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A goal of mine is to be accepted into Medical School. I have read dozens of articles and done countless hours of research about acceptance. However, many questions have come to mind when I look at my past college semesters.
I was mediocre in high school, I wasn't number 1 in my class by a longshot. After high school I went to a community college where I spent 8 semesters taking a variety of courses until I decided what I wanted to major in.
While at the Community College, I registered a whopping 80+ credit hours with just under a 3.0 GPA. A few courses held me back as far as GPA, but my science courses where better than average. I took pre-med requirements such as bio 1, gen chem 1 and 2, organic chem 1 and 2, and physics 1. Non sciences courses were calculus 1 and 2, a couple psych courses, English, speech, literature, and other classes.
I majored in chemistry and received my A.S from the Community College and I am now attending a recognized top 50 Catholic University. I have been told numerous times I should re-take all of my pre-med requirements at the university, however, that's a lot of money and time.
I decided to re-take a few but not all, I am retaking; gen chem 1 and bio 1. I am also going to take my Bio 2 and Physics 2 classes at this university.
My major at the university is Biology and I plan to take all my upper division Bio courses at the university.
I should finish with my B.A with just over a 3.1 GPA.
I have been studying diligently for the MCAT in hopes of nailing a 33+.
My question(s) is/are:
1. Any suggestions on pre-med requirements?
2. What can help my chances of being accepted in to med school?
3. Will the 8 semesters of Community College hinder my chances?
I really don't know what to do as far as future preparation.
The GPA might be a problem. Be prepared to consider DO programs. They tend to look at applicants more holistically. Make sure you do plenty of volunteering and shadowing. I don't know about medical school, but most other graduate programs will calculate your GPA based on all of your transcripts. Retaking some of your science courses at the university might boost your overall GPA a tad, but the only way to get rid of the bad grades is to retake the courses at the original college.
With a 3.1 GPA you won't make it past the first round of med school applications, sorry. You need to figure our a way to get that GPA up, rapidly. Retaking classes will help if your school will drop the other credits from your CC. You need at MINIMUM a 3.5 if you get a 33 on the MCAT, higher GPA if your MCAT is lower than that. Also, your CC credits for your pre-med classes will hurt you in the selection process if you get past that first round, another good reason to retake those classes.
The DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) is a good suggestion as the GPA requirements are not as high. You might be in a situation where you my have to reapply for several years to get into med school. There are some colleges that have direct entry programs for Med School too--if you complete your undergrad work matching their requirements, you are automatically accepted into their medical schools. It might be worth checking out those schools to give you a leg up too.
As you know, you have a very weak (overall?) GPA for med school and, unless you kill the MCAT, you are not even in the running just about anywhere except maybe offshore. What is your science GPA? I would pick one or two possibly attainable med schools and work with their admissions folks to see if you can come up with a viable plan.
The three most important parts of your medical school application will be MCAT, GPA, and shadowing/volunteering/service. A high MCAT score opens a lot of doors. I have never seen a student with a MCAT 34 or higher that did not get accepted somewhere. Getting a 34+ is not something everyone can do, however.
Overall GPA is important, but BCPM (biology, chemistry, physics, math) GPA is even more important. Do not re-take courses: the medical schools still see your grades that are replaced, even if the GPA the college shows you increases. I have noticed that many students try to re-take organic chem when they get a C in it the first time. A single C looks a whole lot better than a C replaced with a B+.
It is important that you are spending many hours shadowing a physician. You should observe surgeries, patient interactions, and anything else you can. Volunteering is also important, but not necessary. Having a ton of service but a poor GPA is not good, as it shows you were unable to prioritize your studies.
The best thing you can do to overcome a poor GPA is a post-bac program of some sort. Your money is infinitely better well spent to graduate with a worse GPA and then take post-bac courses to show that you can handle the coursework load rather than re-taking courses you have already seen. Getting an A in first year biology as a fourth year student does not impress anyone.
Finally, your rec letters are important, particularly if you can get a committee letter. A top catholic college will have a pre-med adviser that shows you how to do this. The best and worst part of a committee letter is that we write them to evaluate, not advocate, so it will be brutally honest. Medical schools love committee letters for this very reason. If you can impress an impartial committee that does not feel obligated to advocate for you, this can add a lot to your application.
I don't know your personal situation, but there are some other options if you cannot get accepted into an American MD or DO program but have a lot of cash to spend. If this applies to you, DM me and I can give details but I don't want to hijack your thread by opening that can of worms.
FYI I am on the chemistry faculty and a pre-med advisory committee at a school that sends about 80% of the students that complete our requirements to medical school, and I have completed a number of workshops run by medical schools describing their selection process.
While at the Community College, I registered a whopping 80+ credit hours with just under a 3.0 GPA. A few courses held me back as far as GPA, but my science courses where better than average. I took pre-med requirements such as bio 1, gen chem 1 and 2, organic chem 1 and 2, and physics 1. Non sciences courses were calculus 1 and 2, a couple psych courses, English, speech, literature, and other classes.
Honestly, if you can't get a 3.8 with minimal effort at the community college level while competing against community college "talent" then you probably are not medical school material. No offense intended, just telling it the way it is.
Quote:
I should finish with my B.A with just over a 3.1 GPA.
You're going to need a higher GPA than that, especially if you're coming out of a Podunk college.
The best advice that I can offer you, is: Shoot for a 4.0 GPA in all courses. That's a difficult ideal to attain, but if you go for that you might end up with a 3.8. Also, go find a medical school admissions discussion forum; there must be a ton of them out there.
are the GPA requirements the same for other programs like physican assistants (PA school)? just wondering since it might be a way of doing something similar.
are the GPA requirements the same for other programs like physican assistants (PA school)? just wondering since it might be a way of doing something similar.
Highly competitive to get into PA school, little to no chance with a 3.1 GPA
Highly competitive to get into PA school, little to no chance with a 3.1 GPA
Unfortunately, I had to deal with my physician's assistant this morning and at the moment, I think anyone could get in. I know that's probably not true, but it seemed so.
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