Words of wisdom

[sunflower405]

Hello everyone out there. I am new here to SDN and I have been reading the forums for a couple of days. I just want a bit of advice from those who have done post bacs before on which path I should take.

Currently I grad from undergrad with a 2.7 and a Master of Public Health with a 3.4 I need to take all the science pre reqs. What would be your advice for a path to gain the best shot for medical school. I am willing to consider Caribbean schools but not to crazy about DO.

Also can people recommend programs with good advising.

Thanks for your help! ​

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[sunflower405]

Let me be more specific here since no one is responding...

Do you think I am a good candidate for a post bac with my low undergrad but pretty decent masters gpa?

Respond ppl..Dont be shy

 

[DrMidlife]

Hi.

A masters in Public Health doesn't do much for your situation, which is that your undergrad GPA is well out of competitive range. Furthermore, a 3.4 grad GPA isn't particularly strong. What your MPH will count for on a med school app is a nice, strong, serious EC that doesn't say anything about you academically.

Unfortunately you won't be eligible for the more excellent premed postbacs with your GPA, but I don't think they'd get the job done anyway. My recommendation to you would be to do a 2nd bachelors in a hard science, like biochem or microbio. This would get the prereqs done, give you sufficient time and opportunity to improve your critical number (undergrad GPA), and set you up to have financial aid, registration priority and advising. You can do more undergrad anywhere you want. In your shoes I'd be looking at a school like UT Dallas, which offers a lot of enthusiasm and options to "comeback" students.

I also recommend working within public health for a few years before you dive back in to school. This sets you up to have the maturity from a legitimate career, which really makes a med school candidate stand out. It also nicely delineates your youthful academic performance from your comeback, in a way that makes a clean narrative about your candidacy.

Lastly, I'd flip the priority of Carib & DO. I don't admire either, and have personally taken on ridiculous efforts to be a comeback US MD. That said, if I honestly had no chance at US MD, I'd do DO before Carib, because being a foreign MD closes far more doors than being a US DO does.

As with all premed advising, whether you get it from somebody with the job title "premed adviser" or from your uncle or from this anonymous old fart on SDN, get 2nd and 3rd opinions before you put your faith in a strategy.

Best of luck to you.

 

[gl0baltrader]

I have to concur with DrMidLife, having a master degree in MPH is nice but it does not add a lot of value to your "competitiveness" since your undergrad GPA is on the low side.
A second bachelor in science would be nice to take since it would not only boost your undergrad GPA but also create a nice trend (which many medical schools look at).

You can also take the SMP route, such as Boston but you might need a high MCAT score to be competitive (> 30ish). Or you can take a traditional master program in basic science or physiology for two years just to generate a baseline.

What about your activities ? Do you have enough clinical, volunteering, etc ? If you still need activities I would recommend taking a second bachelor since it will give you more chance to be active in the community as oppose to MSP, where you will be focusing more on your academic.

As oppose to DO vs. Carribean MD, I would recommend getting a DO vs. an international Carribean if you want to work in a Level 1 hospital (better chance).
But if you want to practice in a private clinic or Kaiser, having an MD from the carribean does not hurt.

Either way, I think you might need another couple of years of academic before you can apply to medical school.