Reapplicant, should I do a post-bac?

[Yukaris]

Hi everyone

So I applied to around 20 schools this cycle and not a single interview... I still haven't heard back from a couple schools but at this point I don't think I'll be hearing any good news anyway, so I've decided to reapply next year.

California Asian female applicant. My cGPA is 3.7 but my sGPA is only 3.3. My first MCAT was a 505 and the second try was 508. I have 2 years of research experience, about 300+ volunteer hours, 50+ shadowing hours, and a few other activities.

My failure is probably due to my low GPA/MCAT and not enough experiences, I was really lacking in the nonclinical volunteer experience section. But my main question is in terms of academics, should I do a post-bac to bump up my sGPA or would a higher MCAT score be able to make up for it?
Is community college out of the question since I already finished all of my prereqs? It's just that a post-bac is going to be a heavy financial burden. If I'm looking to work full time, I wouldn't be able to attend school full time, meaning that the original one year academic enhancer program might take a lot longer...

Say if I keep my current GPA, and just work on gaining more experiences and improving the MCAT would that be a good option as well?
Thanks, I really need some advice

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[curbsideconsult]

When you say reapply "next year" do you meant 2018-2019 cycle or 2019-2020 cycle?

I'm not sure that a higher MCAT will make up for a low GPA. I suppose if you got a near perfect score, that might make a difference, but otherwise I think you'd be better off trying to improve your grades. I don't think community college classes will cut it. Check your nearby undergrads to see if they have post-baccs that are within the undergraduate purview. If so, you might be able to get loans to cover the cost of it. Or you could DIY it and just retake the classes you did poorly in one or two classes at a time to rein in costs.

 

[Faha]

Where did you apply this cycle?

 

[Yukaris]

When you say reapply "next year" do you meant 2018-2019 cycle or 2019-2020 cycle?

I'm not sure that a higher MCAT will make up for a low GPA. I suppose if you got a near perfect score, that might make a difference, but otherwise I think you'd be better off trying to improve your grades. I don't think community college classes will cut it. Check your nearby undergrads to see if they have post-baccs that are within the undergraduate purview. If so, you might be able to get loans to cover the cost of it. Or you could DIY it and just retake the classes you did poorly in one or two classes at a time to rein in costs.

I have heard that retaking the classes won't help as much, that if I were to take classes I should take more upper div science classes to show that I can handle the material. I was able to get on interview waitlist for several schools (UCSD, Tucson, Penn state) but was all eventually taken off and rejected. I thought that since I was at least on some of the interview waitlists that I had some potential, so maybe if I was able to improve MCAT and experiences my chances would increase.

Oh and I meant that I'm aiming to apply June of 2019. I sent in my application this cycle first week of July, and now I realize it was probably a bit too late, so I'm planning to send it out the first day next year and hope it'll help a little bit...

 

[Yukaris]

Where did you apply this cycle?

UCD
UCI
UCSD
UCLA
UCSF
USC
Loma Linda (decided to not send in secondary)
(I know all of these are reaches, but I really wanted to give CA school a shot at least)

Albany
Einstein
Creighton
Drexel
GW
Georgetown
Temple
NYMC
Oakland U William Beaumont
Penn state
University of Miami
Tulane
University of Arizona Phoenix
University of Arizona Tucson
Virginia Commonwealth

 

[Faha]

When you reapply I suggest applying to more schools appropriate for your stats and include all these:
Loma Linda
California University
Kaiser (if they open for 2019)
Roseman (if they open for 2019)
Vermont
Quinnipiac
NYMC
Seton Hall
Drexel
Temple
Jefferson
George Washington
West Virginia
Eastern Virginia
NOVA MD
Oakland Beaumont
Western Michigan
Rosalind Franklin
St. Louis
Creighton
Also apply to at least 6 DO schools and you are competitive for all DO schools.