High undergraduate GPA, Low law school GPA, 10 y/o post bac courses, Math postbac,

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
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Hi! After graduating from undergrad I when directly to law school. I maybe should have spent more time reflecting on what I want and if law school was a good fit, but hey, I accept it as a challenging part of my journey that focused me back to wanting to become a physician. 5 days after graduating from law school I started a pre-med postbac and did pretty well. Then I moved to be closer to my now husband, took the MCAT 2 twice (2010 and 2011) with very low scores, but knowing I did not put in adequate prep. With a new marriage and trying to stay gainfully employed in a city with not so many options for a law graduate who did not want to practice law and with trying to find employment in healthcare/hospitals, I decided to not return to the MCAT until I felt I had the capacity to give it my very best effort…and now it’s like 10 years later, but the desire to become a physician is still there, almost every other thought. Would love advice:

  1. My undergraduate degree was in Finance (3.7 cumm) - finished 2006
  2. I went directly to law school and struggled, but finished (2.51 cumm) - finished 2009
  3. Pre-med post back (3.5 cumm) - finished 2010, took some additional higher-level bio/biochem courses in 2011/2012
  4. Low MCAT scores from 2010 and 2011 sittings
  5. Interested in working in the intersection of math and medicine (and taking classes that may serve me better if medical school does not work out) so currently on the plan taking Cal 1 to 3, Linear Algebra, Diff. Equations (@ a local community college) - will be done Spring 2021, also mixing in MCAT study and CNA certification/work
  6. As my next ‘postbac’ to have more recent academic work thinking about doing a Math postbac geared to prepping for graduate math education or a year MS in Comp Sci --> planning to apply for med schools during these programs and work a few hours as a CNA, ideally to start med school directly after the final semester of these programs, potentially take a few science or biomath courses during this

My main questions are:

  1. Will having a low GPA in a different professional program (law school) be something hard to overcome. Will it look like I was able to properly handle professional-level programs well?
  2. Is it totally out of the ballpark to think it will be helpful to have my more recent academic postbac work be more math-based?
  3. Would love to hear anyone’s experiences as a CNA and if it was helpful for you to make sure medical school is the right path.

A lot here kind of, but thanks in advance if you have any thoughts or advice!
KC

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Hello,

You have very interesting path and You should never give up on Your dreams .
Also, I think You will be first Lawyer who works as a CNA :wink:
It is some experience in patient care but it depends where will You work - if I can recommend anything I would try to become scribe in ED - the best experience in my opinion and I personally know few people who are currently physicians who did this prior to med school . It teaches You medical terminology really well and most doctors will give You some hints and will teach You too . as a CNA You will work in Nursing home or on the floor in the hospital which gives You some experience but personally, I really regret that nobody told me to be a scribe. I used to be CNA , medical assistant, and later a nurse .

Also , make sure You apply broadly - I recommend Osteopathic schools and new MD / DO schools will be more open to take You .
Regarding Your grades - make sure to show Your improvement and talk about it in Your personal statement. I had many online classes and many CLEP exams and was really nontraditional but I got in !
my road was very curvy ( had to stop school , lost my wife to cancer , was single father ,had to change med schools but hey I am a physician and soon be IM trained ! So dont worry what “ney sayers say” , You, as a person are unique, and right now, You should have two goals - first prepare as much as possible for MCAT . I know Berkeley review was really good about 10 years ago . I got their books and they really helped . Now with new MCAT I am not sure.
Second, You should show improvement in your grades . And again apply broadly . there are many new schools which may /should have less people applying and I would try there . Some schools may be located in the middle of nowhere, but dont worry about location its only for few years . My first school was in a town of 3000 ( out of which 2500 were the students) , with cows walking around school and Walmart parking lot was the cultural center, but I really enjoyed it and learned a lot there . Plus, cost of living was much cheaper and this was eye opening for me . I will never live in city bigger then 50, 000 people.

Also , You should be able to explain why now med school and if You will be able to combine your prior experience with medicine . Admission committee wants to know You have a plan and that You know what You want from Your life.

If for some reasons , med school will not work our , as plan B You could try PA schools or NP ( there are few schools with entry into master of nursing for people with other degrees. they usually last like 18 months . I did two trimesters at one of those schools but later returned to med school- it is a long story) . it is shorter path and You can switch between specialties really fast/ easy . Looking from experience, Med school is a very loooong marathon . I started in 2012 and in less then 60 days will finish residency but let me tell You , these past 8 years went really fast and sometimes i wander if all this is worth it, but I had a dream and I always follow my dreams so no regrets :wink:

Personally, I hope to get to law school in few years :wink: because I am very interested in medical documentation and compliance, but for now I will work as hospitalist and will be doing Master in Health Quality and Patient Safety during my weeks off for the next 2 years, and hopefully will finally have more time to spend with my daughters as they grow too fast, and travel little bit if Corona situations lets me. But I have been already researching LSAT and how to prepare for it .

Good luck !!!

If You really want something , go after it! there were many people who criticized me ( even on this forum) , but I just pushed forward . As Les Brown says, You will only regret things that You did not do .

" Aim for the moon and You will land among the stars! "

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Thank you dawrhino! I have actually worked briefly as a scribe several years ago and have been applying to scribe position over the last several months, so hopefully something comes through. I really appreciate your response, suggestions, and story. Sorry to hear about the loss of your wife and thanks for the Les Brown quote, I really like him as a speaker and that quote is truth :slight_smile:

As for law school, I suggest go for it! Especially now that you have context and how you want it to help you in your career. I wish you all the best with that and it will be a breeze (compare to medical school) once you get in, for me it just made me think differently and more holistically about how to approach a problem or argument. Also, it helped me realize that most real life situations that professionals are paid to solve or work in are in the grey, and do not have black or white answers.

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Your background is interesting! I have been a scribe for 10 months and I love it. I scribe part time for a urologist, and I’d strongly suggest finding a non-ED setting to scribe if you can. First of all, the scribe companies that place people in EDs (like Scribe America) pay poorly. They are often poorly managed per Glassdoor reviews. Working in an outpatient settings means no nights or weekends, which the ED often requires. Unlike the ED where there are different providers for every shift, I only work with one doctor so that means I’ve gotten to know him really well and know how he likes his notes. I will say that shadowing two ER docs quickly showed me that the ED isn’t for me and I prefer outpatient settings. But if you think you’d enjoy working in the ED, go for it!

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I know this post is over a year old but I could relate to your story. I graduated law school Dec 2019 with a 2.8 gpa. I have not sat for the bar but am thinking about it just to have the license in my back pocket. What non-law and admissions people don’t realize is in law school our grades are curved and it works against us. Plus our exams are all essays with a sprinkle of multiple choice. So your 2.5 gpa may sound low to the outside world but in reality it is hard for a lot of ppl in law school to even maintain that. A 3.0 law school gpa is though because it is so competitive.

So where are you now in this journey? I recently started a formal post bacc program as a “career changer” since my major was Cultural Anthropology. What l loved the most out of your reply was that law school helped you think differently and more holistically about issues . I agree because that is exactly what law school is meant to teach us. I think that is a great point to make when applying/interviewing for medical school.