.

My extracurriculars are extensive though. I have done research for an huge corporate HMO, as well as for two Ivy leagues. I have done clinical volunteering, and have a wide variety of interests and talents.

What doesn't change though: the glee of nerdiness when I read a paper on metabolites or enzymes, or the joy I get when I talk to patients while volunteering. I still won't shut up about stuff I learn in my physiology class to my friends, but I wouldn't get that same joy if I just applied this knowledge to research.

As the application season starts, I ask, is there any hope for me in embarking on this expensive and extensive career choice?

I had ~2.8 when i graduated with over 160 credits, I made my own post-bacc by taking classes fulltime made ~4.0 in those classes (~70 creds). AMCAS averages everything together for your overall and science gpa, but it also breaks it down by year and by Post-bacc gpa for schools. As of now I have 7 interviews (4 DO, 3 MD). I've been to 4 interviews so far including all of my MD ones, they never once asked about my bad grades, I had a few F's and a bunch of C's from my 1st undergrad experience. So there IS hope for you! It will require a lot of work, and you will need to Ace a bunch of classes, but it is possible. It depends how bad you want this, it will not be handed to you on a silver platter.

 

[DrJosephKim]

There are many factors beyond grades and test scores that impact your application. Make sure to do everything you can to bolster everything else.

 

[njbmd]

The question becomes,"How much do you want this career?" "Are you willing to work long and hard for this?" It's going to take your maximum effort of work on post bacc (read all As here) in order to have a shot at achieving your dream. No, you are never going to get your cumulative uGPA up to a 4.0 but you can take some post-bacc courses (more than a couple) and you can do your best to get your uGPA above 3.0.

Many medical schools will look at your later excellent coursework and take that into consideration in terms of the other things in your application. If you do well on the MCAT, you can also increase your competitiveness. Can you ever have an ideal application? Probably not but you can maximize the things that are still under your control (your future post bacc work) and you can take the MCAT and do well (one shot here not multiple retakes). All of these things can help you achieve your dream.

Is this going to be an easy road or anything close to a "sure thing"? No on both counts but one sure thing, you can toss in the towel and say that "it's not worth it" or "it's too expensive" but you won't get in if you don't try. If you want this career and you are willing to "take no prisoners", you have a shot. Not a sure shot but a shot.