Downtrend in GPA with a few semester Ws - is medical school still possible?

[deleted1132659]

I have a downtrend in GPA with a final GPA of 3.4 in my undergrad. I tried to take a graduate course and failed miserably due to undiagnosed ADD. I took an MCAT in undergrad and scored a 492 because of the undiagnosed ADD. This whole time i have been going through ADD without knowing it and the doctors have been missing it this whole time and misdiagnosing it as depression and anxiety while putting me on drugs to treat those. I am yet to get on medication for it but think it will take months to even get a doctor to prescribe it to me.

Is medical school still a possibility? Dont want support just want someone to give it to me straight. If I get the ADD under control, is medical school possible for me? And how would I go about achieving this?

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[chilly_md]

It would be best to take care of your health and see what treatment will get you there before thinking about medical school. That should be your first priority before evaluating whether you want to continue on this path.

What was your GPA year by year? I imagine if you ended at a 3.4 that the last couple years were below that mark. A 492 MCAT on top of that means you would have to do quite a bit of work to become a good applicant for medical school. If ADD is indeed what you need treatment for, it’s possible that you can become a completely different student.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Your health is more important. I would keep my options open for all health professions until these issues are taken care of. Medical school is especially an environment that will put you under even more stress than you have ever experienced.

 

[deleted1132659]

It would be best to take care of your health and see what treatment will get you there before thinking about medical school. That should be your first priority before evaluating whether you want to continue on this path.

What was your GPA year by year? I imagine if you ended at a 3.4 that the last couple years were below that mark. A 492 MCAT on top of that means you would have to do quite a bit of work to become a good applicant for medical school. If ADD is indeed what you need treatment for, it’s possible that you can become a completely different student.

Hey thanks for your reply. Your words are encouraging. I do think it's ADD and a psychiatrist also thinks so. I have yet to try any medication for it, although I tried buproprion in the past which is used to treat it off label. But that didn't help. I am hoping my current psychiatrist will confirm the ADD and give me some sort of proper treatment for it. I have been in this rotating door healthcare system for many years and its becoming tiresome watching my life slip through my fingertips without seeing any results mentally.

I do not have access to my transcript right now to post my GPA year by year because the system is down until 10AM tomorrow. Will post in the morning. But it is something like 3.8 the first year, 3.6 the second year, 3.0 the third year, etc.

I was accepted into a BS/MD program in my sophomore year of undergrad but had to withdraw after a few years because I just couldn't crack the MCAT score and maintain the GPA needed to matriculate. I withdrew from a few semesters during this program and was given an extra year to try to get my mental health in order, but a year just wasn't enough for my doctors to properly diagnose me and treat me, as I was later to find out. I really do think it is ADD and am hoping to get on medication for it so I can restart my MCAT studies to prove to myself that I really am capable of achieving my goal.

 

[deleted1132659]

Your health is more important. I would keep my options open for all health professions until these issues are taken care of. Medical school is especially an environment that will put you under even more stress than you have ever experienced.

Hey thanks for your reply. I agree that the health is very important if I want to be able to succeed in medical school. It's just been impossible getting any treatment with results. Almost 6 years now in and out of different doctor's offices trying different medications and treatments. It feels like I'm just running in place.

 

[chilly_md]

Hey thanks for your reply. Your words are encouraging. I do think it's ADD and a psychiatrist also thinks so. I have yet to try any medication for it, although I tried buproprion in the past which is used to treat it off label. But that didn't help. I am hoping my current psychiatrist will confirm the ADD and give me some sort of proper treatment for it. I have been in this rotating door healthcare system for many years and its becoming tiresome watching my life slip through my fingertips without seeing any results mentally.

I do not have access to my transcript right now to post my GPA year by year because the system is down until 10AM tomorrow. Will post in the morning. But it is something like 3.8 the first year, 3.6 the second year, 3.0 the third year, etc.

I was accepted into a BS/MD program in my sophomore year of undergrad but had to withdraw after a few years because I just couldn't crack the MCAT score and maintain the GPA needed to matriculate. I withdrew from a few semesters during this program and was given an extra year to try to get my mental health in order, but a year just wasn't enough for my doctors to properly diagnose me and treat me, as I was later to find out. I really do think it is ADD and am hoping to get on medication for it so I can restart my MCAT studies to prove to myself that I really am capable of achieving my goal.

Yes, I can understand that it is hard to get access to a psychiatrist you work well with especially based on what kind of health coverage you have. And then even after that, it is difficult to find appointments and get continuity of care at times.

Based on the approximate trend of your GPA, did you notice a big difference after the 2nd year? Is that when you feel you starting having many ADD symptoms? It seems that way as it is quite a big difference compared to your first half of college. When your health does improve, I would recommend taking a couple classes at a local university or maybe CC depending on whether you have to redo any pre reqs like physics or biochem that you did not pass with a C or higher.

If you see that you’ve gone back to being the student you were, you can pursue a post bacc and study for the MCAT then. Goro has a detailed post regarding this process:

Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention (updated for 2021)

EDIT: Post in WAMC forum for recommended school lists. This thread isn't for that. So you want to be a doctor, but your GPA is terrible. Is that the end? Rule #1: Take a deep breath, and stop fussing. The sky is not falling. But you are going to need to reinvent yourself. This will take...

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[deleted1132659]

I did notice that everything just started gradually getting worse semester after semester and my concentration, focus, fatigue and brain fog just became worse and worse. I noticed every other part of my life just started deteriorating as well. At the time I did not know what was going on so I just pushed through it, not knowing it was a mental illness issue and just thought it might be just me not working hard enough. I've been questioning whether it's all in my head, if I'm just not smart as I thought I was, if all of this is due to ADD, anxiety, or depression. Is it possible that I burned out and never recovered? Can someone burn out and not recover for years?

Thanks for the link, I will check it out.

 

[chilly_md]

I do not want to provide any diagnosis but I personally feel you are fully capable of doing well and it was ADD and/or other health issues that have hampered you. Hopefully you can get better soon and see what lies ahead for you