Ok currently as it stands I have enough credits to graduate with my bac. in psychology. I would like to go to med school to be a psychiatrist. My current gpa cumulative is 3.0. Last two semesters have had 3.75 taking 6 classes each term. Ok so after talking with my advisor she says if I retake a few classes 3 that I did poorly in (d,c,c) then I can raise my gpa significantly (3.48). Which is the plan for this summer.However I still need to take the chemistry,physics, and another semester of bio. I was wondering what would be best. Retake my classes and graduate with a 3.48 or so, and then do a post-bacc program. Or dont graduate and then also take the prereqs at my current school? Another note is all of the classes i have taken toward my psyc degree have been online, but my school also has classroom classes I could take if that makes a difference. Sorry for so long. Any advice plz.
- WannaBe.Doc Said:
Ok currently as it stands I have enough credits to graduate with my bac. in psychology. I would like to go to med school to be a psychiatrist. My current gpa cumulative is 3.0. Last two semesters have had 3.75 taking 6 classes each term. Ok so after talking with my advisor she says if I retake a few classes 3 that I did poorly in (d,c,c) then I can raise my gpa significantly (3.48). Which is the plan for this summer.However I still need to take the chemistry,physics, and another semester of bio. I was wondering what would be best. Retake my classes and graduate with a 3.48 or so, and then do a post-bacc program. Or dont graduate and then also take the prereqs at my current school? Another note is all of the classes i have taken toward my psyc degree have been online, but my school also has classroom classes I could take if that makes a difference. Sorry for so long. Any advice plz.
You have several things here that you should analyze.
Because of the way application mechanics work, you have separate GPA lines for original undergraduate work and then for post-bacc. Since you have still several pre-reqs to complete. my opinion is to finish your current degree and then do post bacc work. In my opinion, while it will show a lower original GPA with an upward trend, it will show an vastly higher GPA for post-bacc. It will also show that you completed your degree.
You should also see if your online classes show up as online on a transcript. some schools do and some don't. Online classes are still very new in medical admissions committees, which tend to be conservative. Again, this would support getting a post-bacc with on campus courses.
Lastly, you should explore what you really want to practice. There was a good thread a while back on psychiatry vs. psychology, though getting into clinical psych program is certainly as competitive as medical school. (I am trying to find the thread for you) The difference in being a medical doctor in psychiatry and a therapist as a psychologist is vastly different
Thanks for the feedback. I just found out today that I may not be able to do the retake of the courses I did poorly on till fall instead of summer due to financial aid crap. But I am still researching all the options. It does not show online course taken on my transcript, it just list them along with the others. I think what I may do is retake them, then if i need to start prerequisites for spring. Maybe. I will look for the thread you mentioned. Thanks again. I do like the counseling aspect of psychology and I like the medicine side of psychiatry. Ideally I would like to be a one stop shop for patients.
- WannaBe.Doc Said:
Thanks for the feedback. I just found out today that I may not be able to do the retake of the courses I did poorly on till fall instead of summer due to financial aid crap. But I am still researching all the options. It does not show online course taken on my transcript, it just list them along with the others. I think what I may do is retake them, then if i need to start prerequisites for spring. Maybe. I will look for the thread you mentioned. Thanks again. I do like the counseling aspect of psychology and I like the medicine side of psychiatry. Ideally I would like to be a one stop shop for patients.
Remember, it isn't the GPA from your school that is used but rather the one that is calculated while filling out the online applications. So your school may allow the repeated course to replace the grade of an older course that you did poorly in. But allopathic/MD application would require both grades to appear and to be calculated into the GPA. Osteopathic/DO schools do allow the repeated course to replace the grade of the older course
My mention of psychiatry vs. psychologists and the thread was that modern psychiatry does not seem to make tremendous use of classic talk therary as it once did.