Second Degree, SMP, or leave my dream to be a fantasy?

[beanie0589]

Lol I tried to make the title rhyme to get you guys attention

But my situation is quite serious.

I caught myself between a rock and a hard place where I currently have a VERY low GPA and need to figure out what is the next step for me.

Here's some context information: I grew up being a very studious student and wanted to be a doctor since kindergarten. So I attended a semi-prestigious university and but struggled A LOT since I got to college. I didn't do well freshman year because I had too much fun. So I tried harder sophomore year but my physical and mental health was poor because I had an accident, lost all my close friends, and my dad was very ill.

This lead to me failing a semester and taking an optional leave of absence for a year to work in my family's start up business and explore other career options without a degree. Not only was I VERY unhappy working with my controlling toxic family but realized that I need a bachelors to get a good income period so I decided to go back to college.

I was taking classes for my sociology major and did okay but noticed I had an abnormal amount of anxiety so I saw the school psychiatrist. I stopped after a semester because I did not like my therapist which was also when I started taking pre med classes again and my anxiety only worsened. I was able to pay for a therapist during my last semester of college but became too expensive so I stopped.

Here's my situation: After graduating in December, I started my post-bacc classes in Boston this spring semester. To keep it brief, due to a combo of dealing with my family's financial issues (borderline bankrupt bc of family biz), anxiety issues, and making some poor decisions dealing with it all, I failed the two science classes I took this semester (orgo II and biology) and got a B- in my orgo lab.

I left college with a 2.3 overall (168 credits) and a 1.83 science gpa (52 credits) and now have a 2.26 overall (177 credits) and a 1.65 science gpa (61 credits).

Since I came back home, I had A LONG discussion with my sister and mom about my grades and me being pre med (My dad is not included bc he does NOT know my actual GPA and will LOSE IT if he did bc my mom has been lying for me for years) because my rents have been paying for ALL my classes through loans so it doesn't make sense for them to keep paying for classes I'm not doing well in.

They suggested that I stay home to work at the family business and pursue a degree in nutrition. While I don't mind the idea of working in nutrition, I do not want to work with my family long term and I'm still very passionate about medicine, so now I am trying to to see if I can raise my GPA and try to make my own money so I can afford an online therapist and other self care necessities.

After doing some research it looks like it can either:
1) pursue a second degree in biology at my alma mater until my GPA is a 3.0 and then apply to med school. Only cons is that its expensive and it will be hard to get my own loan with my current credit score.

2) Continue taking post-bacc classes until my GPA is a 2.7/2.8ish and then apply to Drexel's SMP program (can qualify bc I'm Nigerian). Only con is that I have to take the MCAT which I feel like I won't be ready to ace until ~2 years from now.

3) Get a second degree and then an SMP which is very expensive and time consuming (I'm 25 btw).

4) Drop pre med altogether, go back home, and take classes needed for a master's degree in nutrition. Only cons is that my family is difficult to work with I'm not too sure if I like nutrition that much tbh.

So my question is which option listed is the best one to make be academically viable for med school? Will options 1-3 make up for my ****ty GPA from my 1st degree or is my situation beyond repair?
Any suggestions and feedback is welcome (especially from adcoms such as @Goro)

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[Goro]

Lol I tried to make the title rhyme to get you guys attention

But my situation is quite serious.

I caught myself between a rock and a hard place where I currently have a VERY low GPA and need to figure out what is the next step for me.

Here's some context information: I grew up being a very studious student and wanted to be a doctor since kindergarten. So I attended a semi-prestigious university and but struggled A LOT since I got to college. I didn't do well freshman year because I had too much fun. So I tried harder sophomore year but my physical and mental health was poor because I had an accident, lost all my close friends, and my dad was very ill.

This lead to me failing a semester and taking an optional leave of absence for a year to work in my family's start up business and explore other career options without a degree. Not only was I VERY unhappy working with my controlling toxic family but realized that I need a bachelors to get a good income period so I decided to go back to college.

I was taking classes for my sociology major and did okay but noticed I had an abnormal amount of anxiety so I saw the school psychiatrist. I stopped after a semester because I did not like my therapist which was also when I started taking pre med classes again and my anxiety only worsened. I was able to pay for a therapist during my last semester of college but became too expensive so I stopped.

Here's my situation: After graduating in December, I started my post-bacc classes in Boston this spring semester. To keep it brief, due to a combo of dealing with my family's financial issues (borderline bankrupt bc of family biz), anxiety issues, and making some poor decisions dealing with it all, I failed the two science classes I took this semester (orgo II and biology) and got a B- in my orgo lab.

I left college with a 2.3 overall (168 credits) and a 1.83 science gpa (52 credits) and now have a 2.26 overall (177 credits) and a 1.65 science gpa (61 credits).

Since I came back home, I had A LONG discussion with my sister and mom about my grades and me being pre med (My dad is not included bc he does NOT know my actual GPA and will LOSE IT if he did bc my mom has been lying for me for years) because my rents have been paying for ALL my classes through loans so it doesn't make sense for them to keep paying for classes I'm not doing well in.

They suggested that I stay home to work at the family business and pursue a degree in nutrition. While I don't mind the idea of working in nutrition, I do not want to work with my family long term and I'm still very passionate about medicine, so now I am trying to to see if I can raise my GPA and try to make my own money so I can afford an online therapist and other self care necessities.

After doing some research it looks like it can either:
1) pursue a second degree in biology at my alma mater until my GPA is a 3.0 and then apply to med school. Only cons is that its expensive and it will be hard to get my own loan with my current credit score.

2) Continue taking post-bacc classes until my GPA is a 2.7/2.8ish and then apply to Drexel's SMP program (can qualify bc I'm Nigerian). Only con is that I have to take the MCAT which I feel like I won't be ready to ace until ~2 years from now.

3) Get a second degree and then an SMP which is very expensive and time consuming (I'm 25 btw).

4) Drop pre med altogether, go back home, and take classes needed for a master's degree in nutrition. Only cons is that my family is difficult to work with I'm not too sure if I like nutrition that much tbh.

So my question is which option listed is the best one to make be academically viable for med school? Will options 1-3 make up for my ****ty GPA from my 1st degree or is my situation beyond repair?
Any suggestions and feedback is welcome (especially from adcoms such as @Goro)

Can't sugar coat this, I am very worried that your family issues will continue to sabotage you, no matter what career path you take.



Therefore I cannot recommend this particular path to Medicine.

 

[beanie0589]

Can't sugar coat this, I am very worried that your family issues will continue to sabotage you, no matter what career path you take.



Therefore I cannot recommend this particular path to Medicine.

I understand your concern.
So would it be a good decision to try to help my family out while considering what classes to take for my future options (nutrition, PA, etc)?
I feel like a lot of career options I have in mind require some type of a graduate program which requires a higher GPA than I have right now

 

[candbgirl]

Your own issues must be figured out and worked on before you can make any decisions. Once you start making progress on yourself you might be able to make rational decisions about what to do about your family situation. I’m not even going to discuss medical school because it is so far down the road that the whole med school process will probably be changed by then. Good luck.

 

[Goro]

Your own issues must be figured out and worked on before you can make any decisions. Once you start making progress on yourself you might be able to make rational decisions about what to do about your family situation. I’m not even going to discuss medical school because it is so far down the road that the whole med school process will probably be changed by then. Good luck.

This, OP.
/thread

 

[Dr panda]

Hate to say this but may be it is time to think about another career. With 1.65 sGPA after almost 5 years of school it is simply impossible to get close to 3.0 even with straight As since now, given your mental health issues, family situation and grades, it is very unlikely that you can handle medical school, studying is a soft skill that you apparently don't have. You will not survive the competition.

 

[ciestar]

You need to stop taking classes until you figure things out. Your GPA really isnt salvagable at this point and more blows to it will only make this harder.

 

[907914]

My dad is not included bc he does NOT know my actual GPA and will LOSE IT if he did bc my mom has been lying for me for years

In my opinion, this was your biggest mistake. The people paying for your schooling deserve to know how you are performing in that schooling. You have this screwed over your entire family’s financial state and didn’t even get anything useful out of it.

This is blunt, but you owe it to your family to literally work off your debt to them before you even consider any of options 1-3. Maybe you will build up a work ethic and a thicker skin and can go back to school to pursue what you want in 5 - 10 years.

 

[907914]

push backed and she just angry with me

In the future, if you feel bad about something you should take action on it. 5 years of terrible grades, somewhere along the line you needed the personal courage to recognize you were not doing well and drop out.

What’s done is done and it is good you can recognize the need for advice now.