Hello!
I am a class of 22 college graduate (BS Human Development). I plan on taking at least 2 gap years before applying to medical school and am feeling very overwhelmed by deciding what I should do during this time.
My GPA is pretty low: 3.4 cGPA, and 2.3 sGPA (both with an upward trend however). Due to this, I’m considering a DIY post bacc, particularly in BCPM courses to boost my science GPA. I have no idea how many units I should take (any advice?) - would raising my sGPA to at least a 3.0 be possible? How do I determine how many classes I need to take?
Additionally, I have limited clinical experience. To fix this I plan on working as a scribe for at least a year before applying.
During my gap years I also need to study for and take the MCAT.
From my undergraduate career I do have shadowing experience, non-clinical work experience, and various other extracurriculars.
I guess my biggest question is how do I manage balancing all of these deficiencies during my gap years? Is it realistic to improve these deficiencies in 2-3 years? Where do I even start?
I graduated just last month, but I’m feeling so burnt out from undergrad. I wanted to give myself the summer to just relax and not do anything, but I’m constantly stressed out feeling like I’m getting behind and should be doing something now. I want to relax, but am having trouble doing so. But at the same time I fear rushing through my gap years and then being burnt out before even starting medical school.
Any advice, tips, recommendations, tough love, etc is greatly appreciated!
Which BCPM courses have you taken so far? Raising your BCPM GPA to a 3.0 is definitely possible but be prepared to take around 60+ credits and get all As to achieve that. I took 69 credits and was able to boost my BCPM to 3.39 from 2.66
That’s great. I’d recommend scribing to everyone. I learned a lot during just a few months of scribing. You can also split scribing hours into shadowing if needed (just don’t duplicate hours).
If you’re burnt out now, I suggest you really take a step back before you jump into a post-bacc. Focus on something else for now. Find a hobby, workout, hang out with friends, etc. You’ll need this support system later.
Hi! Thank you so much for taking the time to read all that and offer advice. I really appreciate it!
The BCPM courses I took during undergrad were: biology (3 quarters), chemistry (3 quarters), ochem (2 quarters), calculus (2 quarters), physiology (1 quarter), and cognitive neuroscience (1 quarter). All together this totals about 60 units.