Reinvention: Is it possible at this point? (2.1 sGPA, 2.71uGPA, 3.89 graduate GPA)

[HopefulOlderDoc]

Good evening everyone!

I am currently an Active Duty Army officer who is starting to look at his options post Army service. As with many people who serve, I know that I really like serving other people and would like to continue it in the medical realm.

I have a BS in Psychology and MA in Psychology. Due to my next job, I will be earning another MA in Psychology, but this one will be in Social Psychology. I know most folks would probably tell me that I should just stick with something in the field of Psychology, but I am not totally interested in pursuing a career in therapy or necessarily strictly psychology. Right now I would love to become a psychiatrist, understanding that I may not get that field. I am definitely okay with that.

My stats:
My uGPA is a 2.71
My sGPA is a 2.1
My graduate GPA is a 3.89

With my undergraduate and graduate programs, I am look at roughly 190 hours. My potential only saving grace is that I did not take more than the bare minimum science / math classes during my undergraduate time (4 x science and 4 x math), meaning that GPA might be easier to move. When I did the AACOMAS calculations, I would need to earn straight As in 12 classes to get a 3.0 for culmulative undergraduate GPA. I am willing to do it, but is it logically attainable / feasible to change the admission folks' minds with my subpar undergraduate performance.

As far as trends, it definitely got better after my sophomore year when I figured out how to study. Unfortunately, that is also the time when my school's required math and science classes ended. I had to do an engineering track, but the one I was placed in was computer science, so not necessarily the science medical schools are looking for.

I read Goro's Reinvention thread and think it's possible, but I want to get someone else's perspective. I am looking at getting shadowing hours because I know that will also help counter act some of the GPA issues and show that I am serious.

A related question: It's been more than 10 years since I have taken a math class. Would it look bad if I started with college algebra and work my way back up to Calc I / II and statistics?

Thanks everyone!

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[Med Ed]

Reinvention is certainly possible. There are many tales in this forum about people who have come back from subpar undergraduate records to earn seats in medical school. The fact that you're military will help your chances considerably. A couple of caveats:

1. Your graduate GPA won't hurt you, but it likewise won't really help you. We expect graduate GPAs to be high (>3.5).
2. Shadowing is nearly ubiquitous nowadays. Doing some of it will help you solidify your decision to pursue medicine, but it won't mitigate your GPA issues or show your level of seriousness.

It sounds like your undergrad was a number of years ago, and the main area you need to focus on is proving your academic credibility. To that end, I suggest the following:

1. Take (or retake) the core prerequisites: biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry. You may want to take physics as well, although its importance is declining in medical school admissions.
2. If you do well enough in the prerequisites it will accomplish three important things: it will nudge your uGPA up, it will demonstrate you're academically prepared, and it will get you ready for the MCAT.
3. Speaking of the MCAT, a solid score will ice a lot of your cake. At that point you would be considered a military/veteran re-inventor with a remote history of subpar undergraduate performance but clear evidence of growth and maturation. That will get some traction.
4. Identify and address any weaknesses, like non-clinical volunteering. It's best to do this over time and not try to stack a bunch of it in a short time frame.

Good luck.

 

[HopefulOlderDoc]

Thanks for the response! I really appreciate this. I’ve got some years before I’ll be able to apply and I figured that starting now is my best chance to build up hours and my GPA.

 

[petomed]

Thank you for your service.

It looks like you've done your homework. I'm unsure whether the number of credit hours you mentioned is including additional coursework or not. If you can provide your current cumulative GPA and corresponding credit hours, then I can give you the number of additional credit hours needed to make a certain GPA. You can do this in excel, but the formula is a straightforward closed-form.

As for motivation, you will likely be an 'underdawg', but that hasn't stopped some of these folks from obtaining multiple A's.

*The Official Osteopathic Underdawgs Thread 2021-22*

If you can accept where your weaknesses are, do everything reasonable to resolve them, and overperform elsewhere on your app--you will find a way into medical school. I can nearly guarantee it.

 

[Unskilled Enzyme]

Good evening everyone!

I am currently an Active Duty Army officer who is starting to look at his options post Army service. As with many people who serve, I know that I really like serving other people and would like to continue it in the medical realm.

I have a BS in Psychology and MA in Psychology. Due to my next job, I will be earning another MA in Psychology, but this one will be in Social Psychology. I know most folks would probably tell me that I should just stick with something in the field of Psychology, but I am not totally interested in pursuing a career in therapy or necessarily strictly psychology. Right now I would love to become a psychiatrist, understanding that I may not get that field. I am definitely okay with that.

My stats:
My uGPA is a 2.71
My sGPA is a 2.1
My graduate GPA is a 3.89

With my undergraduate and graduate programs, I am look at roughly 190 hours. My potential only saving grace is that I did not take more than the bare minimum science / math classes during my undergraduate time (4 x science and 4 x math), meaning that GPA might be easier to move. When I did the AACOMAS calculations, I would need to earn straight As in 12 classes to get a 3.0 for culmulative undergraduate GPA. I am willing to do it, but is it logically attainable / feasible to change the admission folks' minds with my subpar undergraduate performance.

As far as trends, it definitely got better after my sophomore year when I figured out how to study. Unfortunately, that is also the time when my school's required math and science classes ended. I had to do an engineering track, but the one I was placed in was computer science, so not necessarily the science medical schools are looking for.

I read Goro's Reinvention thread and think it's possible, but I want to get someone else's perspective. I am looking at getting shadowing hours because I know that will also help counter act some of the GPA issues and show that I am serious.

A related question: It's been more than 10 years since I have taken a math class. Would it look bad if I started with college algebra and work my way back up to Calc I / II and statistics?

Thanks everyone!

I was in a similar situation, garbage undergrad GPA, several D/F's.
I ETS'd ~2015, screwed around and had fun a couple years, read Goro's reinvention thread, did a diy-post bac that ended up being >70 credits @ ~3.9, my cGPA might have crept up to 3.0001. Along the way I racked up >4k clinical and volunteer hours. Maybe 50-70 shadowing hours that turned into a research gig.
I started back at basics with some sort of intro math/pre-algebra->algebra->stats. calc isn't necessary for the places that look at us. Went ham on bio and anatomy/physiology. Repeated chem 1/2, physics 1/2.
The crux is the MCAT, you must crush it. Maybe you can get in with a good score, but I doubt it.

Happy to answer questions