Advice on Next Steps, Please

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Hello, all. I feel so fortunate to have found this community and was hoping to get some input on what my next steps should be. Thank you in advance for any advice you can provide.

I’m a 25 year old consultant focusing on Software as a Service for Pharmaceutical and Healthcare companies. Recently, I came to the hard realization that this is not my calling in life (but what old premed did not think that?). I want my focus to be on helping people and I am not getting that from my current career. While in college, I did worked in a research lab helping out on tissue engineering projects (and was listed as a co-author on one). While I thought the science was exciting and I was learning a great deal, I did find it to be a bit slow paced for my liking, hence the jump to consulting.

My grades throughout undergrad were alright, but plummeted my senior year after being sexually assaulted (sob sorry, I know, sorry). My cumulative GPA as an undergrad was 3.17 having received a BSc in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!). I continued on to get my MSE in Biomedical Engineering and got a 3.66 cumulative.

I’ve recently been informally interviewing doctors (struggling to find someone who will take on a shadow) and volunteering by helping elders in acute care re-orient themselves. I’ve adored and respected every physician I’ve spoken with thus far and LOVE the volunteer work (which is expected - I was one of those nerds that did 70 hours of community service a semester back in the good ole college days). I’m excited that I’ll have at least a couple of years to really get engrossed with this volunteer opportunity.

Which brings me to my question: what should my next steps be? Should I charge on forwards to study for the MCAT? Should I try to do some GPA remediation? Any and all advice would be so greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

2

I would say prepping for the MCAT would be more beneficial and time efficient at this point. You’ve had more recent academic experience that was, at least in theory, harder than your senior year of college. Unfortunately, your masters GPA will be separated from your undergrad GPA, but both will be considered in the long run. Your 3.17, which not the most competitive, should at least get you past any initial screenings. If you have finished all of the prereqs, then balancing life with MCAT prep should be your next step in my opinion.

AMCAS and AACOMAS have both done away with grade replacement, so it would take a pretty good amount of classes to cause your GPA to move that much. You seemingly overcame your extraordinary situation which caused your grades to fall in your senior year, which is even a more compelling reason that you’d make a good medical student. Kill the MCAT then apply. If you apply broadly and it doesn’t work out during your first cycle, you should reach out to schools that didn’t want you to see if they can provide feedback to make you a stronger applicant. There is SO much that goes into medical school applications, and GPA is only one component (though important).

Use your consulting skills to really analyze yourself from an outsider’s perspective. Acknowledge what you view as the shortcomings in your application, state how you have improved, and really sell yourself on your highlights.