Should I take post-bacc classes? Or should I get a second B.S. or try to get into a MS program?

[deleted793295]

Hey all,

I'd like to consider myself a non-traditional student. I recently graduated from a top 50 University with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. Unfortunately, I didn't do too well, which can be attributed to the severe depression I was dealing with, in addition to not wanting to do Biomedical Engineering. I ended up doing the degree due to pressure from my mother who insisted that med school was the wrong option for me and that I wouldn't make it. She insisted that since she paid my tuition, I had to do that degree.

I graduated with a cGPA of 2.313. I used an excel sheet that I had found called the AMCASGPA_Calculator by Johnny E to see what my cGPA was according to that (2.391) and what my BCPM GPA was (2.327). It also said that the cGPA all other AMCAS GPA was 2.439.

While I was at my University, I worked for a brief period of time at an Intervention Center for children who came from broken homes, and did research for a time period of 2 years in the neurosensory lab, working with AEP's.

Once I graduated, I moved out of my house and took a year to heal and that is when it struck me that I really did want to do Med School and since then, I have been trying to rectify this situation and make myself a good applicant.

I am planning on taking the MCAT and am hoping to get a score above 515 (at the very least.)

Now my question is, should I get a second Bachelor's? My original plan was to re-take all the science classes that I had done poorly on, which is pretty much all of them, so Chem I/II, Phy I/II, Bio I/II, Orgo I/II. In addition, I wanted to take Biochem + Lab, Genetics, Microbio/Lab, Neuroscience, Virology, Immunology, Human Anatomy I/II, Molecular/Cell Biology, Principles of Genetics/Lab, Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology. All of these should help me bring both GPA's to above a 3.0 if I do well in these classes.

Furthermore, I currently work full time since I support myself as I have cut my family out of my life. I work as a liaison between Dr's in another country and the Dr's in my state whenever a consult is needed. It's not exactly very immersive, but it is something related to the Healthcare Industry. I also worked briefly as a Tissue Tech where I handled Umbilical Cords/Placentas and worked with them to make them into tissue grafts.

I am currently trying to see if I can get a position as a volunteer at either Baptist or Mount Sinai Hospital, and to see if I can perhaps find a physician to shadow. I haven't had much luck finding a physician as many of them have outright declined me.

Once I have improved my GPA, I intend to 1) Apply to an SMP with linkage into a Med School (ideally Tufts, Loyola, Cincinnati, Georgetown and 2) Send an app to the Med Schools that I want to enroll in (UMiami Miller is the top of my list.)

Is this something feasible?

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[deleted793295]

You dont know enough of the process to have made such detailed plans. So lets start

1) Getting a second bachelor's in and of itself is not needed, though it may be the route for you to get the coursework
2) while retakes will get your GPA up, they are much less impressive to an adcom at MD
3) you GPA is so low that you may want to target DO only as they will do grade replacement in GPA calculation
4) You are likely going to need both postbacc/2nd degree and an SMP to get it
5) ignore a regular masters as it will not help you

3) I definitely understand where you are coming from. MD is the goal. DO is the backup plan. Maybe MD is out of reach, but I won't know until I try and I'm not going to give up simply on the basis that I have such a low GPA.

2) What would you suggest I do, if not retakes? I will have to do retakes if I wish to get into an SMP, as a lot of them require that you have at least a C average on your sciences, and I don't meet that criteria yet. I did take a look at the courses that the med schools of my choices recommend and a lot of them have mentioned that applicants that have successfully gotten in have taken the courses like Genetics or Microbio etc.

5) A regular masters was just a suggestion. I will most likely be doing an SMP.

4) As mentioned in my post, I am looking to getting a postbacc to get into SMP. I'm unsure of a second degree. I only mentioned it because I've heard a few people talk about how a second degree with a high GPA helped show that they did have the work ethic to succeed in med school and that GPA #1 was just bad luck or unfortunate circumstances.