fedaykinn

[fedaykinn]

Hi, I’d like to ask about my chances of getting into a US allopathic med school.

I’m a former teacher and changing careers. Undergraduate years were crappy. Five years, two schools, and five majors. I came out with a 2.67 cumulative, and my science was similar. Poor grades on some of my prerequisite courses (I actually need to finish a few prerequisites, but let’s ignore that for a moment).

[As an aside, I’m grimacing whenever I see someone complaining about an ‘abysmal’ 3.3 GPA or thereabouts. I’d kill for that.]

I’m currently a grad student in a traditional MS program (MS in Biomedical Sciences). Grad GPA is currently 3.7, will be higher when I finish.

[As another aside, what the heck is this “grade inflation” in graduate school I keep hearing about? The only part of my grad courses that’s easier than my undergraduate courses were is that grad courses don’t have lab components. I just happened to grow up a lot in the years separating undergraduate and graduate.]

Haven’t taken the MCAT, but I’ve never taken a standardized exam and tested below the 98th percentile (SATs, MATs, GREs). So I anticipate a competitive if not superior grade with the proper preparation. I expect mid-30s or better.

I’ll finish my MS with research experience and clinical shadowing. I already have copious volunteer work- EMT, STD clinic, 1800 SUICIDE operator, etc.

I KNOW that I’m not competitive now. I’ve also done the math and found that I would need around 50 more undergraduate credits all A grades to get my undergrad GPA to a 3.0. So that’s hardly an option, aside from finishing my prerequisites.

My question is, with other work, can I eventually make myself competitive for medical school? Or is my GPA so low that I’m more likely to spend thousands of dollars getting nowhere fast?

Is there such a thing as burning my undergraduate degree and starting over?

[Author]

Posts