Should I continue?

[Frankensteinn]

Hi,
I’m a non-traditional pre-med student, and I would like to know if it’s possible to have a chance to get into an MD or DO program with my academic record.

I have 14 class withdrawals due to one of my parents being very sick and hospitalized during my sophomore year. Almost all of my withdrawals occurred during 1 year (back to back semesters), so you can tell something happened there. I’ve talked with a medical school consultant, and he said do not get any more and don't worry about the withdrawals since I have a valid excuse. What do you guys think?

Should I do a post-bacc? Take classes at my local college? Or pursue another career?

I did not take the organic chemistry or physics sequence yet.

About Me/Stats:

Male
URM (AA)
BS in psychology
3.5 cumulative GPA
3.8 science GPA without math
3.46 science GPA with math
Shadowing experience
Research experience
Psychiatry internship

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[Goro]

Absolutely continue. Ws are not Fs.

 

[Goro]

You do NOT need a post-bacc, either.

 

[Moko]

Your current GPA is within range of most URM matriculants. Focus on doing well in your remaining classes to show a positive trend. If you do well on the MCAT and can put together an otherwise competitive app, you should be good to go for both MD and DO

 

[LizzyM]

You are a college graduate so you need to take the physics and o-chem sequences in order to qualify for admission to medical school. Do that. At the same time, get some shadowing and some experience being up close with patients who are not your family members. It can be paid or unpaid (volunteer) experience.

You may want to work your parent's illness into your personal statement as a way of describing how you arrived at a decision to pursue a career in medicine and answering the question that will be on the mind of anyone who wonders about all those withdrawals. Adcoms will cut you some slack.

As an aside, it seems that math is a difficulty for you. Hone your skills in that area before jumping into physics. (Voice of experience....)