Hi guys,
I recently graduated from UGA with a degree in Finance. I did ok overall, 3.72. I have never made any Cs, but my freshman year I did make a ton of Bs, and, unfortunately, I got a B in Precal, Calc, and Bio. I have been working with a heathcare software company, and I have had to learn a ton about the medical profession, and after volunteering at the local hospital once a week for the past couple of months I have become convinced that I want to be a doctor.
I am worried that my GPA is gonna be too low even if I made straight As in my science classes. Secondly, I am going to have to go get all of my prereqs done which scares the shit out of me since I really havent taken a single science class in in a long time (besides the intro bio class mentioned above.) Anyone here come from a finance background and make the shift? How was it? Also, if those Bs pretty much keep me out of the running I would rather hear the harsh truth now before its too late, so dont worry about hurting my feelings.
thanks for all the input! 
Bs are not bad. Your GPA is stellar. Do well in your other prereqs and I cannot imagine you will have a problem.
I got C’s, D’s and F’s freshman and sophmore year. Lots of us have old crappy grades to make up for - you have good grades! You should feel good about that! You’ll be fine. Oh, and I’m an English major. “Different” degrees are good - you’ll stick out, as long as you can explain why you want to be a doctor.
My advice (which I’ve been giving out like penny candy lately) is to ease into the science classes. Don’t overwhelm yourself, at first. You’ll see you can do it.
Welcome to OPM!
I’ll assume you are serious in answering your post. As slb said, a 3.72 GPA is very good and will not be at all an issue. According to the AAMC, the mean GPA for med school matriculants last year was 3.63 (science GPA - 3.56, non-science - 3.70). For all applicants the mean was 3.48 (science - 3.37, non-science - 3.60). So, I don’t know where you heard that your GPA was too low, because its fine. A few B’s are not going to keep you out of medical school.
Grades ARE important, but they are only one aspect of your application. Your MCAT score is important, along with your letters of recommendation, extracurricular experiences, and how you convey your desire for medicine in your personal statement.
You have made a good start by volunteering in the local hospital. I suggest you continue that and also try and find time to shadow a few physicians. Although the local hospital volunteering is great, it doesn’t necessarily give you a good view of what a doctor’s job and lifestyle are like.
If you are scared of the pre-reqs, start with no more than one or two courses. Find out how much time you have to put into the course to do well. Remember that you not only want a good grade, but you also want to learn the material well so that you will be well prepared for the MCAT. Although A’s are preferable, it is possible to get accepted to medical school with B’s (and even C’s and D’s!).
Good luck.
PS - my undergrad GPA was a 2.77. I did very well in my pre-reqs (post-bacc), but still only ended up with a 3.11 or so overall. There are other people out there who have had even lower GPA’s who have cleaned up their act, kicked butt the second time around, got accepted to medical school and are now residents/physicians.
Hi PJ,
I was an accounting major, and I’ve been in the Accounting field for the past 4 years. I’ve also decided I want to go back to med school. However, I graduated with a 2.9 GPA.
I’m intrigued by the last post from ‘Emergency.’ I’m currently trying to get into a post-bacc programd, but it looks like most require a 3.0. Any advice on what I can do to become a better candidate?
Thanks!
- Quote:
Aneeka -
You may or may not realize that you DON'T have to do a formal post-bacc "program" to get admitted into medical school. As you have already realized, many have minimum GPA requirements and some are VERY competitive (especially those with links to certain medical schools). I inititally thought that if you had a degree already that you had to do a formal pre-med program. After talking with counsellors (pre-med and med school admissions both), I was assured that they really didn't care WHERE you took your pre-reqs, as long as you had the minimum required courses.
Many of us on here have done (or are doing) our "own" post-bacc programs. That is, we enrolled at our local universities taking the pre-reqs. There are a variety of ways to do this. Some enroll as regular undergrad students (allegedly seeking a second degree), some enroll as continuing education or non-degree students. If necessary, you can also take some upper level courses.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both paths. Obviously, getting into a formal post-bacc program with linkage to a medical school can be a huge advantage for THAT medical school. Other than linkage programs, though, I'm not sure that attending a formal post-bacc program gives you any significant advantage in applying to non-linked medical schools than taking the pre-reqs on your own. Another advantage (or disadvantage) is that formal programs sometimes manage to condense the pre-reqs into a shorter time period than it is possible to do them on you own. As you've already discovered though, admission is competitive to formal programs and I have heard some stories about the programs themselves being very competitive and cutthroat after getting in (especially in those that only guarantee a med schools seat to the top % of students). Some formal programs have tutoring assistance and smaller classes than you might get at some universities.
However, in your case, instead of wasting time trying to get your GPA acceptable for admission into a formal post-bacc, I think I would investigate taking the pre-reqs on your own. You will most likely never be able to bring your overall GPA up to a significant level. But, most medical schools will weigh your pre-req grades and your most recent grades much more heavily than your overall GPA. There will be some medical schools with minimum GPA standards, but again, most look at the whole package. Enroll in your local university taking the pre-reqs and start building your extracurriculars (shadowing, clinical and/or research experience, volunteering, etc).
Hope this helps.
Hey guys,
I was amazed to get home from work and see that so much input. I thought that my regular GPA was doable, but I was afraid that starting out with three Bs in my science classes was going knock my science GPA below what I needed. I am gonna arrange with my volunteer coordinator on Tuesday to shadow a physician. I am very excited about that, and I hope to make that a weekly event. I talked the premed advisor at my school today and everything looks ok.
What I am very VERY VERY concerned about is doing aweful in the science classes. I know premed classes are going to be a hell of a lot tougher than business/philosophy(my previous major until I changed it) classes. Whats worse is that I came from an extremely bad high school, and I honestly did not learn any science after my ninth grade year. I have never taken any chemistry/physics, ever. Anyone else been in this boat and lived through it?
Thanks everyone!!! 
- PJ Said:
It will take you longer, but if you have no background and are truly concerned about your ability to do well, you may want to consider taking a lower-level intro course in those subjects prior to taking the pre-med level courses. Also, make sure your math skills are up to par for physics and chemistry. Good algebra skills and basic trig will help you out a lot.
… and GO SLOW. The intro math is a great suggestion. Take it before you tackle gen-chem, where your math skills will be challenged, actually, quite a bit. There isn’t any really hard math in the prerequisites (unless you apply to a school that asks that you include calculus among your prereqs) but there is plenty of it, and being familiar and comfortable with it will help a lot.
Mary
- PJ Said:
I was amazed to get home from work and see that so much input. I thought that my regular GPA was doable, but I was afraid that starting out with three Bs in my science classes was going knock my science GPA below what I needed. I am gonna arrange with my volunteer coordinator on Tuesday to shadow a physician. I am very excited about that, and I hope to make that a weekly event. I talked the premed advisor at my school today and everything looks ok.
What I am very VERY VERY concerned about is doing aweful in the science classes. I know premed classes are going to be a hell of a lot tougher than business/philosophy(my previous major until I changed it) classes. Whats worse is that I came from an extremely bad high school, and I honestly did not learn any science after my ninth grade year. I have never taken any chemistry/physics, ever. Anyone else been in this boat and lived through it?
Thanks everyone!!!
PJ, I have/had the same issue as you concerning lack of background in pre-med classes. I was homeschooled and took (or if I did, I forgot all of it) no chemistry, no physics, no biology, and nothing beyond algebra. If you get good teachers for your pre-med classes, I don't think you will have any problem at all. I had no clue what calculus even was before I decided to be a doctor and found out it was a requirement and I'm in the top 5% of my pre-calc class and am the top student in my introductory chemistry class. As obscure as it may seem, your best bet would be to use the Professor Grading tool that's on the community web site www.myspace.com.
It may sound ridiculous but I already knew my chemistry and math teachers were the best at my college before I even registered because I read their reviews on myspace.com's segment for that. The negative reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt since it seems as if students will give a teacher a bad rap simply because they got a bad grade but you'll be able to get a general picture of who's good and who isn't. Any good teacher will be more than happy to help you when you need it and answer questions which is what means the most if the material is completely new.
There is a difference in the way you study for most science classes. O-chem, gen chem, and physics are based very much on problems, so you need to spend a lot of time practicing the problems. It’s a little bit like playing the piano: you can’t just read about how to read the music and where to put your fingers; you have to actually do it to develop the skills you need. I found that I did fine by just practicing the assigned homework problems OVER AND OVER, but some people recommend doing additional problems instead.
For biology, I recommend forming a study group. Read over the notes from class and then meet with your group and explain the material to each other. It’s extremely helpful.
And I echo the advice to learn the math FIRST. It’s everywhere (except freshman bio).
Good luck!
Hey guys,
Ok, I have been really busy getting ready to go back to school. I have declared a biochem major and I plan on taking just gen chem and my first bio. My dad gave me a good deal of hell for leaving a decent paying job to go begin a new life of debt, but that was expected. I dont know about chem, but I cant wait to start biology. Any recs on anything I can start studying before i move away and start taking classes? I have been looking over the basic math, and I actually feel ok about it. I used a ton of algebra in my finance classes, so I really just needed to brush up on my trig.
Thanks again everyone!
-Perry
Only recommendation I can give for biology & chemistry is to just read the textbook and make sure you understand what you read. Biology is mostly just memorization; it’s not hard at all. So far from taking intro chemistry, it’s basically just science mixed with easy math…it’s not nearly as hard as people hype it up to be.
Wow…if you need trig in Bio I must be taking the wrong bio classes.
Bio is just memorization. Chem is algebra and memorization of some concepts. I’m taking Chem now and working problems and understanding a few really simple concepts. Mostly it’s working problems and then some more problems and then some more problems.
Don’t worry about the labs because if you can read a recipe and follow it you can do the labs. The lab reports are just common sense from paying attention to what’s going on during the lab and thinking some simple stuff thru.
Good studying!
- PJ Said:
Ok, I have been really busy getting ready to go back to school. I have declared a biochem major and I plan on taking just gen chem and my first bio. My dad gave me a good deal of hell for leaving a decent paying job to go begin a new life of debt, but that was expected. I dont know about chem, but I cant wait to start biology. Any recs on anything I can start studying before i move away and start taking classes? I have been looking over the basic math, and I actually feel ok about it. I used a ton of algebra in my finance classes, so I really just needed to brush up on my trig.
Thanks again everyone!
-Perry
I recommend reading the first 3-4 chapters of your chem and bio textbooks before the courses begin, and work all the problems provided, if at all possible. It's always tricky jumping back into classes after a long break and any advantage you can achieve up front will be useful.
I would also like to address the notion that biology is only memorization. While obviously there is a tremendous amount of facts to digest, the MCAT takes it a step further and tests you more on your ability to apply the information than on how well you can regurgitate it. Try a few practice MCAT biology passages and you'll see what you're up against. So while you're learning biological systems, you should constantly be asking yourself, why does it work this way? What if I perturb the system? Suppose this hormone were absent from the body, or in overabundance in the blood? Ideally your prof will test you on these types of questions; mine did and it was very tough going until I learned better how to think analytically.
Just my 2 cents'; good luck!
I just want to second what ttraub stated about memorization. I scored very high on my first bio exam, but the class average was pretty low. I heard a lot of muttering about test questions that weren’t “in the book” or that “hadn’t been covered in class.” Everything on the test was available in the text or in lecture. The professor simply did a great job of determining whether the students had ‘thought about’ the information. If you can’t abstract the ‘big concepts’ nor grasp at least a few of the implications of college biology material, I suspect medical school material will utterly overwhelm you. I also suspect that the primary job of the MCAT is to separate the ‘knowers’ from the ‘memorizers.’ I’m trying very hard to become a ‘knower’ and that requires a little (not a lot) more effort than simply memorizing.
Good luck! ( but I hope you won’t need it! )
Tim